Subject: I had my first BAPTISM! :)
Hellooooo family and friends! :)
Okay, I have like...meh, 20 minutes to write this? It's going to be a stretch but, here we go! First as always, thank you for those who wrote me letters this week!: Sister Florian (thank you for your sweet letter and stamps! GRACEY GIRL! I loved your little heart note!! You are so cute! Love you! and HUNTER! I loved your note as well! I think that is so cool that you like learning about the Presidents of our Country. Maybe you'll be President one day! ;) ), Elder Paul (okay...that was my last letter from Josh from France. WEIRD! Thanks josh, it was such a perfect letter!), Amanda (SHUT UP! I hope you know what that's for ;) you know...the deets you shared at the end and haha you are not a horrible friend! love you!) and the YW girls (loved the sweet notes, thank you soooooo much!!)! Oh yeah and Athena Bringhurst (sp?) from our stake is now in my YSA ward. Ha! What are the odds right? I've already seen 4 people that I know from home since I've been here. Well...techinically 5 if I count the Jorgenson's as two separate people ;)
Shocking/Funny stories of the week:
1. a sister that just arrived here this transfer at the VC got proposed to...I know, it really does happen. He proposed to her in cambodian? He was creepin around the VC for a week every day for hours on end and we all thought things were going on at home and he got kicked out for a while or something but no...he fell in love with a sister here. I remember finally talking to him and asking him why he was here and when he explained why I had this really bad feeling at the pit of my stomach and I knew he was straight up lying to me. I wish I would of said something because it could of prevented him from catching her alone and proposing. But her companion came up and he swore and then ran away. It's different because at the VC you don't technically have to be with your companion 24/7 because it all depends on the amount of people that come in but they are really trying to get us to be close together now. Mom, dad, don't worry. No need to call the temple (like really, please don't haha) because it rarely happens and security is like circling the VC now so haha we are protected like no other!
2. We got in a mini car accident. Nothing big. Someone rear-ended us when we were stopped at a light during traffic. It wasn't super hard but haha we didn't know what to do. All we got was their name, address, and license plate number...pretty sure we needed more information. Oh well! I don't have to pay anything so don't worry about that also :)
3. We straight up stalked a girl the other night hahahaha! She walked by us and actually smiled and said hi to us FIRST! We said hi back and didn't even stop to talk to her...so when we realized how nice she was, we wanted to go back and talk to her! So we literally chased her around the block because half way through she put her ipod on. Then we stopped and thought about whether we should continue stalking her to turn back but, we decided to go talk to her still so we RAN after her! I have never laughed so hard in my life haha we looked RIDICULOUS! Well, turns out she is a jehovahs witness lol but we had a SUPER good conversation and invited her to have lessons but she said no lol. We learned a lot from her and she learned a lot from us so it was great!
4. We have been trying to find this less active in our ward so one night we went to stop by and his light was on! So we knock and we hear this lady yell, "WHO IS IT!?" I got scared so Sister Cole said, "Uh....the sister missionaries?" The lady then comes out and asks why we are out here so late because apparently there was shootings around that particular area weeks ago and informs us she is a member and tells us to quickly get inside. Turns out she is also a cat lady haha and our investigator has never lived in that house because she has lived there since like, 1933 or something ridiculous. She has pictures of cats everywhere and had like, 3 haha it was great.
I just realized that my stories were more shocking then funny...but really mom...dad...don't freak out. I'm protected by the Lord! :) But seriously, all is well, all is well!
This week was great! Leo's baptism was yesterday and it went so well! The whole week I kept forgetting that it was this Sunday because we had originally planned it to be this following Sunday so it was hard to focus on it. Even yesterday I couldn't believe that his baptism was just hours away! Sister Cole kept asking me how I was felt about having my first baptism coming up and I didn't know how to feel. I was excited but there were so many other things happening that I just would keep forgetting about it. It wasn't until the opened the fount doors and I saw him walk into the water that my heart became so full I thought it was going to BURST! Then, when I saw him go into the water and be immersed out of it, I had tears of joy. It was in that moment where I realized more what our purpose as missionaries is. In that moment, he was PERFECTLY clean! No sin! What a great reward the Lord gives us when we do make that covenant with him and what greater of a reward it is that we can partake of the sacrament every week to renew our baptismal covenant. It was one of the most perfect experiences I've had here and I know that I will never forget it. Leo has NO idea of the impact he is making not only on his future life, but the life of his future wife and children and generations to come. All because he made a righteous decision! We also found two new investigators! One is named Emilio and he is GOLDEN! He lives with another potential investigator (who told us not to come back) and he has apparently met with missionaries before in Mexico. He has a great story as well. He read the entire restoration pamplet and remembered everything! He says he loves to read so we gave him a book of mormon. We were suppose to stop by around 4 but forgot that we needed to take the sacrament at our YSA ward so we left a sticky note to tell him more around 7:30. His aunt forgot to show it to him and so he was actually WAITING for us at 4 and was so bummed that we didn't come by!! REALLY!?!?!? Oh man...he is so awesome! We have a appointment with him tomorrow so hopefully we can set a baptismal date with him! Our other new investigator is Brian and he would go to the YSA ward. He is 21 (Emilio is 23 I think by the way) and he lives like, 3 doors down from Emilio! He wanted to come to church but forgot the time and we didn't have our phone on us because we were on our VC shift but he kept texting us on when it started. But, we are hoping to meet with him this week as well :) We had a lesson with Edvin and taught him the Word of Wisdom and he committed to not drink coffee anymore! We told him we would text him every morning and he hasn't had any for 4 days! YAY! Ugh he just needs to move out with his girlfriend and get baptized! I know, easier said then done but man, Edvin, I won't give up on him.
The VC has been great this week as well. I'm teaching a boy named Johnny in the teaching center over the phone and he didn't keep his commitment to read chapter 2 of first Nephi. I read chapter 1 but his brother-in-law came in town to visit and so he was busy. I was pretty bold with him and told him the importance of keeping commitments and he promised me he would read it next time I call. He asked a lot of good questions this week and again haha I had to be hard with him. It's fun though because he asks me really hard things and says very bold comments and well, I do it back in a loving, righteous manner :) But, I know that he knows the reason why I call him and the reason why I'm bold and the reason why I get sad when he doesn't keep a commitment. He understands my purpose so it just makes everything so much better. I gave some really great tours this week as well. It's amazing to me how people really come in here because they need some sort of direction in their life and they are just hurting. The VC is finally starting to grow on me :) I can't believe that we are like, practically half way through this transfer. WHERE DID TIME GO!? It's going by too fast...I don't like it.
I love you all so much! I have to add pictures on here of the baptism so I need to wrap this up but I know that it's true that we need to always be examples to those around us. We will never know the impact of what our example can do for another. I am eternally grateful for the examples in my life. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I love this work! Good luck on your farewell talk Richie! You will do amazing and I love you so much! I look up to you so much!
Love,
Hermana Baeza
1. laying out during the bbq. the only way i can get a tan on the mission ahah
2. leo in the middle, gabriel (his firend who baptized him) and leo's mom
3. us with leo!
4. us with leo and gabriel!
5. me and leo!
6. a bunch of missionaries with leo and others haha
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