HEY YOU GUUUUUYSSS!!!!!
Haha. Goonies humor is awesome.
So how was this week for everyone? It was one heck of a week for us! On Saturday we had a baptism! I'll send the pics next week. It was Editha and Ladyvale. It was so awesome. They bore their testimonies at the end and they both cried. It was cute. Ladyvale couldn't finish so she just sat down. haha. They were so excited. Soooooo excited. They showed up to the church 3 hours before the baptism. haha. One of the coolest things was that Duane del Castillo was the one who baptized them! If you don't remember who Duane is, he is the last guy that we baptized in November. He's now the 2nd counselor in the Young Men's Presidency and holder of the Aaronic Priesthood. And he baptized the two of them. We were praying the morning of the baptism and I got this super strong impression that he needed to do the baptism. So I texted him to see if he could and he said he would! He was late but he did it! It was so cool to see my convert baptizing my converts. When he finished he was just so happy. He was laughing and he said, "If the Catholic Church could see me now. I'm a boxing instructor and I just baptized two people into the Church of Jesus Christ!" I gave him a monstrous high-five. He's such a boss. Looooove Duane. I'm so proud of that guy. He's the convert people dream of. Props. He was so happy that he got to baptize that he took us out to Jolibee and bought us a chicken bucket for dinner. I took him out to ice cream cuz Editha and Ladyvale got taken to dinner by members.
As for the amoeba--I know this was the topic of the week for you guys--its all gone. I've been really focused on getting it out. Praying really hard, I took all the meds, and even started drinking this drink that kills all the bad crap in your intestine/stomach. So that amoeba is toast. Sister Hansen didn't seem too worried. The meds did the trick she said. Don't worry about it. I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. He's got my back.
Before I forget, GREATEST FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER OF ALL TIME!!!! I remember those commercials and I loved them. So I was reading it and laughing soooo hard. As for the picture of me, eh. Its my fault for not sending more pictures but I am FAT in that picture!!! First area, adjusting to weather, food, pollution, humidity, the whole nine yards. No probs tho. When I come home I should be in pretty good shape. Perfect to get to the dating scene ASAP!!!
Also DAD!!!! Do you remember Elder Nelson from your mission in Seattle
I had to go and break up a conflict on Friday that taught me two things. One, the proud get no help and only stumble. Two, the Spirit sometimes just wants to smack people around to get them to wake up! Two missionaries were having a problem where they just couldn't understand each other or something. So I had to go over there during a companionship split and solve it! It was horrible. It was really difficult to not have Elder Atanacio with me. The two of us bounce so well off each other and pick up things that the other doesn't. I had to solve it myself. The greenie I was with sat in the kitchen and read. Long story short, I resolved this conflict for 2 hours. Turns out the Elder's problem is PRIDE!!! He's super homesick, doesn't like to be told he can't speak the language well (he's on month 3), doesn't like his companion, can't teach well, but can't seem to get the Atonement to work for him in his problems! I pulled out Elder Richard G. Scott's talk in last April session of General Conference when he said that for the proud and haughty, it is as if there never was an Atonement made! Let me stop and just say that I'm so grateful for Apostles and Prophets. How lost would we be without them! Shoot... He took it and he should be applying it. The interview was rough. It was a lot of chastisement. I had to listen really closely to the Spirit to know where to draw the line. There was so much I WANTED to say but only so much the Spirit would LET me say. It was a really intense experience in piecing together the truth and giving him the right advice.
Then yesterday I went head to head with an Iglesia ni Cristo pastor. That was the most intense teaching moment ever in my mission. He calmly challenged everything. I was listening to the Spirit so hard so that I would have the words put in my mouth to say. Intense. My hands were shaking cuz I was kinda scared. hahaha. He was so calm while challenging us that it was intimidating. He asked lots of questions to try and trip us up. They believe that the Bible has absolutely NO mistakes and that it just needs to be interpreted correctly. I was like, "us too!" That's why we have a living prophet! It was a strange teaching moment. I'll never forget it.
Alright. Love you all. Thanks for the package!
I'll be home for Christmas!
