First Baptism!!

Some excerpts from a letter Emily mailed home a few days ago: 

I like teaching, especially Hispanics. They love Jesus.  I went to a dinner at member's house the other day and taped to the door and also on a shelf next to the door were two of the Jesus pass along cards that had probably been there since the missionaries had taught them 10 years ago.  They never throw away or hide pictures of Jesus.  If you want to ensure that something stays in a Hispanic house put a picture of Jesus on it. We've done it a few times and it hasn't failed yet!

Our ward mission leader resigned (and decided to quit the church), so we don't have a ward mission leader right now which is bad timing since we have a baptism coming up between the Saturday afternoon session of conference and the Priesthood session.  

At the Zoo "Cute"

Feeding the parakeets at the zoo on P-day

"Slimy"

Giraffe's have really long tongues!

Her E-mail from Monday October 7, 2013

Howdy! How are things? Things are great here. Man, Conference! I love it. It is pretty much the greatest thing ever. 

So first, the baptism. The M family are the greatest! Everything went off great. I said the opening prayer and Hermana Chambers sang a song with another missionary that was here teaching them last transfer. They sang "How Great Thou Art." It was really good! We managed (with lots of help) to get everything together; clothes, filling the font, the program, the speakers, people to baptize and confirm them, etc. Also, we got our recently resigned mission leader to speak.  Despite the fact that he quit the church. From what I understand, preparing the talk made him realize he needed to come back. He didn't look good though, and neither did his wife. The fire was gone. We're definitely going to be trying to help him out more. We were a bit worried he was going to go crazy and tell them not to get baptized or go off about the church or something. You just never know, even before they quit the church. But his talk was actually really excellent. No false doctrine was preached, the Spirit was there, and it really helped him feel it too. Which is good. And the M family really liked it too. Two birds with one stone. Also we had one of the young women speak. One of the M family brought a secretary from her High School that she is good friends with. She is going to be the greatest missionary someday. And she really wants to go, too. Almost every lesson she asks us a question like, "What made you decide to come on a mission?" and stuff like that. It is super cute. And their little niece/granddaughter, Yarid (to be pronounced like Jaddy, sort of) is five and she was CONSTANTLY telling us she was going to be baptized with them, and was super sad when we had to tell her every five seconds that she still had three years. But she really loved watching them get baptized. She is the cutest little girl. 

So yeah, they were baptized and then confirmed, and they all loved it lots and the girls were crying and the boys were both super excited. There was a visible difference in them. The Spirit works miracles.

The "M" family

The "M" family with the Bishop and one of the counselors

So, conference! Greatest thing ever, right? I just realized I should have brought my notes with me to the library. But unfortunately, I didn't so I'll just have to share what I remember and maybe next week I'll try to bring them.

I loved President Uchtdorf's talk! The quote that said, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" was super inspiring to me. I am definitely going to work on that more. Also, Elder Holland's talk was super interesting to me. I've never heard a General Authority speak on that before. It was much needed to many people, definitely.

I also really like Elder Bednar's talk. It was applicable not only to tithing, but pretty much every commandment. I loved his analogy about the windows of heaven, and how windows allow natural light to fall into the room, which is like subtle blessings that come into our lives that are easily overlooked. Also he talked about how rather than change our circumstances, God changes us to be able to deal with them. I never really noticed what he said about how the Stripling Warriors prayed for strength and were given faith, hope, and love and stuff like that. Not exactly what a warrior might think he needs, but God knows us well enough and will not leave us without the tools we need to handle any situation that is thrown at us.

I felt like there were some major themes to conference this year that like everyone mentioned. For instance, it was very geared towards how men and women (women especially) have their own roles to fulfill and both are needed to have the kind of home that God wants. I loved the quote by Elder Christofferson about how we have enough women that are tough, we need more that are tender, etc. I don't remember the whole thing, but I definitely want to get it. I REALLY want this conference on video. In English and Spanish. 

Also, another theme was like preparing more and more because hard times are coming. I got goosebumps when Elder Hales was talking about how the saints in the early days of the restored church were terribly persecuted, but we are not. Then he said, "It will not always be so." And almost everyone talked about some way to protect the home, and how important it is to have a Gospel-centered home, read the scriptures, build Spiritual stamina and strength, and stuff like that. Everyone talked lots about protecting the sanctity of the family, and it reminded me of the "They Saw Our Day" Cd and how almost every prediction talked about families falling apart right before the craziness. It is so important to build strong, Gospel centered families and testimonies that can last through hardship.

Elder Nelson's talk was wonderful too. I loved how he combined science and the Gospel in his talk. I feel like I can never get enough of that. The other day I was reading in Abraham about the creation and thinking about it scientifically, and it really brought a lot of light to my understanding of it. I found it interesting to hear an Apostle talk about our bodies and how amazing they really are. They truly are incredible. Like none other. There can be no other explanation but that they are from God. Would an explosion in an ink shop produce a dictionary? I think not. There had to be someone behind it who can see it all and who knows how to do everything.

So yeah, I just really loved Conference. It was fantastic. I'm dying for the Ensign to come out so I can read it again and highlight parts I like.

Also, listening to conference (especially the Australian guy and the thing afterwards about missionaries in London) I realized how long it has been since I have heard any sort of accent except Spanish accents. And I haven't even heard that many of those because usually I'm speaking Spanish to them, not them speaking English to me. But every once in a while there are people that will come up to me and speak their adorable little broken English to me and it just goes to show how great people are. Even though they know I speak Spanish (Ha... Ha... Funny) they will make themselves uncomfortable and try to help me out. I love those people. Also, invariably those are the ones who never make fun of my Spanish and are always telling us how great we are doing speaking Spanish. 

But yeah. Things are great here, I'm thinking this week is going to slow down lots. Last week was all scrambling to get ready for the baptism and visit them every day but still visit all our other investigators too. 

Love you all! Have a great week! Write me letters... They are the most exciting things ever on a mission. I never knew til I got here. But they really are. 

Adios!

Hermana Emily Pratt