So, Jaime got baptized on Wednesday and confirmed yesterday!!!!!! He has the biggest testimony I have ever met. He lost his job about 2 or 3 months ago just because he told his boss he was investigating the church. But he had the faith to continue listening and learning and he found a new job and got baptized into the true church! After the baptism, he got up and bore his testimony. No one would have guessed from listening to it that he´s a recent convert. He was quoting Elder Holland and President Monson and talking about all sorts of things in the Book of Mormon. We sang The Lord Is My Light for the musical number because it´s his favorite song. He LOVES to sing. Even though he has one of the worst voices I have ever heard in my life, I love to listen to him because he´s singing his testimony and he´s singing it shamelessly. It doesn´t matter that he´s tone-deaf. He loves singing hymns because he loves his Heavenly Father. He is just wonderful. We had a lesson with him yesterday after his confirmation and all he kept saying the whole time was that he was so happy to be baptized and to have the gift of the Holy Ghost and to be a member of this church. He just kept grinning and repeating "I´m really happy. I´m so happy." It was amazing. I always feel the sweetest Spirit when I´m around him.
Julio for the moment doesn´t feel prepared to get baptized because he doesn´t think he has a testimony. He went to Jaime´s baptism (we had 7 investigators there!) and we think he´s comparing himself to Jaime, who is already perfect in every way, and he doesn´t feel THAT prepared. He told us, "I don´t have a testimony like Jaime´s. If I had to get up there and talk, I wouldn´t have anything to say." And so we asked him if he knew that the church was true. And he said "I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I just don´t have a testimony." And so we tried to explain to him that that IS a testimony and that is all he needs to get baptized, but he still wasn´t sure. So this week we´re going to go over the baptismal questions with him and tell him that if he can answer these questions, the prophet and the Lord think that he is ready to get baptized.
Harrison is also going to get baptized on the 17th, and he´s really cool. He´s from Ghana, but he speaks both English and Spanish, so we teach him in Spanish. He is really eager to learn and always accepting of everything we tell him. And it´s not just an "okay whatever you say" but he knows that everything is true. We taught the law of chastity and he knew it was true because he hadn´t always followed it and he had suffered the consequences. And he already lives the Word of Wisdom in every point because he´s a personal trainer and a boxer. Cool, no? Our only challenge with him is that he comes late to everything. Like REALLY late. 20 minutes or so to church, 35 minutes late to the baptism, sometimes an hour and a half late to our teaching appointments. We always teach him after any activity or church meeting that he comes to because that means he´s already there and we don´t have to wait for him.
We also got a few new investigators this week. Cool story: This week we went to go teach Marta, who works with her husband in the fruteria down the street. We just go in there when business is a little quieter and teach her there in the store. So we were teaching her, and in came her friend Isabel, who joined in our conversation about God, because Marta wants to believe that God exists but has never really felt His reality or existence. So we´re talking about this when another man, another friend of Marta, walks in and joins in as well. Marta asks "What religion are you?" and he says "I´m Mormon." We just stared at him, not sure if he was joking or being smart-alecky or what. And then he said "I´ve ever been baptized but I have their little blue Bible and I like the Mormon church." And so we got his number and we´re going to meet with him this week. Crazy, no?
I love being a missionary and even when it´s hard, there´s always something or someone to remind me why I´m really here and who I´m really serving.
Have a great week, and remember, I like mail. :)
con mucha felicidad y amor,
Hermana Lara Schaumann
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