Baptism, Super, Amazing!

What is up friends and family, I had an amazing week, I hope you had a great one as well!!!!! 

Monday was awesome, we played pickle ball at the church and President Rodriguez showed up and beat us all. It was fun to see him not dressed up and trash talking a little bit! Later that night we taught Alexis's 2 kids Kiko and Alexander while she was being interviewed for baptism(she passed)!!!! 

Tuesday we had a great district council all about how as we develop Christlike attributes we become better missionaries. It's amazing that we're able to become more like the Savior, it's truly amazing the joy we feel as we develop these attributes. Then we had a lesson with Alexis to review any questions that she had! Then we got to have a zoom with our friend Elizabeth who is so sweet! She is so kind and it's awesome to see the peace the gospel brings to her as we share it! Then we taught the Ramirez family about the Word of Wisdom, which we thought they would fight to have, but they gave up everything they were struggling with in a heartbeat and haven't had any substances since!!!! 

Wednesday I got to be with Elder Maus for the day and he is a fantastic missionary. We were able to start teaching a lady named Yvette who loves members of our church, but has never looked into it and she is loving learning more!!! We also had an awesome lesson with our friend Billy, who had just lost some loved ones and found comfort through the Plan of Salvation. We also ran into Donald, which is someone we've been looking for, for 4ish weeks and now we have good contact! 

Thursday was Zone Conference which is always amazing. I got to see some familiar faces which is always fun and also learned a lot!! President talked about the principles of missionary work which are: Love being the motive, obedience being the price, the Atonement of Jesus Christ being the principle, the Spirit being the key, and Jesus Christ being the reason! Then we learned from the assistants about being bold, talking about baptism with everyone and really letting people know why we are out on missions. Loved the zone conference, the spirit was amazing! 

Friday I had an exchange in Fillmore with Elder Price! He is not only super tall, but a really good missionary as well! He is in a spanish area, so I didn't do a whole lot of talking, but I was pretty proud of the couple of sentences I was able to throw into conversations! We met a super cool man named Victor and his family who are ready to grow closer to Christ, and a man named Elroy who has a sick car and wants to learn more about baptism!!!

Saturday was the best day ever!!!!! Alexis and her son were Baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!!! It was an amazing experience seeing the joy they had and the joy of the ward members there supporting them. Made my week! Then we had a lesson with our friend Jeff who said he wants to be baptized soon, so we're excited for that!!! 

Sunday the Ramirez family came to church, it is amazing to see a family of 5 get ready and come to church!! I'm not sure how my mom did it with all of us... they loved it. The ward recognized Alexis and Alexander, and have welcomed all our friends with open arms! We had a great visit with a Vietnam Veteran who has some fun stories that he shared, our recent convert Chris is preparing to receive his patriarchal blessing, then we had a sneak at the superbowl with an awesome part member family!! 

I love this quote from Neil L. Anderson from his talk in Apr. 2014, "Challenges will come to you, but as you trust in God, they will strengthen your faith." As we trust in God, our trials can refine us, and allow us to grow closer to Jesus Christ!! 

Hope you all had an amazing week, love you all!!!! 

Pics: 

1-3 baptism

4. E. Price 

5. Zone conference