Whoop, Whoop! First baptisms!!

This week we had two baptisms and one wedding! Great week! Satan works just as hard as we do so it is important to always be on top of what’s going on. We had one investigator ask us to move her baptism date the night before. She had been really prepared by the Lord and has a beautiful testimony.  Yesinia is the only member in her family and they don´t like the church at all. Nobody wanted her to get baptized other than her and her boyfriend. They got married on Saturday. We were at her wedding when she asked us to move her date; really sad moment. My companion and I left the wedding with heavy hearts. Fortunately we had another baptism to go to.

Ingrid is our 15 year old friend. She got baptized Saturday. She was going to get baptized with her older sister Yomira, but Yomira had a few things to work out. Two days before Ingrid got baptized she told us that she wanted to wait. After a lot of prodding we found out that she was moving to her dad´s house next month. The nearest church is three days away by boat. There is no way that she would be able to attend regularly. She talked to her parents and they agreed to let her stay here where she can go to church every week. After that we just had to find her a baptism dress. White is a little hard to come by. Ingrid has such a beautiful testimony and knows that her Father loves her. We left the baptism feeling great for Ingrid but feeling really down for Yesinia.

That night we prayed for her to feel the spirit and know that the church was true. Twenty minutes later we got a text from Yesinia saying that she had prayed, that she knew she should get baptized, and that she wanted to get baptized Sunday morning. What a miracle! It’s a great feeling to know that Heavenly Father can make things like this happen. These small moments when things work out are testimony builders. When we get dropped by investigators, or they don´t come to their interviews or church, and when people refuse to listen I remember these moments and it’s all worth it. The good and the bad together make the mission.

There s a quote by Elder Holland that says, “Maybe missions aren´t easy because salvation wasn´t cheap. Maybe we have to feel a tiny portion of what the Savior felt.”  At times it is really hard. It’s hot and the people don’t listen, I don´t speak the language well and I’m tired; but it’s worth it. This week two people entered the Fold and I got to be a part of it. I feel so privileged to be here. He never said that it would be easy, but He said it would be worth it.

--Haley didn't add this to the blog, but I (Bill) know many of you wonder about the living conditions...so here is a little blurb that she wrote to me.

The apartment is great. It's one room but the bathroom has a door. We have a flushing toilet but we can't put paper in it, gross. Our shower doesn't have hot water and there isn't much water pressure so it's like taking a shower from a garden hose. We have an electric burner for cooking and we have a guy that brings us filtered water every week. We are supposed to have mosquito nets but we don't right now; we don't have enough posts to hang it from. The mission home is working on that. We have beds. The mattress is the same type that we had at SVU [college] so it's pretty good; they are plastic to fight off bed bugs. We have a dorm fridge; we call it refi. I haven't seen snakes because we aren't allowed in the jungle parts of the city.  The tribe that lives just outside the city aren't super nice. When I get transfered to a more jungley area we will. Pucallpa and Tarapoto are where the tribes are nicer.