Dear Family/Friends:
--
We had 2 baptisms this last week! it was sure a spiritual experience and we
could see the lord work his miracles to allow all to work out smoothly. we have
been working with these kids and mom for a while now and they have progressed so
much. mom knows its true but doesnt want to change (....yet) and the kids knew
for sure and wanted to be baptized. dad doesnt live at home, works in lima and
comes home once every month, which obviously doesnt help the family out much.
(and mom and her parnter...no not married...have a ton of problems) well at
first mom and dad both said no for the kids to get baptized. then mom changed
but had fear of dad who still said no. but she still signed the papers. dad
finds out....he is ticked and says that he is coming home from lima early to
stop the baptism. i had the chance to talk with him on the phone and that was
his intention. so me and my comp were praying a lot for them and the whole thing
ot work out. well dad showes up unexpected....tries to convince his kids that
they shouldnt be baptized...but the 9 year old boy, Dante, and the 8 year old
girl, jackelyne, told him off!! We had a wonderful baptismal service for
them....and guess who shows up...dad. at the end of the service, he was balling.
he even got up and shared his feelings with everyone...saying that he was so
happy that his kids were baptized and that they were following god. miracles no?
the gospel changes people, even in front of your very eyes.
it was special.
funny story though....so i dont know what is wrong with our baptism font
because i turned on the hot water for over an hour and when we got in it was
freezing!!! mom told me before i had tested the water...i hope the water is warm
cause, dante doesnt like cold water...haha i responded oh dont worry about that,
the water is warm....i think i need to repent for lying :) but dante didnt want
to get in. i had to pick him up and put him in the water. and he was so
nervous...but after calming down a little bit he told me he would do it. so i
said the words and put him into the ice cold water....he comes out like
shivering and says im getting out!!....but....ooops...his toe had popped up out
of the water, got to do it again. lets just say that was the fastest baptismal
prayer you have ever heard. :) but the cool part was, the second time we didnt
feel the cold. he had a great big smile on his face and was so happy.
as for the rest of the week...it went well. we have been working hard with
a bunch of investigators who are ready to get baptized and we confirmed 4 dates
for baptism. we have 2 planned this weekend and 2 the next. our goal for our
area is 8. i know that if we are obedient and work and do all we can the lord
will provide. i think it was elder ballard who said...it is impossible to fail
when we do all we can in the lords work. so we are excited.
the district is doing great. of the zone, we had 5 baptisms!!! great stuff.
i was sure busy this last week doing interviews and visiting with all those
investigators. you can sure feel the spirit in those interviews and the lord
always puts in your heart and mind the things that we must say.
last saturday was the birthday of 2 of the missionaries in our zone...and i
get a call in the morning from the zone leaders...hey birtcher, can we do a fire
on your roof??...haha my fires on the roof have become famous :) so the whole
zone came over later that night for cake and a fire. :)
another cool story that we had this last week was i got to do divisions
with the zone leaders and we went to one of their meetings with 2 investigators
who dont speak a lick of spanish...just quechua, a very old native language
here in peru. we had a translator (their bishop) translate everything we said
to them. they will be baptized this saturday :) it doesnt matter what language,
the fulness of the gospel will be spread until it has sounded in every ear and
been brought unto all the nations, kindreds, and people of the world. the
scriptures say that everyone will hear the gospel in their native tounge so that
they can understand it and accept it. it was a really awesome experience.
peruvians are so awesome. i love them so much. they are my lamanite brothers and
sisters. and teaching about the book of mormon to them is just fulfilling the
promises of those ancient prophets of old. i love it.
and that was the week really. the gospel is true. this is the kingdom of
god on the earth. without a doubt that is my testimony. may we do all we can to
expand the gospel so that all the children of god may hear of it and change
their lives and find salvation unto their souls.
i love you all very much. gracias por todo que hacen para mi. dios les
bendiga en todo.
con mucho amor.
Weston
1-4-3
Elder Birtcher
Perú - Arequipa Mission
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