All is well over here in my part of Europe. No nos andemos por las ramas.
The family got baptized! Madre mía it was quite a white-tie affair. We had the baptism on Sunday because Luis works(worked) Monday - Saturday, but he actually lost his job about halfway through last week, so Satan is still working hard. But we kept the baptism on Sunday still so that we wouldn't have to call all the members and change it. It was testimony meeting here. I bore my testimony because I was so fit with joy that I couldn't just sit in the congregation. The promises of the Lord. This family did not think they could progress and get baptized within a month, but they did their part and the Lord did his. The service was right after Church. Everybody got changed in the bathroom. Our goal was to have 10 people dressed in white, and we achieved it :) We started with Luis and then Zoraida and then the kids oldest to youngest. It was a truly spiritual experience. We even had to change the bathrooms so the boys were in the girls cause there are lots of changing stalls there. It was still a zoo.
After the baptism they bore their testimonies. As I was sitting there I just realized that this decision for them was probably even bigger and more important than I even realize. Having the gospel in our lives as we are raised and grow up can completely change what we do and choose during the crucial years. All three of these kids will have the church to guide them and help them make the decisions that will truly make us happy. Luis bore his testimony on the power of prayer. He talked about his experience when he didn't want to go to church because he was so tired but ended up getting up and going after saying a prayer of faith asking for strength. It was really spiritual. Zoraida then talked about how she had gained a testimony and prayed for strength to stop drinking and that after she stopped drinking she could learn so much more from the Book of Mormon and really feel the Spirit. Then the kids shared theres. Ana Julia's was my favorite. She just stood up and said "I got baptized. Now I'm clean. Now I'm happy." Ahhhh! It was a dream come true! I hope you can see I'm still pretty excited about it.
On Friday we also set a baptismal date with Élida. She is the sister of a menos activa that we just helped come back to church and have been teaching. We asked her if we could meet with her non member sister too, and she agreed. She had listened to the missionaries in the past(if I've already explained all this before, forgive me) but wasn't living the commandments and had a boyfriend that was against it and all. But now she is ready. She sees the happiness in her sister and wants to have the same in her life. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying when we challenged her to the 12th of May to be baptized, she said she wasn't sure if she could do it so fast, but she would try. Well, after sacrament meeting she came up to us and told us "Elders! I have something to say. I want to get baptized as soon as possible!" She told us how she has been thinking about it a lot and how she really feels like it's what she needs in her life. So we changed it to the 5th of May so we can at least have 2 weeks to teach her everything instead of having to rush it.
This is a miracle because after her parents got divorced, she invited her dad to live with her for a little bit. Well, there was eventually a big problem and it resulted in kind of a falling away from the family. But she told us she wants her dad to baptize her and I'm super stoked because I think this is like the token of forgiveness for this family. Everybody is going to be happy with each other again and no more hard feelings. Crazy what the gospel can do for families! Needless to say, the Lord is blessing us abundantly.
Other than all of that things are just moving along over here. We have recently dropped some people that weren't really progressing and so we're looking for more people to teach again. It makes for some long grueling hours of knocking doors and trudging around in the rain. But my companion got sick starting last weekend and on Monday just got pwn3d. So we actually spent the last 2 days in the piso. I kind think I might have given him my sickness... Speaking of which, I feel a lot better these days. So that's good.
Yesterday was a sad day for me. Elder White, my conejero brother from the islands went home. I called him and said goodbye and that I loved him. His name is Taylor Norton White. Mom/family, you should add him on facebook and figure out his homecoming junk and go say hi to him. It'll be on the 29th. He lives in West Jordan. Elder Thurston also went home to Cache Valley and the other León Zone Leader Elder Hodges made his way back to California. All my mission friends are going home and it makes me feel old and sad! Así es la vida...
I don't really know what else to say. I hope you all enjoy the pictures and whatnot. I love getting letters and stuff. Congrats Kristina on the graduation that is coming up. I got your announcement. It was my first time seeing you pregnant too! There really is a baby on the way! Genial.
I love you all. This church is true. I hope that everybody that this email makes it to (even the blog stalkers) knows how much I love my family and that I know we'll be an eternal family. Fan-freaking-tástico!
Love,
Elder Tanton Jeppson
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