Juliana's baptism

9/21  We had a marvelous week, and to top it off, Juliana was baptized!  We had been making sure we had everything planned for a while, and all our work paid off.  The baptismal service was magnificent!  She and her family got there early enough to get changed and all ready.  We took a couple of pictures with the family, then started the service.  Juliana's dad invited a ton of his friends, and they all came!  We must have had at least 70 people in the chapel that night, almost all of which were nonmembers. It was incredible to see how excited that family was for the baptism and how eager they were to share that experience with all of their friends.  The service went very smoothly, and Juliana's dad did the ordinance perfectly.  All of the members were so excited to see so many people in the chapel, and we plan to work with that excitement.  

Souri didn't quite feel ready to be baptized yet.  We talked with her, and she says that she knows she wants to be baptized, she just doesn't want to rush it.  She also wants to make sure she can get Sundays off work so she can commit to coming to church.  We had several really spiritual lessons with her this week, and we have the baptismal goal of this Saturday with her.  We are going to work to help her feel ready and prepared, and we hope to see her baptized on Saturday.  Keep her in your prayers.

 

One thing I learned this week is that in order to learn the most from our scripture study, we need to apply the scriptures to ourselves.  This also applies when teaching from the scriptures.  Reading a scripture in a lesson is good, but if we don't apply it to the student's life, it's just a story.  When we truly apply and live the doctrines taught to us from the scriptures, that is where the true learning comes from.  That is also the way we gain a true testimony that the scriptures are true -- by applying and living by their principles and teachings.  I know that the scriptures are the word of God, because for the past year, I have been reading and applying their principles in missionary work, and I have seen miracles.

Juliana's family at her baptism 

Filling the font with Hermano Flores, branch mission leader

 

We just finished playing a game of fútbol with our zone.  It was super fun.