First and foremost....... (drumroll please!) .... we had a baptism yesterday! Jose Farias got baptized!!!!
Okay, so here is some of his story...He was originally found in exchanges and the first visit was evidently scary for some of the newer missionaries. I guess he didn't have a shirt on and he was smoking and even though it was okay to be in the house because they had a member with them, they felt like they were being kidnapped or something. The first lesson I had with him he was so much better than that. He had read 400 plus pages of the Book of Mormon and solely from that had already decided he needed to stop smoking and he was down to 1 cigarette per day by the time we taught him the word of wisdom lesson. He fell down once that week and smoked but it made him want to throw up and through us calling him all the time to help him stay motivated, he was able to quit completely "ya no mas!" is what he said. Well then he completely finished the Book of Mormon as well. And we got him colored pencils so that this time through he'll read slower and find verses he really likes to mark them and he was showing us his Book of Mormon later and he had it all colored up like a little kid and it made us smile so much! He began to feel peace and happiness. And yesterday the baptism was seriously so amazing!! We got to sing a special musical number for it. And after the baptism Jose bore his testimony and it was short and simply... he basically said thank you so much and keep on preaching the gospel. Haha! He's a little missionary already. We called him up later that night and this is what he told us.. He said that when he was getting into it, the water was super clear and he was feeling so good. Then he said that for him the getting baptized made him feel like he had shackles taken off of his legs. He feels like he was let free and he feels like he must be the happiest man in the world!! He is so amazing!!!!!! I was so lucky that Heavenly Father let me come in and be a little part of his story.
We straightened my hair for the Baptism.
Project "Serve Vila-make this the absolute best transfer in the world for her last transfer" is going super well. Like I said last week, I did a treasure hunt for her in the house. This week, I colored a beautiful paper for her that said her last name and it had mountains and a sun rising and a pretty sky. I also cut out more than 100 circles using our hole puncher and I wrote her a note using 1 letter per circle and a number on the back corresponding to the order it goes in. Hahaha! It took her a while to put it together and she loved it so much!
Oh, another thing that happened this week is that I got the paper lovingly known by missionaries as the "pre-trunkies." yikes! That means I'm officially getting closer to coming home. It is scary because right on the top it says "approaching release information. Release date: 04 DEC 2013" It says that I have to fill out the information as soon as possible and send it back. So I guess I should ask you a few questions just to check that I am writing the same information that you're thinking. One of the questions is: How are you traveling home? I assumed I'm flying and I'll be flying into the Albuquerque International Airport (that's the name of it, right?) but if your plans are different and you're planning on picking me up just let me know I guess. They also need to know current bishop and stake president. They should have President Rounsville's information, but can you maybe get the new bishop's name and number and address just in case they need to update all that too? Once I get the paper sent in it says that a copy of my flight schedule will be emailed to you and also sent to you will be a letter.
Phew. Now that that is over with, I can get on to living in ignorance again that I'm going to be here forever haha.
Anyways, it was such a great week. I am so grateful to be able to be with Hermana Vila and to be able to use my creativity and sneakiness to serve her a ton this transfer. She is exactly what I needed for this transfer. We've gotten to become really good friends and I've learned a lot about what it is like to have and to be a friend. Exchanges have also been really great. I feel like I am learning more teaching skills of how to help them become even more excellent, And it is such a great calling because I get to help lift them, inspire them,. encourage them, and bless them. President Hall gave us a little acronym of how we lead them... LEIB with love. (lift, encourage, inspire, bless) when they feel that, the spirit is able to teach them so much about what more they can do to improve little by little.
Anyway, I love you all! Have a fantastic week! and enjoy the pictures I sent.
Tenga el espiritu consigo para siempre!
~Hermana Whetten
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