Thursday, December 3, 2015

Week 12- First Baptism


Hola!

I had another great week here in La Paz!! This week we had quite a few pretty cool experiences! 

This week we found out that some sister missionaries are going to be arriving to our area, and so our area is going to be split into two. Which means we are losing most of our investigators and the less active members that we are teaching. It is pretty sad, but its also really great because that means the work is progressing well here, and now we can focus even more on the work in a smaller area, and can teach more people! 

On Thursday we were able to have a Family Home Evening with the miracle family we found last week. In this FHE, our goal is to help them grow closer together and also learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were able to teach them about the importance, and the blessing of prophets, especially modern day prophets! It was really great. Their nine year old daughter asked questions too. It was so great. The two children gave the opening and closing prayers, which was great! So humble and simple, and sometimes they needed help from Mom, but it was spiritual to experience! And FHE isnt FHE without a game, so we played ´Signs´ at the end, if you dont know what that is, Im sorry. I explained to them what it is, and understood it, but they werent very good at passing the signs. It was pretty sad, but also hilarious to see how much they struggled, haha. 

I was also able to do some service this week, painting a couple houses! That was pretty fun. Sometimes I felt like I was making it look worse than it did before though, haha. Oh well! It looked good at the end. 

Another great thing was that on Friday night we had Noche Mexicana, where a bunch of members from all around La Paz gathered together to celebrate the Mexican Culture. Of course like normal here from what I have seen, we started about an hour late haha, but we got to see some Mexican dances, songs, and at the end we had some food! We were able to interact with some investigators and less actives that came which was pretty great, and also got to meet some missionaries that meet in the other Church building! 

Then the cherry on top for this week, we had a baptism on Saturday! My first baptism in the mission! Alicia was feeling pretty nervous the couple days before the baptism, but she got to the Church early and was so excited! She was able to be baptized along with three other people that got baptized too! It was such a cool baptismal service, and at the end they all shared their testimonies of what they believe concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Such a cool experience.

Only rough part of the week was that after the baptism, when we got home, I started to feel sick, and I ended up in the bathroom half the night throwing up, until I literally had absolutely nothing left. I was heaving nothing for what seemed like forever. I literally had nothing left, it wasnt fun! I went to Church the next day, which was rough. I hardly got any sleep, and I felt awful, and some people told me I probably had dengue, which scared me. We decided it was best we go home so I could rest. I ended up sleeping almost 16 hours! It was unreal, but it was necessary. I feel much better today. I think I just got food poisioning from something I ate. But feeling almost completely better today, to which I am really grateful!

Sorry to end on that note haha. But again, overall my week was really great! I am really excited to be able to continue to preach the Gospel in this area and continue bringing people to Christ. I know that this work is the work of God, and that there is no greater work we can do in this life. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be an official representative of Jesus Christ, called of God. I know that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know that living this Gospel will bring not momentary happiness, but eternal happiness! More happiness than we can find in any other place in the world. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know it is the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today.
I love you all and hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!! I dont think Ill be able to celebrate with y´all, so enjoy it for me! Eat lots of turkey! 

Elder Daines

The 96 year old legend! 

The miracle family! 

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