Monday, September 22, 2014

Mexican Independence and "The International Man of Mystery"

Family!

First off, baptism of M----- this week!  It was amazing!  She gave an amazing testimony after her baptism!  I'm so glad that I got to stay here to be a part of it.  Elder Chandler and I spent all of our time together searching and searching for someone to baptize in our area.  We had been promised that by the end of that month we could find someone to baptize.  We found lots of people in that time, but no one was baptized... until now!

We were spies this week.  A family in our branch moved away about five months ago, and they moved back about 1 month ago.  In that 1 month, they hadn't contacted anyone from the branch.  We were worried about them, so we headed out to find them.  We went to their old neighborhood, contacted one of their friends, and from her learned the general location of their house.  We went to that area and walked around the parking lots until we found their cars.  Because of where their cars were, we were able to narrow down where this family lived to about 10 doors.  As we were trying to decide which it was, someone came out of one of the doors.  She turned out to be a member from the Beavercreek ward, and she told us which apartment they had moved into.  We knocked on their door, but there was no answer.  That day was Mexican Independence day, so we went to a nearby store, bought a piƱata, filled it with candy, then left it on their doorstep.  We got a call from them a few hours later, and we were able to go visit them that night!  Contact made!

E----'s mom decided to get baptized out in New Jersey.  She has been meeting with the missionaries out there for a few weeks now, and now that she has read the whole Book of Mormon and 100 pages of the Doctrine and Covenants, they told her that it is time to make a decision.  They told her that she needed to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if she should be baptized.  She did just that, and she had a dream that same night.  She dreamed that she was in a church.  She went up to the pastor and told him she had a tough decision to make and that she needed help.  He had her sit down on a chair, then he placed his hands on her head and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost in the exact way it is done in the church.  Afterwards, she felt very peaceful.  When she woke up, she opened up the bible randomly to see if she could get more of a confirmation.  Of all of the scriptures she could have read in the bible, she read in 2 Chronicles 15:3-4.  I'll let you read it.  She took that as her answer that she had found the truth and that she needed to be baptized!  Miracle!

We got to participate in the branch campout this week.  We went the night before for an hour, then we went in the morning to help with breakfast and play soccer with the members and investigators that went.  I never thought I would go camping on my mission...

This week one of the members gave me the name "The International Man of Mystery."  I'm not really sure why she picked that name.  She says it's because of the talents I showed over the past week that she had never seen before.  I played the piano for the baptism, and I translated for a high councilor in sacrament meeting.  That's all I can think of.

I learned this week that in a small branch there is no escaping choir practice, even for the missionaries...

That's all I've got.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote 
Elder Foote and the Pinata
Elder Foote and Elder Taylor at the Branch Camp Out
Our Mexican Independence Day Party
Out Doors at the Branch Camp Out
Sunrise in the Ohio Wilderness
Don't Use Dish Soap in the Dishwasher