Elder Ian Rich: Nov 25: Wet Feet

On Friday Cicalia got baptized. She truly is a miracle, we were afraid she would back out last minute but she actually came to the church. And when she changed into her baptismal clothing we knew it was happening. She was super shy and did not want anybody to see her. The baptismal service was super powerful. All of Cicalia's granddaughters gave either a message or the prayers and each one of them cried their eyes out in gratitude for the miracle that had happened. I had the privilege of baptizing Cicilia. Since she is older, I had to help her down the stairs and down into the water. Before I began the prayer, I looked up to see her daughter, Vicky, and her whole family with tears flowing down their eyes. Never did they think this miracle would happen. But God specifically knew that Elder Hunter and I could touch her heart and help her make this next step in her life that every person and missionary thought would be impossible.

Jefrett, on the other hand, got wet feet, which means he backed out at the last minute. He got scared. He has a lot of doubts about a Halloween dance we had a while back saying we shouldn't be worshiping Satan and God at the same time. Hopefully, he will understand we don't and will get baptized this weekend.

We had an open house at the church this Saturday too. All of us missionaries had a competition to see who could bring the most people from the street and get them to take a tour of our church. We all spread out in our own directions and started talking with hundreds of people, but mainly getting rejected. Elder Hunter and I ended up bringing 12 people. It was a lot of fun but was super hard. On a particular contact that some other missionaries had, they decided to talk to 4 young kids who are maybe 17 and 18 and on their way to play soccer. Thinking they would just get rejected, they decided to just invite them to the church and they accepted and took the tour. The next day, out of our surprise, we see 2 out of the four sitting at church. They loved it. That same night we had a big family home evening with our bishop and we invited one of the kids to come with us and eat some free food. Out of our surprise, he brought both of his parents and his two younger brothers telling them how much he liked church. We had an incredibly powerful family home evening and his whole family was stoked. They are super interested in listening and coming to church.

A great example of how the Lord works through his servants in mysterious ways to bring and invite his children once again to come unto him.

Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I've been thinking about how we need to always be grateful for the little things we have. This year especially, I'm grateful for my family, my country, my agency, the atonement, and the loving arms God offers for each one of us. I know he lives and loves us.

See ya in 294

Love Elder Rich