Elder Zach Taylor - Baptism Week

 

Elder Taylor

 

 

Every week I come to the computer and try to remember all that happened.. there´s a lot to tell. The week started off pretty well. On Tuesday we had another meeting in Encarnación again. I don´t know why the zone leaders keep calling zone meetings... that´s like the 6th in the 8 weeks I´ve been here. But it was good, they gave us cookies and fruit salad to eat after, so that was a pleasant surprise. That was also the day that we were going to do Irma´s baptismal interview. Our district leader´s companion had to go to Asunción to sign papers, so he and Elder Barragan, one of the zone leaders, were together that day. They both came to Obligado so Elder Magdaleno, the district leader, could do the interview. They wanted to do splits with us, so I went with Elder Barragan to one side of our area while my companion and Elder Magdaleno went over by where Irma lives. It was a good time. Elder Barragan and I just went and clapped a bunch of houses to try to find new investigators. We actually found a couple good people that seemed interested. One was this nice old lady named Nilda, who when my companion and I went back later that week accepted the Book of Mormon excitedly. She was like, wow, another testament of Jesus? Cool! We´ll see how things go with her.

One thing I learned during splits was that there are a lot of nice people here in Obligado. I love my companion, but I´ll be honest he isn´t really the ¨we can do this¨ type of person. If the members don´t want to help us, he doesn´t want to even try. But I know that there are still people out there. I had kind of succumbed to his way of thinking for a while.. Elder Barragan was really friendly and positive with me and with the people. That´s one thing I could work on a lot. Being here is helping me learn how to take initiative in things, how to step up and lead when it´s necessary. There are a lot of attributes I´ve been able to develop here in Obligado that I don´t know if I ever would have if I didn´t come here. Although it might not be the most ideal place to serve, I do love it for the things it´s teaching me.

As I mentioned last week, we did have a baptism this Saturday! Only Irma ended up getting baptized. The little boy, Gabriel, got shy when Elder Magdaleno went to do the interview and just said ¨I don´t know¨ to every question. So he told us we should wait until next week to do it. And the other girl, Virginia, just didn´t show up because her brother got sick or something. So we´ll try again for this Saturday.

Irma´s baptism went really well. There were only 5 people that showed up besides us, but it was nice anyway and I could feel the spirit. It kinda weirded me out at first, usually something happens just before a baptism that messes everything up. Like they start doubting or some small problem comes up. Nothing like that happened with her. She´s just a very humble person who was quick to believe the things we taught. She gave her testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday, which I thought was really cool. As of right now, she´s planning on staying active, which is something that is usually very hard to make happen. I also had the opportunity to confirm her on sunday, which was a really neat experience for me.

I´ve had a good week all in all. I´ve gained new desires and goals for what I want to become throughout my mission and life. Staying positive and looking forward. Talk to you next week.

Elder Taylor