Sunday, March 14, 2010

March 10, 2010

Hey everyone!
How is it going? Oh man, this week was awesome! Jeanette got baptized! Friday she had her baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors and then she got baptized Saturday. It was awesome. And it was definitely a good way to finish off a day, and a week for that matter, that not much else happened. It was great though. It started at 7 and we got there at 630 just to make sure everything was ready for it, but the doors to the stake center were locked so we couldn't get in. Then Jeanette and her daughter showed up because she was going to get dressed and ready and then our Relief Society president showed up to help her get dressed. The only thing was that we still couldn't get in the building! So then I called our zone leaders and luckily they were in the area and could come let us in. Then we got in and luckily it was all ready and the font was full and warm, haha. Then everyone started to show up, including her family which was awesome! I am glad they were able to be there. Hopefully it effected them somehow... but we took some pictures and then we went and started. The program was awesome! Matt Leavitt, a ward missionary that came with us to pretty much all of her discussions, gave the talk about baptism. It was really good! He is an awesome teacher and just speaks very well. Jeanette loves him and wanted him to do pretty much everything! He even gave the opening prayer and he confirmed her on Sunday. But that is jumping ahead. haha. After the talk on baptism came the actual ordinance. And oh man was I nervous! I was shaking all over! (thanks dad haha) It went really well though. I only had to do it once and I did not drop or drown her, which I was worried about because she was giving me life threats if I did. It was awesome though. I was so happy that I could be a part of such a wonderful day for her. It has been great to be able to see her through the whole thing and to see her learn and progress and change. It was awesome. I know that it has brought so much happiness into her life and I hope it brings it into the lives of her family as well. But I was even surprised how much happiness it has brought into my life. Being on this mission, I'm definitely not going to be able to baptize hundreds of people. but that doesn't really matter to me anymore. Even if Jeanette is the last one I get, the joy that I have right now could last me the rest of my life. But that does not mean that I am going to slack off at all now. Seeing this whole thing take place has just brought more of a desire for me to share this gospel with others and bring this happiness into their lives as well.
Anyway, that was a pretty long tangent. sorry. But the rest of the program was awesome too! While we were changing, another ward missionary, Shane Gross, gave a really good talk about the restoration. I didn't actually get to hear it but I heard it was good and just knowing him and the person that he is, it had to be amazing. Then a lady from our ward named Amy went up and gave a wonderful musical number. She has one of the most amazing singing voices I have ever heard. I wish I could sing... it was great though! There is so much musical talent in this stake it isn't even funny. I guess there is a lot in the church everywhere though. That is just so awesome! Then Elder Glick gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and that was pretty good too. Then the Bishop went up and said some things too. I love that part of the program every time! I don't know why, but I just love what they say. It's amazing! And the spirit is great during it. I guess all baptisms always have a special Spirit throughout the whole thing but I love that part of it. The Spirit was really strong. Through out the whole thing. It was awesome!
Then Sunday she got confirmed by Matt Leavitt. It was awesome. He gave a wonderful blessing. It was amazing. And a lot of people came up and congratulated her after it. That is one thing that this ward is really good at, being really friendly to new people. Which is awesome for missionaries! Now if only they did more missionary work to help us get more new people there... haha.
But like I was saying, just because I got one doesn't mean I'm going to be slacking off. I've still got a lot of work to do out here. In fact, that is what president and the assistants told me and Elder Glick. We are now in the month of March which means the mission is frantically working to reach our goal of 100 baptisms this month. We have about 85 scheduled but that means we still have 15 to go. And they are really pushing us to continue to work hard. Especially our zone. The South zone has always been the slowest zone in the mission. Which is kind of sad, but true. And as a zone we only have 4 baptismal dates for march. And there are 14 of us... even the Mandarin zone has 6. And there are only 8 of them. AND they are speaking mandarin! haha. But I don't know. We are all working hard and I guess that is really all we can ask for. I still have faith that this goal is going to happen. I am excited to see things as this month goes on. One thing they are really pushing are 7 day challenges. That is when we sit down and we pray about members of our ward that we think are ready and are helping us as missionaries and then we go to their house and give this whole lesson about our weekly planning and how we use revelation to plan out how we are going to work with our investigators and find new ones and then we talk about how important members are to missionary work and then we tell them that we have prayed and that God has prepared a way for them to find someone for us to teach in seven days. I personally haven't seen too much success from it but a lot of people have. Elder Glick found three people in his last area to teach through this so they do work. So hopefully they start working here in this area. That would be awesome!
And Elder Bednar is coming to the mission this Saturday! It is going to be awesome! He is talking all about faith and they say it should help us continue to work hard for this goal. It's going to be a lot of fun though. The whole mission is going to get together for it, which is EXTREMELY rare. It is all the way down in Lethbridge though, so that means that us missionaries in Calgary are going to have to leave at 5 in the morning in order to get there on time since it starts at 740.... whoo hoo.... that is really early... but I am excited for it! It is going to be an awesome experience! One that won't happen again in the mission for... a VERY long time they say. haha
Well, that is pretty much it from me this week. Not too much happened but it was an amazing week all the same! I hope you guys are all safe and well! Thank you for all the support you give me while I am out here!
Love,
Elder Townsend

I found this on a mail box when we were walking around. Don't worry, I got a free piece of paper. It was awesome! haha

JEANETTE!!


And yes. I figured out the tetris cube!!! haha

No comments:

Post a Comment