Hello World!
How´re you all doing? I am doing WONDERFUL! Eventhough it´s winter, today is a VERY nice day, and i am loving it!
This last week was fairly productive! The other day we were standing out in front of the church waiting for somebody to arrive for an appointment, and we were doing contacts, trying to see if we could get somebody to come inside for a tour and a quick lesson. I did a contact with a man, and he didn´t have time, but he said that we could pass by in another moment. We went by 2 days later at the end of the day, and had a great lesson with him and his family! There are 8 in the family, 6 that are older than 8!
Ok - SOOOOOOOOO...on Saturday morning, Macarena had her baptismal interview - at about 11am. After her interview we started filling up the baptismal font because it takes about 7 hours to fill. We left the water running like always, and then Elder Labra and I went around doing what we do - and trying to find more people to teach. Macarena said that she would be arriving to the church between 6.15 and 6.30, and Elder Labra and I arrived at about 6 to start setting things up. When we got there, i realized that the water wasn´t running. There were already people in the church, and i thought that they might´ve turned it off because it was already full, but when i went to look, the baptismal font only had about 3 inches of water. Elder Labra and I about freaked out. We went to see why the people had turned off the water, or what had happened and they said that it was like that when they got there, and then we realized that the water to the church had been cut off. We went to talk with a neighbor who is a member, and she told us that she didn´t have water either, that it had been cut off to the neighborhood. We knew that the church has a well with an electric pump, and so we were trying to call the bishop, ex-bishop, or anybody that we could to figure out how the well works - we didn´t have any luck - the bishop wasn´t answering, neither was the ex-bishop, or anybody we were calling. Elder Labra were trying to figure out what to do. Macarena had invited lots of friends, and family. Do we change teh baptism to tomorrow? Will we have water tomorrow? What can we do? How are we going to tell macarena? WE were destraught, but we had faith. We were diong EVERYTHING in our power so that the baptism would happen. 5 minutes before macarena got there, we heard the water come back into the building. That problem was solved, but there was still a baptismal font to fill, and only 30 minutes before teh baptism. Macarenta arrived with about 5 friends, and we went into a room with her to tell her what happened. We gave her the options - We can have the baptism tonight - but it´ll be another 2 or so hours to fill the baptismal font, and that water will be cold, or we can have the baptism tomorrow whenever you want after church. She said ´I don´t care if that water is cold or warm, i´m going to be baptized today.¨ The words were simple, but the spirit was very strong. She has an amazing determination! Elder Labra went to see the water level after we talked with her, and the water was already half way full. WE didn´t realize that the cold water filled the font SO quickly - 30 minutes later (at 7, as we had planned) the baptismal font was full, and we started the baptism a little bit late...at like 7.20. I baptized Macarena, and the water was FREEZING. I´m glad that i didn´t have to go under completely, but i told her the same thing that my dad told me when i was baptized (because when i was baptized, the water heater in the church was broken) - that she shouldn´t make any weird faces. The baptism was great, and nobody realized that the water was freezing cold, exceopt those that we told.
This was a great test of faith. We knew that She was ready, and needed to be baptized, and we did everything in our power. Even though our efforts weren´t enough, the lord blessed us, and everything was great!
After the baptism, she bore her testimony to everybody that was there. WOW! The things that she said surprised me, because even i didn´t realize that she understood so well the doctrine. She said that she hoped that everybody could know what they needed to do to be able to recieve exaltation, and live forever with Heavenly Father. On sunday, she also shared her testimony in sacrament meeting!
This weekend, we have 2 baptisms - Matías Montenegro, and Ariel Gimenez!
Yesterday in Gospel Principles, we had the class about the word of wisdom. The class was great for Matías, because he´s quitting smoking and drinking. He shared with the class that he stopped smoking about 20 days ago, and he doesn´t have desires to do it any more!
I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Thanks to his atonement, everything that we do is possible. Thanks to his atonement, Macarena could feel that she has been cleansed of her sins. Thanks to His atonement, Matías is changing his life, and leaving behind things that were harming him.
I love this gospel, and the oportunity that i have to share it with the Argentines every day!
I Love you all!
Love,
Elder Denton
How´re you all doing? I am doing WONDERFUL! Eventhough it´s winter, today is a VERY nice day, and i am loving it!
