First News: David and Carmen got baptized!!! It was an awesome conference and the spirit was very strong. The whole ward (that went) stayed to support them, and it was great. It was definitely a day full of drama, I’ll explain more later, but it ended really well.
Reading Jesus the Christ is definitely a good idea. I've honestly felt my relationship with Him become more real, He's not just a character in a book, He's our Savior, and a fervent study in His life will only bless and influence ours for the better. Thank you so much for the support and prayers, and going to temple so often, the Lord is blessing us here, and it's a miracle to be a missionary and participate.
This week our President called our Zone leaders and was a bit frustrated with us as a zone. He hasn't been pleased with our level of work lately and told us "ponganse las pilas" or put in the batteries. We worked our butts off to respond to this call to repentance, and instead of feeling disciplined or sad for him getting mad at us, I felt really energized and satisfied while working so hard. It's a great feeling knowing that we're doing all we can, and if the people we teach don't accept, it's sad, but one has the satisfaction knowing that the spirit testified of our words, and we did all we could. I'll never arrive to be a perfect missionary, but I definitely feel that I’ve improved in so many ways, and it's all the Lord's doing. He's molded a lazy, selfish, and prideful person into something that He can use to bring salvation to others. I know that it's not me doing the work, and I give thanks everyday for the success that He's blessed us with. I love this work.
The Stake Conference was honestly the best I’ve ever attended. I still remember my first stake conference here in Chile. It was my second week in Chile and I was sooo tired from walking all day, and slept through the whole thing haha. I feel that I’ve matured since that time. A Seventy, Elder Garcia, came and spoke to the members here. He reminded me of an Evangelical preacher with all the energy and movement that he had during his talk. Everybody loved his remarks and I felt the spirit very strongly as he spoke of temple marriage, giving an offering of rectitude to God, and he told all the youth that were in the age of preparing to serve a mission that he loved them, but that he didn't want to see them the next year when he would return to speak, and told them Go on a Mission!! He expressed his love for the two Elders that showed up at his door over 20 years ago, and gave his testimony of missionary work, that it's a miracle, and it really is. That God trusts 20-year-old boys to preach His gospel is amazing to me, and I know it's to prove that it's His work. Our zone was chosen to sing as the choir for the conference, and we did great if I do say so myself. About 5 minutes before the conference started, my zone leaders told me I’d be singing a solo during the first song for the first verse. I was fine with it and it went well, though I’m sure my face was bright red haha which surprised me cuz I’ve basically gotten rid of all timidity (is that a word?) since I’ve been on the mission. We sang another song at the end that was super powerful. I think in English it's called " The Prophets first Prayer" but I’m not sure. It's the one that describes Josephs First Vision. We sang the first two versus with the notes from "Come thou Fount" and the third verse an Elder gave the story of the first vision as we hummed in the background. It was crazy spiritual and everyone was in tears by the end.
After the conference we went to check on the baptismal font and it was only 1/3 full....I thought oh crap haha. Apparently it was full and someone had shut off the water, but by accident had also hit the button that empties the font. So we hurried and began to fill it back up, changed and took pictures, taking our time while doing it. We got the font filled again, and as we were about to start the baptism, Carmen came up to me and said that her son and daughter in law weren't there. We went outside and saw that they were arguing and her son, Juan Carlos, just left and walked away. His wife Celia chased after him, and we called him but he wouldn't answer his phone. Carmen began to cry cuz the support of her son was the most important part for her. Her family are all less active members and have had a really rough time, but want to come back to church. We walked back into the room where we were holding the service, and I took Carmen aside and told her that we were her brothers and sisters and that the whole ward was there to love and support her. She said that she would go ahead and be baptized anyway. Right before her baptism, her son walked back into the room with a scowl on his face, but at least the selfish bum came back to support his mom. I baptized David first and he said really loud after "that water was cold!" everyone laughed. Then Carmen came into the water. She was super super nervous and gripped my arm really tight and was trembling. I gently helped her into the font and said a few words to calm her nerves that only she could hear. As I went to dunk her, she tensed up big time, but I shoved her under the water and it all went well haha. It was a great way to end my time here in Molina, (I’m not going to say I’m leaving yet haha) but President said it's time for me to go, but he also asked me how I’d feel to stay in my sector, so we'll see what happens.
I've loved my time here and love the members and converts that we have, but I do feel that it's time for me to go. I hope the Elders afterward can come in and build upon what I’ve done here and keep goin.
Thanks for all your love and support like always, send a big HOLA to Ash, Jardin, Addy, Jeff, Chelsi, Talmage, and Cadence, and all the rest of the Larsen slash Christenson crew. I love you all tons!
Elder Tanner
p.s. GO COUGARS!!!