Surprise Baptism!!!!

Hello people.

I added a few more people to this e-mail than usual because of an awesome experience I had this past week. Last week I told you a little about Andres. Andres just turned 18 years old and he has been taking the lessons from the missionaries since he was 13 but his mom is Catholic and wouldn't let him get baptized in the Church. With our recent boundary changes in our ward, Andres belonged to the other ward but now is in ours. There was a little miscommunication with the other missionaries about him. So we had no clue about Andres and him talking with the missionaries. About 2 weeks ago we were waiting out front of the church and Andres walked up to us and told us he was an investigator in our church (at this time we had no clue who he was). So obviously we were a little confused but he wanted us to come over and talk to him. We set a date to go over to his house on Friday. Well Thursday night he gave us a call and told us he wanted to be baptized.... He came to church the next Sunday and we set a date for him to get baptized on the 16th.

He had an interview with the Bishop this past Wednesday and asked the Bishop if he could get baptized this past Saturday because he didn't want to delay the day of his repentance... How awesome is that. He is SUCH  a stud and a blessing for us to be able to run into him. So we basically had a surprise baptism that we needed to get ready in 3 days.

All went well during the baptism minus the font overflowing while we went to lunch.... oops. We were in a panic to sweep all the water out the back door of the church but all went well. Simple and spiritual with a few of the members there.

Andres asked me to give him the Holy Ghost Sunday morning in church.... What an AMAZING experience that was. I really wish I could explain in words how it felt to give someone the Holy Ghost. It's one thing to be able to baptize someone but giving Andres the Holy Ghost was by far the greatest feeling I have had on my mission. I fasted the day before to be able to say all the correct things for my first time doing this ordinance (in Spanish I might add haha). But ya, I just wanted to let all of you know how much the Lord blessed us with Andres and also for me with the opportunidad to give Andres the Holy Ghost in Sacrament Meeting.

Our family who have fechas (on date for baptism) were struggling this past week. The daughter and the mom know they want to get baptized. The dad has a little more doubts. So on Saturday we had a cita with them and the Spirit was so strong, my comp crying, the family crying. We asked them ONE last time to pray as a family that night when we left to see if they should really get baptized the 30th of November and if the church was true. The next day they weren't able to come to church but they gave us a call in the middle of church. The dad called us and was super super happy and said ¨Elders, I got my answer.. I'm getting baptized on the 30th!!!!¨..... How amazing is that.... hahah I love it. We had a really good week. and I can tell the Lord is really blessing us.... 

The garbageman here in Chile are still on strike.... you can imagine the smell of 3 weeks of trash piled up in the street.... It's horrible.... Welcome to Chile hahaha. Nah but I'm loving life. We're getting blessed. I'm being obedient and my patience is getting better... I think. I miss you all so much but don't worry about me. I'm happy. These past 7 and a half months have flown by. I'm excited to see what's ahead of me. There is nothing like the mission.

Elder Paxman

 

FECHAS!!!!

Hi.

Sorry I don't have much time today. We just got back from a place called Lago Chungara, the most high altitude lake in the world or something idk.... It's a long ways away so it was an all day P-day activity. It is so awesome. I´ll send some pics. I took a lot!!!!

Anyways this week was a pretty darn good one. We were blessed to find a whole bunch of new investigators with a little help from our other missionaries in our zone who helped knock doors and did a zone attack. We also set 4 more fechas (baptismal dates) this past week for the 16th of Nov. and the 30th for a family of 3. I´ll tell you more about them and the other fecha next week. I'm low on time. But ya, we had a very productive week and hopefully we can keep finding people who are ready and want to hear our message. I remember an Email from Chase about a year ago that said he had 12 people on date for baptism so I gotta catch up to that haha jk.... but 5 is really really good and doesn't happen very often so hopefully the Lord will help these families make it to their baptism and progress everyday. Their names are Kelly, Ivan, Ivania, Giorginia, and Andres.

Andres is a.... strange story of how we found him. I was on intercambios with a young man in our ward one night and we were on the street corner and Andres walks up to us and tells us he is an investigator in our church..... wellll okay hahah. so we went along with it and he said he wants to keep getting the lessons so I got his number and we planned on passing by his house the next day. The next day in the morning he called us and told us that he wants to be baptized..... okay.... that NEVER happens so obviously we were a little confused but we went along with it and told him the things he needs to do to be able to get baptized. He agreed to all of them and the next day he went to church and we had a lesson with him after sacrament and we put a fecha with him for the 16th, in 2 weeks.

It turns out that he has been investigating the church for 5 years and he just barely turned 18 and he needed his mom's permission and signature to get baptized under the age of 18. So he has been going to church for the past 5 years and wants to get baptized, but with the recent ward boundary change he was assisting in another ward so now he is in our ward and the missionaries from the other ward stopped passing by...... ummmm ok hahaha how awesome. So ya we have a fecha with him and another family so he will be having an interview with the Bishop this Wednesday to see if he needs anything else.. But ya awesome huh.. haha.

This past week we did a lot of intercambios with members and I left with the Stake President and our Bishop. So we are working super hard with members and our ward. It was awesome to leave with the Stake President. He is trying to show all the Bishops in the Stake the example that they should leave and go on intercambios with the missionaries so ya haha cool, he´s a stud, very direct, reminds me of Elder Holland except he speaks Spanish....

This past week was my comps birthday. I made him breakfast. I'm such a good companion I know ;) jk. But ya we had a few asados (barbaques) and we put 3 fechas on his birthday so it was a good day for him haha. There is an Elder in our ward who is leaving to Paraguay on Wednesday. His name is Malcoln, he´s a stud. So we had a little party for him to say goodbye. I look up to him like he´s my comp. We did a ton of intercambios with him, I´ll send a pic of him. I have a lot of pictures this week I might have to show you all the rest in 17 months cause I have too many to send home. mmmm but ya...

Good week. We are working hard and hopefully we can work just as hard this upcoming week. The Lord is blessing me with patience... I ask for patience every night. That's probably the hardest thing for me to have but it's getting better..... I think.... Anyways love you all. I'm happy.

JK... the pictures aren't loading.... sad day..... sorry. Pictures are my favorite part of the day :( I'm sad oh well. Next week I´ll send a bunch.

Elder Paxman