Hello everyone,
Crazy to think that it has already been another week. And another transfer already in the books. Thanks for all of the emails and love and support, as always. And yes dad, we do baptize at an amazingly fast rate here. However, all of the missions in Mexico City (there are 6 now...they just added the southeast mission) don´t baptize like we are baptizing right now in the [west] mission. President Villareal told me that we are the only mission in Mexico that has broken the 300 mark for one month...and we have done it twice in both May and July. I am very blessed to be serving in a place that has so many people that are willing and ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.
Last Monday we went to downtown Mexico City. It was sweet. It would be a great place to go back to as a family. We went to a place called Zocalo. It is where all the government buildings are and there were museums and old Catholic Churches and tons of stores and little stands selling cheap stuff. I bought one of those cool Mexican knit sweaters like the one Tyler has (100 pesos or like $8) and a Manchester United jersey (authentic of course), the white one with Chicharito´s name on the back (the best soccer player from Mexico who plays on Manchester...needless to say he is like a God here). I would love to go there with you guys someday.
As for the week. It was very successful. We had 2 baptisms yesterday. One of them, Elias, was a sure thing all week. We had been teaching him for a while and he accepted a baptismal date a week or so before.
The other one, Alicia, is an older lady who went to church about 3 years ago with the missionaries and we recently just started teaching her again (we found her in the Area Book). She went to church with us a week ago....and stayed for all 3 hours and for a baptismal service afterwards. So, it appeared to us that she had a lot of interest...and we planned to invite her to baptism for the following Sunday (yesterday). But we couldn´t find her all week until Friday night. We finally found her and started talking to her about the church and questions she had etc. It came up in the conversation that she felt like she needed to wait and go to church a few more Sundays before she would be baptized...and also that she had already been baptized as a child. There was her doubt. We taught her the doctrine of baptism and following the example of Jesus Christ, and then we read with her a story in Acts about a person that got baptized the same night he met Peter. We explained to her that baptism is an act of faith and that we don´t need a lot of knowledge. Then my companion (that´s my boy) invited her to be baptized on Sunday. Now I will be honest, I was thinking of inviting her for next week, because of the doubts she had and I didn´t think she was going to say yes to that coming Sunday. The room got quiet. For about 20 seconds nobody talked. We waited. We could feel the Spirit as she pondered. I know without a doubt that the spirit testified to her heart and she felt that it was something she needed to do. She said yes...was baptized and confirmed yesterday and looked extremely happy the whole day.
It was an amazing experience, seeing the Spirit work through us and testify to Alicia´s heart. I know that when we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need that 3rd companion with us - the Spirit. If we don´t have it, it is SOO much harder to do everything because the people don´t FEEL anything. I am so grateful for the help that the Lord gives us through the Spirit each and every day.
And this is my joy (alma 29:9)
Elder Peacock
No comments:
Post a Comment