BLANCO ES BONITO!

Hello all!

This week was so awesome! We had a baptism! BLANCO ES BONITO!!!! WHOOOO HOOOO!

Her name was Elizabeth Vara and she is 16 years old. Her family used to be active members but decided to leave the church. I found her a couple months ago with my other companion and we taught her a couple of times but she had dropped us and told us she didnt want to progress farther. 

HOWEVER! Literally after my email last week we got a call from her saying that one of her friends (a member) had told her what a blessing it was to be baptized and she wanted to be taught again. She already had everything she needed from the last time, she only needed baptism! SO we went to her house and taught her a couple more times and she was baptized Saturday! None of her family showed up and the baptismal service was a mess(refer below) but her testimony was so sweet after and I felt the spirit so strong with her.

But let me tell you about this baptism---

So this baptism was CRAZYYYY. I had to baptize her 3 times because her body wasnt all the way under the water. The first time she kneed me in my manhood so I was crying internally, the second time her hand slapped me in the face on the way down, but the THIRD time oh my gosh you all are going to die. I tried to do it fast so her body wouldnt come up and i FREAKING DISLOCATED MY SHOULDER!!!!!! I held in what could have been a huge scream and left the font with my other arm supporting the dislocated one. But of course, OF COURSE she wanted a picture after so you can see MY RIGHT ARM resting on my leg because I couldnt lift it. Elder Vidal knew how to put it back in because he had "seen a youtube video" so in the bathroom after he pulled and turned and did whatever painful horrible thing he had to do but he put it back! We will never forget that experience and especially because it was my first baptism hahaha!

All in all it was a great week. My lesson to leave today is about befriending those who are investigating the church. The friend of this girl was a huge part of her wanting to be baptized. Help your local missionaries by offering to go on visits with them and offering to help with making their investigators feel comfortable. Because it is a brand new world for them!

I love and miss you all! Have a great week!

BONUS TREAT: a recording of Hunter singing "I am a Child of God" in English and Spanish on the uke.