This was a wonderful week! We had the four baptisms as planned. Three women and a little boy. They are going to be awesome additions to the church here.
This week we've had some awesome times. We extended baptismal dates to two crucial families and they accepted! One family has this dad that is mister intimidation. He is super dark, tall, low voice, teases you a lot and gets things done. He is super scary the first time you meet him but once you start teaching him he turns into this different person. He gets all quiet. He listens really well and is really humble. We asked him and his wife if they would get baptized on the 26th of May. They were both a little hesitant but accepted it as a goal to reach. They are both awesome. The mom is super nice and basically a "Mormon mom" without the church. She is so ready but a little scared because of past experiences in other churches. I can't wait until they get baptized!
We also have this other family that is huge! They live in this "lot" which usually four or five different families live in but this is just one big family from the grandpa down to the grandkids living together. We first contacted the oldest of the kids and taught him a first. Then we taught him and his wife. And then we taught their whole family! Which is about 25 maybe a little more if you count the really little kids running around. We taught them a second and just loved it. The next lesson we taught them about baptism and of course asked them to be baptized on the 26th of May. They said that they have already been baptized by immersion so they didn't have to do it again. Then after that we re-taught authority and talked about if you don't get baptized by the spirit you are not done. Then they said that they will do that but they don't need the baptism of water. It was a little while until I said "you need to do baptism AGAIN" Then they understood and were totally willing. Another side note, we went to give them another Book of Mormon because there is a lot of them and when we got there, they showed us another tattered Book of Mormon. I just stared at them for about 20 seconds wondering where or how they got it. They asked if it was the same Book of Mormon that we gave them the first time. We asked them where they got it and they said they got it from this lady in Betsingilo (an area where we teach some people) We threw out some names but they couldn't remember who it was. So we just left wondering who the mystery missionary was.
On Saturday we had the wonderful baptism. One of the recent converts was going to do the baptism of his grandchild. Me thinking that he would wear a white shirt to the baptism like he always does to church did not bring an extra white shirt for him. Well... he decided to switch things up and wear a blue shirt to the baptism. I was panicking on what to do and it just came down to me and him switching shirts. So I sported a nice blue shirt for the baptism. I have to say I looked pretty snazzy. The baptism went well and I got to cool off with a half wet shirt for a few minutes. Also the grandpa and two of his sons of the big family came to the baptism! It was so cool to see them.
On Sunday we had all the talks planned, people to do the talks, we even went early to sweep the church and set up the sacrament and chairs so everyone could sit down and feel the spirit. At nine o'clock when church was supposed to start, there were only five people! It was the worst its ever been! But like usual we waited until nine thirty for everyone to come. People slowly started to come. And by 9:35, 89 people were at church!!! It is the biggest it’s ever been! All of the huge family came, investigators who we have been teaching for a while came for the first time and almost all the members came too! It was so packed that they just told a bunch of kids to play out in the yard to make room for the adults. They even took some little primary chairs to sit on because we ran out. As a total we had 27 investigators! That’s the most I've ever had. I am so thankful for the many miracles that happened this week.
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| Brad's new baptism shirt? |
Well that seems to be all the news that I'm willing to type. I love you guys and pray for you everyday. Please pray for me too.
Love,
Elder Walker
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