June 29, 2015
First things first, Alberto got baptized on Saturdayy!!!!!!!!!!! It was an incredible, incredible day! I can't even do it justice with words. But it was a crazy week trying to get everything planned and for things to run just perfectly. Alberto was so happy and excited! He asked Elder Wittmaak to baptize him because he had got to know him pretty well. First, Elvin (the coolest Guatemalen ever) got up and shared his testimony. He has been a good friend and big support to Alberto. He was really nervous and did not want to do it at first, but we practiced with him and he said he wasn't scared at all once he got up there! He gave a great testimony!! The baptism went perfectly and the best part was when Alberto walked back into the room, wearing a tie for the first time (that Elder Rasmussen helped him tie) and his white shirt. He had the biggest smile on his face! We had asked him a few days before if he wanted to share his testimony after his baptism and he said he would! So he stands up in front of everyone and he shared the most powerful, mature testimony I've heard in a long time! I started to cry as I heard him bear testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it's healing, redeeming power. How it gives us the strength not to fall into the same mistakes over and over again. He bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. And then thanked all those who have helped him and specifically my name for teaching him all that he knew. But the truth is, that I did absolutely nothing. The Spirit of the Lord is what converted, changed, and healed his soul. I can look back over the last 5 months and remember all the times in lessons and church tours that I know Alberto felt and recognized the Spirit. And then on Sunday, he was able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and he was all smiles. Such an exciting weekend!!
And right after leaving Alberto's baptismal service, Hermana Clark and I were just walking up the street and we see a man across the street, struggling to carry his groceries and clearly handicapped. I thought about crossing the road to go over to help, then tried to reason that we had other places to be, then clearly the thought came to my mind "Never postpone a prompting." So I started booking it across the street and asked if we could help. He tripped over a bump in the road and I was able to catch him and took his hand and walked him back to his apartment. He was so sweet and we started talking about how Jesus Christ is with us in every step of our lives. He said "Sometimes I wish Jesus could physically carry me as well, I have a hard time by myself." It hit me that we had been sent, as representatives of Jesus Christ, to lift and carry those- sometimes physically and sometimes spiritually- to better places. I am so grateful that we can be the Lord's hands as we listen and follow the promptings we receive!
And just in case you're wondering whatever happened with our little pit-bull friend (ok he is NOT little)...anyways, we went back for the return appointment this week to find Chuckie (that's the beast's name) lurking around the fence. He saw us and starting barking like crazy and boy were we scared! Haha. Poor little Hermana Clark was about to have a heart attack. So anyway, we decide to say a prayer to give us courage to walk through that fence (to a certain death ;) haha exaggerating just a little). And we walk up again and Chuckie jumps up on the fence and has half his body sticking out, we thought he had jumped over the fence, and if I shall live to be 100 years old, I will never forget Hermana Clark's face!!! haha- sheer and utter terror! Ha I felt like a protective mom and we ran back to the car. We decided to go back later..ha. So we go back later that night, more fortified with faith, and we end up finding not the people we had the appt with, but their sister! She let us in and we started talking to her and ended up teaching her about the Restoration. Turns out she had been going through some really hard trials in her life and was starting to doubt God completely. We asked her to pray and she was a little nervous, so I offered to pray first. Then she started to pray and you could tell she was praying with a lot of power and real need. She started to cry and after she closed the prayer, we just sat there in silence for a few minutes, as she cried and we all felt the Spirit wash over us. She told us that we were a testimony to her that God was aware of her needs. If we had gone in the first time, we would not have found her and we were just amazed at how the Lord turned that experience into a real miracle!
As you can see, miracles truly never cease!! They have occurred time and time again on my mission and I know that with a little faith and a lot of hard work, the Lord can bring to pass great and marvelous things!
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