Monday, October 13, 2014

I HAD A BAPTISM

I baptized Pedro Monteflix (our 90 year old investigator) this Saturday, and stood in the circle while he was confirmed yesterday. It was an amazing experience, and I'm going to go all the way back to the beginning.
So I contacted lil' ol' Pedro about five weeks ago while proselyting in a forest about 40 minutes from our house. We hadn't had much luck that day and decided to (of course) just go to one more house in the area. This happens often. We went onto a property which had about five or six spider-web infested shacks (all of which have satellite dishes because every shack in Paraguay has a satellite dish because TV is more important than A.C. and water), and saw a few people talking and contacted them. Not interested. So we went to another, it had some super old guys who basically only spoke Guaranì, so we skipped them, and then we contacted some more. Not interested. So we went back to the old guys. As it turns out, they knew a bit more español than we thought, and we started to teach them. At that exact moment, I knew I wanted to baptize Pedro. I saw him dressed in white in my mind and the rest is history. I felt the spirit so strong every time we taught him. His little brother Solfido, who is 85 years old, seemed to be less interested and less happy in general, so we started to focus on Pedro instead.
We initially also had some problems getting him to church, even though he had an extreme desire to attend, as I've already mentioned. Then we found out that he had already been to the church before, and liked it a lot. He told us after every sacrament meeting that it was "tranquilo" and that he felt great every time. He also said our church was different from every other church he had ever been to.
So now on to the baptism. We went and got him from his property in the woods, and he was all ready with his towel and everything, and took him to the church. We sang some hymns, and got into our baptismal clothes, and got in the font. All good so far. Okay so remember, he's 90. Born in 1924. He's basically made of Papier Machet and sawdust. So the sweet little guy gets into the font, all ready, and sort of struggled with the instructions. I said the ordenance, and aaaalmost got him to go under. He got a little scared and his eyes went all wide and he sort of fell forward. The second time, I explained it to him softly and in front of everyone, and it went smoothly. He was baptized. This guy, who I had contacted and been in every single lesson we ever had with, was finally baptized. He came out of the water, gave me a hug and two thumbs up and said "Tranquilo!"
So after his confirmation the next day we went and visited him and he told us how he wants better glasses to read the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book more often. He also told us that he felt stronger and healthier than he has in a long time, on top of feeling "mas... alto!"
Gosh what a wonderful experience. I have my first convert to the church, and his parents were born in the 1800s. I've just been so happy and excited for him and for my mission and to tell all of you.
Other than that, not much has been going on. I'm in Asunciòn right now to sign immigration papers, and all of the guys from the MTC were there, and my español is probably 100x better than theirs, which makes me very happy. I also got a letter with some pictures from mom and I think someone stole the flash drive you put in it. I did, however, get letters and a rockin' picture of Maren from her first day of school so at least that made it. Also Brynn is quite an artist and drew a picture of me. How sweet.
Anyway, this church is true. It can't not be true. Anyone who says it isn't true is probably in cahoots with Satan. To look into the partially blind eyes of a 90 year old man and see him reborn as a person without sin is a miracle like no other I've ever seen. I know I like to keep my emails light, but just know that I'm loving my mission and working to make the Lord, and you guys, proud.
Love,
Elder Wilson
Proffessional Baptizer



1 comment:

  1. Yay! Pedro got baptized! Maren's picture finally arrived! I love Elder Wilson's commentary.

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