Sunday, April 6, 2014

Baptism In Las Palmas

March 17, 2014

Yes we had a baptism on Tuesday.  We were worried that we may not be here for the baptism due to transfers.  We contacted the assistants to ask if we could still do it on Tuesday and they said it would be okay.  We were so excited to get the big guy ready.   Was so good to hear his whole story about how the gospel has come into his life.  Tuesday came around and we had to walk down to the church.  When we arrived at the church it was all locked up.  The other set of Elders had the keys.  Those Elders were about 30 minutes away.  It was 5 pm and the baptism was suppose to start at 6 pm/.  Finally the Elders got there and we got everything ready.  But before all of this Matia had to decide who he wanted to baptize him.  After thinking long and hard about it he sent us a text and asked if I would be the one to baptize him.  I was so excited.   Things were good fine.  The abuela and came and she helped us set up the chairs.  Matia came with his dad and some of his cousins.  It was awesome to have all his family there.  We all got changed into our whites.  Matia was having a hard time finding a white shirt that would fit him.  I had brought a white t-shirt that I used to wear just in case.  Some how he squeezed into the t-shirt.  It was pretty darn snug.  But he was ready.  Matia was a little nervous.  When it was time to start, I walked down into this small little pool thing.  It has stairs going up to it, but no stairs going down.  So I could barely get in and I was thinking how in the world is he going to get in.  Matia climbed up the stairs and they were creation.  He couldn't figure out how to step down into the pool.  Man I though this might be bad.  He slipped and kind of just fell right on me.  I tried catching this big kid in like a bear hug.  I just fell in with him.  We got settled in and did the prayer and I said okay bend your knees.  I wanted to make sure he went under the first time.  I helped push him down and the only way of describing this is like the movie Hitch.  At the very end of the movie when they are dancing at the wedding Kevin James does a slide under Will Smith and then Will Smith tries to pull him up and he can't.  That is exactly what happened.  But somehow with the strength of 20 moms I pulled this whale of a man out of the water.  Was great.  Then we had to get him out of the water.  So yep I just got my shoulder underneath him and pushed.  Thank goodness he was out.  I was dying laughing and so was everyone else.  But we were all so happy.  No one cared.    This was the first baptism in Las Palmas since they opened the area!  Woooo!!!!!!

The weather here is getting crazy.  It clears up then it gets really dark and pours.  The other day it was raining on and off.  Luckily we timed it just right and we could just run from Kiasco to Kiasco and we kept somewhat dry.  But we had a lesson way far from our pension and we say the clouds getting a little more dark.  Knew the big rain was coming.  There was this long street and we could see the rain just moving down the street.  It got dark and made it hard to see.  We could hear something coming.  Just kept getting darker and darker.  We had to act fast.  There was no cover anywhere.  It started to rain.  We ran to a palm tree.  Luckily my comp had an umbrella. We held it sideways because that was the way it was raining.  It just started to pour like you were standing under a shower head.  We started running and the streets were filling up like a rio!  I saw patches of hard spots and I started jumping across on them so I could keep my feet dry.  I made it across and then I hear a ahhhhh and a scream and SPLASH!  My comp fell into the rio.  It was pretty funny.  We ran towards a house where a guy came out and called to us and gave us a towel and a drink of warm milk.  That is really my favorite thing now.  After the rain let up the rain died down and we headed for our pension laughing the whole time.

Sunday came and we went to get Matia to go to church.  It was time for him to get the Espiritu Santo.  Went to his house to wake him up.  No answer.  Clapped his house for about 10 mins.  No answer.  Knocked on the door.  No answer.  I looked at my comp and I said I am going in.  He looked at me like I was crazy.  Nobody has a lock on their door.  They just put a plastic chair in front of the door to keep it from blowing open.  I pushed open the door and start walking down a dark hallway.  There were people sleeping in all these different rooms.  Finally I hear Matia snoring so I go in there. There were others sleeping in there too.  It was so dark I wasn't sure which one was Matia.  So I softly called out his name.  Nothing.  I heard another door open and it was Matia's dad.  His dad works for the policia and I got really scared.  He came out with no shirt and shorts with something in his hand.  I thought it was a gun!  No, was just a mate cup.  He looked at me and I said sorry we really need Matia to come to church.  He said no problem and got him up and Matia came to church.

I had to talk again at church.  It seemed to go alright.  I talked about faith and prayer.  Most of the people understood me, but they seem to have a hard time with my accent.

Thanks for everything.  Have a fun week.  Tell Emmy that when she goes to do her missionary stuff this week that she should teach simple like to a child.  Ask questions like "What are some ways to follow Christ",  "Will you pray about our message to see if it is true?", describe the Holy Ghost and ask if they will follow Christ and be baptized by the authority of God.

Love ya all

Elder Webster

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