Week 18- Four month mark

Hey guys!

I guess I will start with the highlight of the week! On Saturday I hit my four month mark and on that day I had my first baptism! It felt so awesome to be there for that and to see them change their lives. Elder Huntley did the baptism since he had been there the whole time for her and was the one who taught her the most. She did choose me to be one of the witnesses though which was pretty cool, I just made sure she went all the way under the water. We had a lot of people there to support her which was really cool to see. I know it really helps converts stay active when the ward is there to support them. When she got to the church she told us that Satan was working on her and  was a little stressed because she was afraid she was going to be late for her baptism. She was actually early, but she wanted to be extra early. We told her that she was fine and that we have everything planned out and all she had to do was be there. Then after that everything went awesome and it was a cool experience for us, since she was Hawaiian her husband said the opening prayer in Hawaiian and her daughter said the closing in Hawaiian as well. The next day on Sunday she was confirmed and Brother Hadler was supposed to do it, but when we all went up there he wasn't there so we had to have someone else do it and she asked Elder Huntley to do that as well. After we sat down we saw Brother Hadler and he told us he had to put his plow on since it snowed that day and he owns properties that he has to plow and so he was late. He explained it to them after and they understood so it was all okay! We got James involved in the confirmation by having him hold the mic during it and so he was kind of part of the circle. I am pretty confident that James is going to be baptized and I feel like they will both stay active in the church. It would be pretty cool to be there when they are getting sealed in the temple. 

We did see the Berniers this week as well and I love this family. We went by to see if we could set a date with Rourke and we kind of talked to him about the baptismal questions and told him about the commitment that he would be making. After we taught him his dad wanted to wait and make Rourke go to all three hours of church  for a couple months to make sure he really wants to do this and I was kind of mad because I wanted to set a date with him, but I see why now because on Sunday Rourke didn't want to go to the last two hours. So I feel like it was a good choice to wait for him. After we taught Rourke we talked to Amanda a little bit and we asked her if she wanted to quit smoking and if she wanted to get baptized and she said she wanted to quit, but she didn't think she could and that she could never be as good as the sisters in the ward. We were thinking about trying to get a  sister to fellowship her and try and help her and it was cool because on Sunday Sister McGrath came up to her after church and started talking to her and asked her if she had ever been to Relief Society yet and then asked her if she would come this week or next and told her she thinks she would like it and then gave Amanda her number and I thought that was super cool. Sister McGrath is super awesome and she is the one who converted her husband and now they have been through the temple. Now when we talked to Blaine after Amanda he told us he is not going to quit chewing and even if it is going to kill him he won't quit. He believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet and everything we tell him and he comes to church every week and even wanted to be baptized until he found out about the Word of Wisdom. So he chews during sacrament and even has his bottle and we were talking about it in Ward Council before church and some people were saying we should tell him to stop and the Bishop said not to worry about it because it isn't worth pushing him away. So then we saw him come to church and he didn't have chew in his mouth and that was the first time that I had seen him without it. He looked completely different and it was partly because he shaved his beard so he looked way different. So hopefully that can continue at least during sacrament!

We stopped by Brant's this week and we were supposed to meet with him on Saturday, but we were in the area and so we stopped by and then the next day he sent us a text and told us that he doesn't want to meet anymore until January and doesn't want any contact at all. He said it is because he is still having an issue with alcohol and he isn't on his medication right now so that is kind of a bummer, but hopefully we can continue with him next transfer. 

On Saturday we went to Mickey D's to celebrate our baptism and then when we prayed for our food a guy came up to us and thanked us for praying for our food and then just walked off and I wanted to run after him and try to get his name, but I thought that might be to weird. It was still a super cool  experience and we even took a selfie after! 

On Thursday we went and got haircuts and I was pretty excited because my hair  was that awkward medium length stage so we went to Sister McGraths and she cut it for us and I had the measurements from last time in my head and it liked it that length, but after I told her and she cut it... it was shorter than I wanted and so I was wondering why it was so short and I guess I was just super confused because later I realized that I told her the wrong length so now my hair is pretty short and I have come to accept it. Its getting cold enough where I can just wear beanies all the time anyway so its all good!

This morning we actually got to teach seminary so that was a cool experience and we taught about the parable of Lazurus and the rich man in Luke 16 and I actually learned a lot from studying it last night. I am not sure if y'all have read it or not but it talks about a rich man  and a beggar named Lazurus who is begging for food at the rich mans gate and the rich man never gives him any and so in this life the rich man lives a comfortable life and Lazurus is in torment and then after they both die it talks about how the rich man is in spirit prison and how he sees Lazurus in Abraham's Bosom, which is spirit paradise. So now Lazurus is the one who is living the comfortable life and the rich man is in torment. And the rich man cries out to Abraham and and asks him to bring Lazurus back from the dead and send him to go teach his brothers so that they won't have to suffer like he is and Abraham told him that he won't do that because he already has prophets on the earth and if they won't listen to them they won't listen even if they see a miracle. I can think of when Laman and Lemuel saw angels multiple times, but they still rebelled and it didn't convert them. Alma the Younger saw an angel, but he was converted and ends up being an amazing prophet and my favorite in the Book of Mormon. It wasn't because Alma saw an angel that he was converted it was because he fasted and prayed to know these things and I love what he says in Alma 36 about his experience, but you can read that on your own (; 

Anyways it was a good week like usual and I will talk to y'all next week!

Elder Bullock

Bernie's Baptism