Will I see heaven in mine?"
P Day Soccer....
This week the Lord worked miracles in our area and put a glass of water in Baka's hand. HE GOT BAPTIZED WOOO.
We
had his baptismal interview on Tuesday, which he almost didn't go to :P
we showed up and were like, "okay Baka, let's go!" and he told us, "I
haven't eaten all day, I'm gunna wait for this food over here to be
ready. We'll do the interview another day", but we told him that the ZLs
were waiting for him to do the interview, and he just kinda shrugged
and said, "eh, one hour of hunger hasn't ever killed anyone", so we
walked with him. We couldn't smell any alcohol on him and felt really
good about it, and thankfully, he passed his interview! Saturday came
for his baptism, and he seemed pretty stoked for it. We got him a
baptismal suit and gave it for him to change into, and he just about
starting changing into it right in the middle of the hallway. We
suggested it might be best if he went and changed in a bathroom :P
hahaha. Another thing that made it even more classic was when our bishop
showed up to direct the baptism, and he told us the member who was
supposed to baptize him wasn't going to make it, and suggested that one
of us do it. I didn't have any of the stuff I needed to baptize him, but
I got in a baptismal suit too and was able to baptize him. It was really cool :)
it was also funny because when I changed back into my pants there was a
distinctive wet line showing through them. I thought that was funny.
Baka then got up and bore a fireball testimony, he was more or less
shouting in Creole at the front which was classic, he focused a lot on
how he knew Christ as his Savior and that was what was important to him,
and then pulled as much a mic drop as one can do at a church pulpit by
just sorta shouting 'AMEN' and walked off. It was a moment I'll remember
forever, it was classic. Heavenly Father has brought about an immense
change in that man's life over the last two or so months.
This
week has had me thinking a lot about how the gospel does truly bless us
and give us happiness in our lives. It's something I've seen in people
as I've taught them and seen their willingness to act and change. In a
mega contrast to the changes we saw in Baka's life, we also had the
opportunity last night to visit with my recent convert from Maio, Luisa,
who has fallen back into old habits from her past. In talking to her
and catching up, I asked her, "Luisa, are you happy right now?" and she
responded, "no, I'm not". It was really sad to hear. To me it just put
such a stark contrast before me in what following the commandments and
the gospel brings to our lives.
This week also
brought a lot of stress in organizing transfers. I sorta mentioned last
week how tons of flights are booked up for the next 3 weeks, making it
impossible to get spots on flights for transfers. We also had another
fiasco in that a boat ticket for President on the weekend was bought for
the same date a month prior, and so we had to go about fixing the
mistake. Since there's like legit one boat company, you basically just
have to deal with what you get. They told us on Wednesday they would
make the change and everything would be fine, but on Friday when we went
to confirm, they still hadn't done ANYTHING, so our guy was like, "uhh,
yeah, I'll shoot off an email to another guy, there" and that was it.
We called on Saturday when the Zone Leaders in Fogo told us his ticket
still wasn't there, and we called our guy to try and fix it, who again
promised to get it done, but after they closed at noon on Saturday, we
heard nothing from the guy. We spent an entire weekend stressing because
President needed a ticket early Monday morning to return, and we had no
way of going about getting him a ticket. Some divine intervention
allowed him to buy a boat ticket this morning before he got on,
basically showing that we got no solution from the boat company STILL
#stresslife
Elder Neville and I are having a
lot of fun, we're getting along really well. Right now we're sorta in
the middle of an overhaul of our investigators in our area, lots aren't
progressing, so some change is necessary. Sometimes it sucks, because
people you grow to love just don't move no matter how hard you try or
love them. They can be the nicest, coolest person in the world, but if
they aren't willing, there really is nothing you can do for them. It's
sad, but it's really teaching me the importance of accountability and
following through.
Once small miracle from the
past week, we went to visit a couple we've been working with forever,
Mundinho and Nixi. They've been coming to church pretty well ever since
I've been in this area, but haven't been baptized due to the fact they
aren't married. Since Elder Neville and I have been together, we've been
focusing a lot on other people, and they've just sorta fallen through
the cracks a bit. We went to visit them this week, and they expressed to
us how they missed us and didn't understand why we weren't visiting as
much as in the past. We explained to them the details, about how we're
here to help people, but that we can only do so much. In talking to them
about how they can have the blessings of an eternal family, we invited
them to think about marriage in September, so that they can be baptized.
For the first time pretty well ever, they actually considered our
invite for marriage, and told us they would pray about it. It was a
small way in which the Lord touched their hearts, and hopefully they
will use that to keep them moving.
It's been a long week, but a good one :)
Love y'all :)
Elder Massey
P Day Soccer....
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