Ruben's Baptism

Well this week was awesome. Ruben's baptism was on Saturday and there was a lot that was just the most awesome thing in the world. And hey you know what baptisms mean. I have pictures to send, hurray!

So Tuesday night we had another lesson with ruben in which we taught the plan of salvation, plus the law of chastity, plus the law of tithing, plus the law of the fast. So it was a jam packed lesson. But it was incredibly good. We had the lesson over at the Hite's again. And they were awesome always. Sister Hite had us draw the plan of salvation on a whiteboard as we were teaching it and I was the designated drawee. At one point they couldn't stop laughing about how my grave looked like a sock but everything else was about my best work. It was so good ruben even took a picture of it, hopefully not to show others and make fun of my sock. But he really liked the lesson. He loved the law of chastity and commited to follow that, he understood fasting and tithing and seemed very excited to share those as well, because quote "I need all the blessings I can get and I know that if I do this I will be closer to God.". So he's like the most greatest person in all of the world.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Sara, someone we had found just two days prior. We had hoped to share the gospel of Jesus christ but after the first two principles we found out that she is already a master of that doctrine and didn't really need to be taught that. So we asked if she had any questions about our church and she said she has some family members that are members of the church. And she was wondering where the differences between our church and other churches lie. So we taught a bit if the restoration and explained why we are out teaching and all of this stuff and she seemed to really enjoy it and seemed really interested in having us back to explain it more. After that not much more happened until the night in which we had our last lesson with ruben. We went over to the Hite's early in order to make and print off some programs, which took a lot longer than it should have. But it got done. Then we had our lesson with ruben. We taught the remaining commandments, all of which he easily accepted to follow. Then the Hite's brought up the temple and asked if he would go with them the next Saturday. He was very excited about that and said that if he could go he will go.

Thursday was the first day of the mission wide English fast for the Spanish missionaries that we are doing for a week. Now when we are within ourselves we only talk in Spanish. And it is a great idea in theory to help our Spanish, but its giving me is a headache. Since we are in a English and Spanish area we have to speak English a lot, so we're just switching between English and Spanish so frequently it doesn't even really seem effective to speak in Spanish. But it has kinda been fun I suppose. Thursday we spent the day up in the north. We had a lesson with someone up there which went well and then we visited some members around there too. Later at night we had dinner with the Campbell's and proposed that they invite one of the neighbors over for a game night and invite us there as well, as a non threatening introduction to the missionaries and the church. They loved the idea, already have someone in mind, and will call us with the details later. And that was about it for Thursday.

Friday we had weekly planning and we also cleaned the font and set up the room for the baptism on Saturday. And then not much else happened that day, we went around trying to contact people but nothing came from it.

Saturday was the big day of the baptism. We arrived early to fill the font and make sure everything was ready. An hour before the baptism the district leader and ruben arrived to have the interview. Ruben passed with flying colors. Then we waited as the people showed up. As usual people were late but everyone eventually did get there. Ruben chose bishop Keller as the one to baptize him, and the baptism went really well. Bishop later asked him to give his testimony later during the program and he just kept saying how thankful he was to have been led to this church at this time and how good and close to God he felt. Super awesome and spiritual experience. Right after the baptism we had bishop interview him for the priesthood and a temple recommend. He also passed that, of course. But bishop worried us and said that recommends work differently as they are all done online now. So ruben needed to be put in the system before he could be given his temple recommend. Which would mean some awesome ward clerks and a lot of prayers that the system works fast. The rest of the day we didn't have much of anything happen, it was actually a huge struggle to find much of anything to do. We knocked on probably close to 50 or 60 doors and not a single person let us in. Plus it was like 35° and raining pretty hard. So we knew that Satan was trying to discourage us. But we're not going to let that happen.

Sunday was the extremely chaotic day. We went to church and had the confirmation, which Brother Hite did, and right after that we were on the ward clerk's back about getting his record put in. He went to do that immediately. During sacrament meeting we were also confronted right before hand and asked to sing in the choir that day. I cheerfully agreed that we would all sing while looking right at my companion who hates singing. They for some reason had chosen a really difficult piece to do, with the only 10 people that were singing, of whom all of them were basic level singers. But I think it turned out okay. Everyone was really excited that we sang as well since the last sets of elders haven't sang for quite some time. After church we went with ruben to have the priesthood conferred upon him, and to have him be set apart in his new calling of ward missionary. Then the clerk came up and said that the record needed to be mailed to Salt Lake first to be put in the system, and the bishop was like no, find a way. So he went back working at it until he ran around all the obstacles and found someway where he could put in the record manually. So then ruben was in the system. So then bishop was able to print him off his temple reccomend and life was so good after that. All that chaos had only lasted an hour, and so did my heart almost. After church we went around and visited some members and had dinner with the family history consultant so that we could get something set up with her and ruben this week before he goes to the temple so he can bring some names. And that was Sunday.

So super awesome week and I am really looking forward to this week as well because we are able to go with recent converts to the temple their first time. So I am really looking forward to that and I know that this week has a lot in store.

Elder Bertoch