Wednesday night we took our good friend Emma to a baptism in Spanish. Even though my English/Hindi brain didn't catch very much, the spirit still taught me the importance and truly cleansing effect of baptism.
Emma was so happy and also we got pupusas after the baptism so that's good. So now she is as ready as you can get for her baptism.
Thursday was a meme. We tried to get the apartment ready to occupy 5 elders. And then we drove to San Fran to give a Priesthood blessing to a Deaf Member from Utah who had to come to the hospital cuz she's pregnant and her gallbladder is breaking. So they can't do anything till the baby is born.
I expirnced the gift of charity perhaps the strongest I ever have. We had to drive a hour to come to the hospital then search for 20 minutes to find their room, it's in the pregnant section so a nurse needs to check and make sure we can go in. We couldn't so we waited another 30 minutes to go meet them.
It is pretty easy to be upset by this point. But, we weren't.
They let us in and we saw Veronica and Fabian for the first time and- I was filled with love for them. A sweet sweet couple, overwhelmed with all of the problems coming up, trying to prepare to become good parents for their unborn son whom they already love so much. They hadn't even been baptized for a year yet but their faith is so strong.
I was able to seal the blessing and with my minimal ASL skills I just kinda sat back and just let God operate through me. This wasn't a blessing from me at all. I had no plans for what to say. I just tried to listen to the spirit and letvit happen.
After the blessing they asked us to teach them about temple marriages. They really want to be sealed in the temple but they can't yet. I got to testify about how I know my family will be together forever because of the choices my parents made so they could be sealed in the House of the Lord. She asked me if I was going to get sealed in the temple I told her proudly that I will. Then she asked if she could go, I said yes. So far they're the only ones officially invited to my wedding lol.
Well. Then we had to leave. We made sure they had a copy of the Book of Mormon and started the trek back home. So fun.
Then we picked up our new Elders. And oh my. 3 new babies who still have everything to learn. Good thing Elder Searle and I are here.
Then we went to Menlo Park and met Elder Bednar. He was just a few feet away from me. One thing I love about him is he just says what comes to his mind and is not afraid. He also loves to laugh- so he's so funny he makes himself laugh then has to ask somebody else to speak so he can laugh about whatever he said and then recover.
The 2 big things I learned are that I can always trust the spirit to help me. And disciples of Jesus Christ and people that want to become disciples focus on sincere true repentance, which means turning to the lord and turning away from the world.
Well, then we had Emma's baptism. And surprisingly, to me, it wasn't anything to incredibly spectacular. I felt the spirit for sure and I know it was beautiful and powerful. But part of me was expecting like…more….
I still don't know what to learn from that… maybe I needed to prepare more. Idk.
I also gave a talk on Sunday about scriptures and I had like 4 notes and just relied on the spirit. I guess it was good cuz everybody is saying it's what they needed. I also "spoke" in the ASL branch and that was a similar experience.
It was still amazing and I'm amazed at the goodness of Emma and her example to the ward of selflessness and joy.
Then we met with Pugal and he's like "bro. I want to be baptized this weekend"
So we're like "sure!"
Brother had his interview and passed with a 100% and will be baptized this weekend.
Training has been kind of hard. I would be a little scared if it wasn't hard..i mean..there's 4 young Elders whom I am responsible for. I have to teach them everything I can. I know it's still up to them and I can only do so much. But so much is so much. I love them all individually and they all need different things and they all annoy me in different ways lol. So. I guess we'll figure it out.
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