October 12, 2015

The Anton Family finally got baptized!!  They were so happy! They are such an amazing family! It was a great experience. I baptized the little girl, Susuky. The first time she told me what her name was, I asked a follow up question. “Oh, Suzuki like the car brand?” She then responded, “No, I’m not a car, and my name is S-u-s-u-k-y” and she proceeded to spell it out for me so that I wouldn’t be confused. Haha, it was funny. My comp baptized the little boy, Kevin, and his dad, Jose. Jose gave like a 30 minute "testimony" after being baptized. It was a long story and thank-timony of sorts. But, you could tell that he was just filled with emotion for finally being able to be baptized. This family has been through so many problems. 2 or 3 times they had had all the necessary papers to get married (its SUPER difficult to get married here...) and something had happened to ruin it every time. That’s why the wedding was such a miracle, because it’s something they had been trying to do for 4 or 5 months now! The baptism was also cool because Jose said that earlier that day he had seen friends outside drinking beer. He had previously joined them in that practice. He went outside, and upon seeing them, without thinking he accepted the cup of beer and was about to drink. Then, he thought to himself, “What am I doing? I’m about to be baptized in a couple of hours”.... He told them that he wasn’t going to drink because he couldn’t. Being men, they started to bust his chops for being a wimp and a loser. He kept explaining to them that he’s a different guy now. Eventually the friends got a little embarrassed and packed up there boxes of beer to save it for later. One of the guys even invited Jose into his house to meet his family. Jose shared that experience with everyone that was at the baptism. It was really awesome that he was able to listen to the spirit in that moment tell him what was right and what was wrong. He’s a powerful guy! A couple of years ago his wife was less active. He was completely anti-Mormon. He had heard bad rumors about the church and when missionaries had come to his door he would slam the door on them and shew them away. About 5 months ago he opened the door to 2 elders that were in this area before me and my companion got here. He says that he saw something in them that he had never seen before. It sparked his curiosity, he let them in, and it all started from there. They rescued his less active wife, Heidy, and then started working hard with the family. The family really loves those 2 elders. It’s awesome to see how much Jose has changed! I know that this gospel can make these changes that’s why I love it and I live it! I’m so grateful to be a part of this gospel and share this message with those that so desperately need it. I know that Jesus is real and that He lives to heal every wound! 

It was so great to see them accomplish such a great thing. My week finished well. During the week we had to go to couple missionary’s house to talk with them about incidents that had happened the last transfer (other missionaries being disobedient with the rules of the opposite sex). That wasn’t fun but, it’s part of the job too. We also had something called Concilio de Lideres on Tuesday. It’s a meeting of just Zone Leaders with President and the Assistants. It was awesome to be there and we ate American food for lunch (pulled pork sandwiches and baked potato with sour cream). It was awesome! I haven’t eaten that one time on my mission! We also bought Monopoly last Monday and we’ve been playing that with the family that we live with. It’s been lots of fun. But, the copy of Monopoly was total trash. It looked like a foreign copy. We had to cut the cards out, pieces were missing, and the cards and board real estate were spelled wrong! It was ridiculously funny. Haha.

Have an awesome week!!!

Love,

Elder Wilson