Woo I'm no longer a trainee!

Monday- it wasn't the most exciting p day I've had but that was alright. We went to the big mall in San Fernando with a lot of our zone which has the best (also for value) burger place in Spain, good burger. Then we just looked around and shopped a little. Then we went and played a little bit of futbol. Then Me and elder Mitchell went back to play in a ping pong tournament of a bunch of Spanish people at the Casa de Juventud which I've talked about before but just in case, it's this government building made for people 14-35 to just go and hang out and there's ping pong and foosball and stuff. We both lost pretty fast. But we met a lot of people that wanted to learn more about the gospel! WOOO go finding through ping pong. Then we met with Louis from Bolivia. We haven't seen him in a while, but he had a good excuse. His son has had bronchitis for a month now, so it's understandable. But he said he'll come to church so that's good. Then we had a family home evening with some less actives and that was fun.

Tuesday- well not much happened this day. I wish I could make it sound more exciting, but really, we just had district meeting in the morning which was good, then we had a meeting with our ward mission leader after, then we went and contacted some old investigators and had some people say some mean stuff to us, which is okay because we can take it, and then we dropped by a members house so I could grab something I forgot and I did something I thought would be fun. I wanted them to judge us as missionaries so I wanted them to pretend they weren't members and then knock on their doors and have us to a short door lesson as a practice for them.  it mostly just was kind of funny because they started purposely trying to be super hard. But it was good, and I think it's always good to try and practice with members in your teaching; they have fun with it and will trust you more as a teacher. 

Wednesday- Well, in reality, I've been about sick my entire mission so far, ever since I left the MTC.  So my companion finally forced me to have a morning where i rested.  I was upset and couldn't sleep because all i could think about was all the stuff I needed to do and how I didn't want to rest, but I did it anyway and I felt pretty good after it.  For the sake of my Mom and Dad who might be freaking out right now (probably my Mom more than my Dad) I haven't really been that sick... okay yea I was really sick  so that was probably good that I took a rest the next day, but I'm feeling fine! Don't worry, all is well! So yea, but we went out working in the evening and met with some less actives who were super nice and loved to talk about how they met the church and stuff.

Thursday- morning was just regular weekly planning as usual. Then we went to Juani's and ate lots of food. This time there was lots of interesting seafood and I had all of it! The other missionaries weren't such fans, especially of the way some of them looked, but I thought they weren't bad. Then we went to the church to help clean and prepare the baptismal font because it hasn't be used for a while... But so yea, all 4 members of the family the hermanas have been teaching are getting baptized. Then we went to Luis's house just to invite him to the baptism, but instead he allowed us to come inside to talk to him. We gave him a very good lesson about the Book of Mormon and how it really is the key stone of everything we have in this gospel. All we do in this church weighs on whether the Book of Mormon is true or not. We challenged him to sincerely ask God if the Book of Mormon is true and pray and read about it. He said he would. Then we Went try and contact some less actives that I haven't ever met but no one was home.

Friday- today was a Puerto Real day, one of the "Pueblos" we are in charge of here. Apparently a seventy told our mission once to not focus too much attention on pueblos because it's difficult to commit people to drive 40 minutes or take a bus to get to church, so I always have mixed feelings about going out there. But I wanted to try and find some less actives and part member families out there and we had an appointment with the 1st stake counselor. Unfortunately, we didn't reach anybody really but our lunch was interesting. Both his sons have both fallen from the church and sort of become lazy and so during our lesson, he basically laid it on the line to his son how he needs to get in gear and come back to church because that's what will make him happy. It was pretty interesting. Then we returned and met with one of the less actives in our ward Alicia. She was so close to returning to activity when elder Stephens I and were teaching her, but she stopped coming again. We visited her and she explained her difficulties and we tried to help her overcome those. She also had a friend there who was a less active from San Fernando. He was baptized less than a year ago, was active for a while, then went inactive and he expressed how much his life just became so much more difficult once he left. He felt lost, his family started having problems, he wasn't doing what he should do and his life went downhill. So he said he wants to return again to feel better in his life.

