July 13, 2015

Marina got baptized on Saturday! She is so awesome, and here are some pictures of the event. Also, just so you know, whenever there is a baptism, there is always something that goes wrong making you worry if everything will continue. This baptism the young woman said that the white dress that we had given her was too short. She said that it was transparent so she couldn’t come out of the bathroom. Another sister went in the bathroom to check on her, and then she ran to her house to get something to help her out. She came back and gave it to her. But, in the meantime, my comp was stressing, as was I. We knew from the last baptism that we had, that a member had brought bigger white clothes to their house to wash them but they hadn’t returned the clothes yet. So, my comp grabbed a member with him (because I had already changed into my white clothes and everything to baptize Marina) and the 2 of them took off running. Seriously like running the boundaries of our ward back home. He ran it about twice in order to get back with bigger clothes for Marina to put on. Not sure if you’re understanding up until this point, but anyways, Marina ended up leaving the bathroom before my comp came back. It turns out that the dress was a perfect size! She was complaining that it was too short because she’s used to dresses and skirts that go down to her feet. Oh my gosh!!!! It was so ridiculous! My comp came back just before we were going to start the baptism and he was covered in sweat, panting heavily. As you may have guessed, he was upset over the fact that it was completely unnecessary to have him run across town for clothes that she didn’t need. When I finally baptized Marina I told her to plug her nose so that water wouldn’t get in her nose. She did, and I dunked her under the water. Then, lifting her up, she made a huge gasp for air. I’m pretty sure that she didn’t close her mouth under the water and that she was drinking it or something. Afterwards, her mom said that the reason she did that is because she had a bad experience with water in her childhood. She never told me that. I honestly got scared when she did that! But, anyway, Marina is awesome and excited to go on a mission when she is a member for a year. She’s super excited to live the gospel. Her parents came to her baptism and confirmation as well. We were able to get an appointment with them to visit them tomorrow. They seem interested in finding out about the church now that 2 of their children have joined.

Yesterday, in her confirmation in sacrament meeting, there was a darn dog in the sacrament meeting that followed its owner inside. I went to remove it, and I ended up having to drag it by the neck. As I did, the church cat came over and started hissing at the dog almost attacking me by mistake! My comp told me to forget about it and not worry. I have found that one of my pet peeves is having animals in the sacrament meeting because I know that it’s one of the most sacred things we do in the church and the church isn’t a dang zoo! Phewwwwww, anyway, calming down... so that’s what happened with the baptism and confirmation. I baptized and confirmed her. It was awesome. It was my first confirmation of a convert. I had done it in the temple before, but never in a sacrament meeting for a convert. It was great. I really felt the spirit whisper things to me to say. A really neat experience. I know that God was telling me what to say in that moment. 

Also, I’m sending pics of Thursday when we went to do service for a less active family. We hiked to the top of the hill here in San Gabriel. It was really high up! Also, there are pics of wall graffiti that was really cool. There’s a sign that says “Trash Prohibited” in that specific area. In the whole length of the side of the street that is the only place that has trash. Funny. There is also a pic showing how the hot dogs here are made of chicken meat and they come individually wrapped which had me confused the first one that I bit into...

I love you all. I hope you all have an awesome week. My comp is a tough adjustment so far but I’m working on dealing with his pharisaic ways. Wish Sarah and Joe a happy anniversary for me and happy b-day again, Becca. I love you and Dad so much and love the whole fam!

Love,

Elder Wilson

Graffiti

San Gabriel hill service project

"Trash prohibited" San Gabriel

Marina blas Tomas baptism

chicken hot dogs