October 12 2009 Baptism This Week

Outside the church at Jose's baptism

Jose's Baptism


Happy Columbus Day! Happy birthday Zac!

Everybody seems to be complaining about the cold weather, but I'm pretty jealous. It's sooo hot. I'm wet from sweat all day long.

I guess I am pretty fortunate to be with all native speakers all the time. In this mission there are a lot more Mexican elders than gringos, and the sisters are all Mexican. So it is pretty likely that I will be with native companions my whole mission.

This week was pretty good. We had a baptism on Saturday. The baptism was cool, yet kind of sad at the same time. We have been teaching a family for a while and we challenged them for baptism on the 10th. It was going to be the dad, mom, and the two oldest kids. They all seemed to be way excited. On Friday, the day before the baptism, my companion and the district leader went to do the interview. The mom told them that she wanted to wait and that she wanted her kids to wait until they were older. But Jose, the dad, still wanted to be baptized.

The baptism went well. On Sunday he was confirmed. Later as I was teaching the gospel principle class, he started to tell me about the challenges he has had lately and he bore his testimony to me. I have never met a recent convert with such a strong testimony. I know that he is going to be a faithful member, and in time his wife will accept. I hope that one day he will have the opportunity to baptize his wife and children.

I will beging to answer Dad's questions. I am in a ward not a branch. This Sunday we only had 30 people in the church, but last Sunday we had almost 80. We don't have a chapel. We have a casa de oracion (house of prayer). It is a house turned into a church. It has a baptismal font behind it. And yes it is much more unified than the branch in my other area. (I forgot the word more in the other letter). The bishop is a convert of about 6 or 7 years. He's a good guy, but is a little awkward teaching a class. He tends to spit out every piece of information he knows which can kind of scare an investigator.

My companion is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. He was baptized when he was ten, so I guess he is a convert. He said his family has been kind of off and on active and inactive, but since he came on the mission his family has remained active in the church. He is good at talking to people.

I'm glad to hear the cougars are doing well. I sing "rise and shout the cougars are out" to get my companion out of bed to have comp study. I don't think he understands, but it works.

Do we know if Kelli's is a boy or girl yet?

Les amo,
Elder Hansen