Familia,
This week has been crazy crazy. I have heard that the week before a baptism is always really stressful and that something always goes wrong, but up until Thursday night everything seemed to be going great getting ready for Maria y Hugo's baptism. They weren't changing their minds, they had their interview, and everyone in the whole ward was planning on coming. And then we got a call at 8:30 pm Thursday night that we couldn't use the building on Saturday afterall because there was a stake youth activity. Apparently the reservations had all been deleted off the computer so it looked like the building was free when it really wasn't. Hermana Maughan and I panicked. We started calling everyone. We called the people in charge of the activity to see if we could just use the half of the gym that the font is in for one hour, we tried to see if we could use the stake center but it was being used too, we called the Zone Leaders for advice, we called President Doll for advice. We DID NOT want to postpone this baptism because we were worried that if we did, it would never happen. We finally called Maria y Hugo and told them what was going on, and asked if we could do it Friday (the next day.) They said no, it wasn't enough time, they'd already told everyone Saturday, they just couldn't do it Friday. Oh man, worst feeling ever. We were calling the Bishop back and forth talking to him about options, and finally he called Maria y Hugo and somehow convinced them to be baptized on Friday. This all happened in one hour, and it was the most ridiculous hour ever. So, Friday morning we had to call and cancel all 7 of our appointments, call EVERYONE in the ward, change the program, and set up the baptism. The baptism was supposed to start at 6 pm, and the Bishop was supposed to speak and conduct. We got a call at 5:45 from the Bishop that he had just left work. In the city. On a Friday night. So we were out our speaker and conductor. Luckily, President Doll walked in right then and was volunteered by Sister Doll to give the talk, and the Elders Quorum President was there to conduct. We still waited another 20 minutes, hoping Bishop could make it, because he really wanted to be there, but we started without him and he walked in after the baptism and three minutes after President Doll had started his talk. BUT the important part of this whole story is that Maria y Hugo are now baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that after their baptism we went out to dinner with them and a few other families and they were already talking about how in one year they could go to the temple! They were so so happy. I have never seen them like that, and neither had Hermana Maughan. They were really glowing. It was so incredible. So yeah, thats our miracle. In five days they set a date to be baptized and were! We didn't even have time to count them as people with our baptism date in our numbers we report to President Doll!
Last Wednesday night we were also able to set a date for two of a recent convert's kids to be baptized this Saturday, and so far nothing crazy has happened- but we'll see. They are a funny family. The dad, who is the recent convert is named Carlos. And the two we are baptizing are Karla and Carlos. Carlos Sr.'s nephew, Victor also lives with them and he also wants to be baptized! The only obstacle with him is that he works in the same place as Carlos Sr. and when Carlos isn't working Victor is, which means that Victor works every single Sunday.
Another down we had this week was that one of our investigators, Jorge, who had a date to be baptized the 12th of November, texted us on Monday to tell us that he would not be continuing listening to us because his wife doesn't want him to and he doesn't want her to be mad. Jorge lives in a part of our area that is pretty far away from where we normally work, but when we got his text we were actually in that area and were not really sure what we were going to do- we had nothing really planned for some reason. So we were able to go right over there to talk to him. We were hoping his wife was home so we could talk to her too, we've never met her, all we know is that she wants nothing to do with the church. But she wasn't, and we talked to Jorge. And we talked and talked and talked and cried and cried but he won't budge. We told him he needs to talk to her and tell her how important it is to him, and that it is something good, but he just is so anti confrontational he doesn't want to say anything to her. We tried to tell him that it was an act of faith and that when we act in faith miracles can happen, but we have to actually ACT we can't just sit on our couch and pray and pray and pray and hope that something happens. We have to pray and act and expect that something happens. But as for now, Jorge is no longer getting baptized. And he was the very last person I expected to drop us. He is so cool, coming to church every week, giving people rides- everything. and now. . . nothing.
But other than crazy crazy stuff. Everything is going okay. We are working hard, and always tired. And I am so so sick of my ugly missionary clothes and shoes. :P I'm trying to think if anything funny happened this week to share with you, but the only one I can think of is how ridiculous it is when we accidentally speak Spanish to people who obviously don't. The best one was we went to KFC to visit Cruz and Hermana Maughan asked the red head cashier, "Cruz esta?" meaning, is Cruz here? And he just stared at us so blankly. It was pretty good.
Pictures:
1. BAPTISM Maria y Hugo, October 28, 2011
2. Before
3. AFTER
I'm glad everyone is doing good and keeping busy. Keep up the good work team. Eliza- Hermana Maughan LOVED your letter and all of the cool stickers you sent. She said she will write you back, but we're really busy right now, so I don't know how long it will take.
I love you all, I hope you have an excellent week. Next week we are going to Chicago with Cruz, so I'm not sure exactly when I will be emailing, but I promise you will get an email. :)
Les quiero muchisimo,
Shaelyn
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