This last week was fairly productive! The other day we were standing out in front of the church waiting for somebody to arrive for an appointment, and we were doing contacts, trying to see if we could get somebody to come inside for a tour and a quick lesson. I did a contact with a man, and he didn´t have time, but he said that we could pass by in another moment. We went by 2 days later at the end of the day, and had a great lesson with him and his family! There are 8 in the family, 6 that are older than 8!
Ok - SOOOOOOOOO...on Saturday morning, Macarena had her baptismal interview - at about 11am. After her interview we started filling up the baptismal font because it takes about 7 hours to fill. We left the water running like always, and then Elder Labra and I went around doing what we do - and trying to find more people to teach. Macarena said that she would be arriving to the church between 6.15 and 6.30, and Elder Labra and I arrived at about 6 to start setting things up. When we got there, i realized that the water wasn´t running. There were already people in the church, and i thought that they might´ve turned it off because it was already full, but when i went to look, the baptismal font only had about 3 inches of water. Elder Labra and I about freaked out. We went to see why the people had turned off the water, or what had happened and they said that it was like that when they got there, and then we realized that the water to the church had been cut off. We went to talk with a neighbor who is a member, and she told us that she didn´t have water either, that it had been cut off to the neighborhood. We knew that the church has a well with an electric pump, and so we were trying to call the bishop, ex-bishop, or anybody that we could to figure out how the well works - we didn´t have any luck - the bishop wasn´t answering, neither was the ex-bishop, or anybody we were calling. Elder Labra were trying to figure out what to do. Macarena had invited lots of friends, and family. Do we change teh baptism to tomorrow? Will we have water tomorrow? What can we do? How are we going to tell macarena? WE were destraught, but we had faith. We were diong EVERYTHING in our power so that the baptism would happen. 5 minutes before macarena got there, we heard the water come back into the building. That problem was solved, but there was still a baptismal font to fill, and only 30 minutes before teh baptism. Macarenta arrived with about 5 friends, and we went into a room with her to tell her what happened. We gave her the options - We can have the baptism tonight - but it´ll be another 2 or so hours to fill the baptismal font, and that water will be cold, or we can have the baptism tomorrow whenever you want after church. She said ´I don´t care if that water is cold or warm, i´m going to be baptized today.¨ The words were simple, but the spirit was very strong. She has an amazing determination! Elder Labra went to see the water level after we talked with her, and the water was already half way full. WE didn´t realize that the cold water filled the font SO quickly - 30 minutes later (at 7, as we had planned) the baptismal font was full, and we started the baptism a little bit late...at like 7.20. I baptized Macarena, and the water was FREEZING. I´m glad that i didn´t have to go under completely, but i told her the same thing that my dad told me when i was baptized (because when i was baptized, the water heater in the church was broken) - that she shouldn´t make any weird faces. The baptism was great, and nobody realized that the water was freezing cold, exceopt those that we told.
This was a great test of faith. We knew that She was ready, and needed to be baptized, and we did everything in our power. Even though our efforts weren´t enough, the lord blessed us, and everything was great!
After the baptism, she bore her testimony to everybody that was there. WOW! The things that she said surprised me, because even i didn´t realize that she understood so well the doctrine. She said that she hoped that everybody could know what they needed to do to be able to recieve exaltation, and live forever with Heavenly Father. On sunday, she also shared her testimony in sacrament meeting!
This weekend, we have 2 baptisms - Matías Montenegro, and Ariel Gimenez!
Yesterday in Gospel Principles, we had the class about the word of wisdom. The class was great for Matías, because he´s quitting smoking and drinking. He shared with the class that he stopped smoking about 20 days ago, and he doesn´t have desires to do it any more!
I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Thanks to his atonement, everything that we do is possible. Thanks to his atonement, Macarena could feel that she has been cleansed of her sins. Thanks to His atonement, Matías is changing his life, and leaving behind things that were harming him.
I love this gospel, and the oportunity that i have to share it with the Argentines every day!
I Love you all!
Love,
Elder Denton
What strong faith Macarena has. She sounds like she is ready to win her future battles with Satan. Macarena, sometimes life gets hard, but the outcome is worth it.
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