October 17, 2011 E-Mail

Well the exciting news for this week is that we had a baptism. I can't remember if I told you anything about this one previously. His name is Andraez. He is an 8 year old boy and has been coming to church pretty much his whole life with his Grandma and Uncle. But neither of his parents are members. Which makes it a convert baptism. It was really cool. And his uncle was the one who got to baptize him. That was the coolest part. His uncle is only like 16. It was a great experience for all of them. Although it was one of the most stressful baptisms I've had. You would think that with an 8 year old it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Well about 45 minutes before it started the branch presidency informed us that none of them would be able to make it to preside over the meeting. So we had to call a member of the stake presidency at the last minute to come over. We also had a very hard time finding people that could help with the program, such as talks, prayers, etc. The harvest time right now is just killing the spanish branch. Hopefully it will shortly be over. The attendance on Sundays is really bad during the harvest season.
I think I told you about our investigator who is in the wheelchair who was paralyzed from the chest down. Well he was supposed to come to church yesterday but he had some health complications and wasn't able to make it. But is planning on coming next week. It was a tough day yesterday with investigators at church. We had many people give us a definite yes that they would be there and none of them made it. It's horrible to see the stumbling blocks that are put into someones life when they are only trying to do what is right. I appreciated the talk in conference about how satan is real. It's true. I see it everyday that he just tears people down as far as he can. Luckily God is way more powerful and through faith we can overcome anything that satan puts in the way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way that we can receive true happiness in this life.
Another cool thing that happened this week is that we got a legit media referral. My companion nor myself had ever received one that the person actually wanted us to come over. Usually different people just send them in for family and friends. Which is great. But when we get them we go over to the house within 24 hours and then we have to call in and update them. I have never had a positive update. Well we received the text telling us to take a together forever dvd to this ladies house. So later that afternoon we went over. Her husband answered the door and told us to come in. They were actually the ones who wanted us to come over!! It was a miracle. His wife was actually gone, but he said she was expecting us. Through playing phone tag for a couple of days we finally made an appointment. The problem is that they are going out of town for a while. But as soon as they get back we are going over. It turned out that she went to Hawaii to visit her aunt who is a member. They went to the temple and things and she wanted a together forever dvd. But they were out. So through the missionaries there we got the referral. We heard that she had been reading in the Book of Mormon and everything. Her next door neighbor is a strong member so they had talked about it before we even went over there. We are very excited to see what comes of it.
Well all is going great here. I know the church is true. We watched Elder Hollands talk the other night, "safety for the soul" and it just made me reflect on the beauty of the Book of Mormon. I know it is the word of God. I know that it is true. And I know that it is the keystone of our religion. I'm so grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith and the faith and endurance he had. I love doing what I'm doing. Have a great week!!!

Love Elder Schvaneveldt