Saturday- we didn't have football again! :( but that's okay, we were able to go teach some less actives and stuff in the morning. Then during the day was preparing everything for the baptism. We had the responsibility of making sure the font was all ready and stuff so that was most our afternoon. Then the baptism came and it was an amazing experience. President Andersen came because he's been very involved in the process with this family getting baptized which has been going on for a while. But the day came and they were so excited that the whole family came 2 hours early to get in their baptismal clothes and be ready! It was such an amazing moment. Then about an hour before, we received a call that, Antonio our ward mission leader who was going to do the baptism, got in a car crash so he couldn't come, but he was okay. So they asked that president Andersen do it, which he wasn't prepared to do at all, but he did it anyway. I can honestly say that it was one of the most precious moments I've had on my mission so far. Even though they were the hermanas investigators, we played a role as well, always being their friend, giving them priesthood blessings, sometimes teaching them. And it was amazing to see the happiness of this family of four people who have waited quite a while for this moment. When the dad of this family, who was baptized last, came out of the waters of baptism, the look on his face wasn't just happiness, it was an indescribable joy of knowing that he and his whole family had just entered into the kingdom of God and that he had been "born again" of water and the spirit and that he was forgiven of his whole past. That joy i felt radiating from that family was truly indescribable and it had been such a long time since I felt that feeling.

Sunday- so church was amazing! It was the primary program so it was very entertaining. Also, we confirmed the family of four in the ward. So the bishopric asked that we help so we went up, just expecting to help with the confirming by placing our hands. So they confirmed the husband, then the wife and then they looked at us and said it was our turn to do it. Elder Mitchell confirmed the first girl and then it was my turn. First of all, i didn't have any idea I would be doing this and I found out I was going to do it right there, second of all, I've never done a confirmation let alone in Spanish, but I was able to do it. I gave kind of a short blessing with the confirmation, but it was a good experience. Then after church we had some appointments fail us which were too bad. :( Then we had gone and taught some less actives and tried to contacting some old investigators and they didn't want anything.

I think I had one of the most amazing moments of my mission so far this last week.  Sure not a lot happened for us, but the baptism was absolutely tremendous, and it was such a special moment. I can honestly say that I get a little down here and now because my numbers aren't super high and I don't think I'm a good missionary or something, but at the end of the day, seeing the joy that this gospel brings to others and remembering the blessing it has been in my life will always give me a sliver of hope, no matter what happens. I certainly haven't experienced some of the very deep sorrows that many experience in this life, but I at least have the knowledge from this mission on how I should deal with it for if (or when) it should come. And it's a quite simple phrase said around 30 times in the Book of Mormon "Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land, and inasmuch as ye shall waver, ye shall be cast away from the lord's presence."

 This world is full of inevitable trials and inasmuch as you just try to obey the lord, his prophets, and his teachings in the scriptures, you can expect to face this world with greater confidence. But if you choose just not to obey one or two things and think that's okay, the lord isn't going to bless you in the way you need him to when life becomes difficult.  Heavenly Father is obligated when you do what he says, but when you do not what he says, you have no promise.  The atonement of Christ is real, the principles of this gospel as restored through Joseph Smith truly do lead you to true joy in this life, and through Christ and his teachings, all can be saved.  I haven't born my testimony too much in my weekly emails, and I don't know why, but I can say, after witnessing that baptism of that family, I received an undeniable answer from God that this Church is true. 

 I've always had a testimony, but perhaps it was more based on faith that one day I would come to truly know.  And I think they day finally came and the feeling I had of the Holy Ghost was undeniable. There is no greater Joy in this life then the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that baptism was absolute proof to me of this. This Church has to be true because there is nothing of this world that would cause such a feeling to come over me.  I know with my entire heart that this Church is true.