Baptism

So this was a good week. We had a baptism. Jason White. I would send pictures but I forgot my camera. Next week. Jason is Emily's brother. It was a very good baptism. His mom gave the talk on baptism and brother Storrs gave the talk on the holy ghost and they were perfect lengths and perfect content. Then the baptism happened. Jason's sisters and sister's boyfriends were there too. Lots of non members. Sandra and Katrina and their kids were there too. We taught them the next day... more on that later. Jason was confirmed the next day and all went well.

Alex came to church! We went to his house at 10:45 and told him church started in 10 minutes. He was surprised we showed up but he said he would come. He didn't show up for sacrament meeting but we saw him in the hall afterwards. We took him to Gospel Principles and Priesthood. In Gospel Principles we went around the room and just said our name because we had new people there. Alex went last and he stood up and said "I'm Alex Siharath, and I'm an alcoholic" We all laughed hahaha. He said "whoops wrong class hahaha". He is a pretty funny guy. I'm so glad he came to church. He took notes the whole time. We taught him on Tuesday after p-day fun and he was talking a lot, like he always does. He got on the topic of his MMA fighting and he said one of his favorite lines "Don't fear the guy that practices 10,000 kicks one time a day, fear the guy that practices one kick 10,000 times a day". He only uses three different moves in his fighting. We asked him what those moves were and he told us he would show us. We were at the church in one of the classrooms and we cleared out a space and we wrestled hahaha. He was so good. He is a small guy but I'm pretty sure it's all muscle. We wrestled for like 30 minutes hahaha. That's the best way to teach him I guess. My throat hurt for the next few days because he choked me out pretty bad haha. I guess I didn't tap out soon enough. Elder Camba doesn't like to be touched at all so he didn't participate as much but Alex made him a little bit. And he almost broke Elder Camba's wrist hahaha. Poor guy. That was a fun lesson. On Wednesday we had another lesson with him and we used a chalkboard. He is very very visual, so we drew out the plan of salvation and he drew his thoughts too. It was a good lesson. But the best part was that he came to church. I'm really really excited for his baptism. I pray that he stays active!

Phoenix's baptism is being pushed back... It wont be next Saturday either. We will see when... Hopefully August 4th. His mom needs to show some commitment so that he can actually have activity in the church. So far we haven't seen that.

I like Elder Camba more and more each day. He is a really good person. He is super obedient. It's a good example for me. I should try and learn from him. We are a lot more comfortable with each other than we were when it was Elder Lee, Elder Camba and I. Different dynamic. I like it a lot better now. I think I enjoy Elder Camba the most because we are having so much success.

We get two more mini-missionaries this week. two at the same time. That should be fun.

We will see Tom Duvall again tonight. Hopefully that goes well...

Linda and Elijah didn't come to church. Again. Very disappointing.

I realized this week that we have been really busy. I used to have time at night to do things like read or write or whatever but lately we have been planning until 10 or so and we are so tired by the end of the day that we have no time to do anything. I haven't sent a letter in awhile. SORRY!!! I really am. We just have been super busy. I'll try to write more on p-day.

Sandra and Katrina came to church again. We had 7 investigators in second ward today. Sandra is the grandma and Katrina is A'mi (8) and Devonte's (7) mom. Mindy is the mother of Jyheam (10) and Jaysean (9). They are all black as you can probably tell by the names. And they are the coolest kids ever. They are so interested in the gospel. Jyheam and Jaysean have been taught everything before a few months ago and they still remember all the little details. So they teach A'mi and Devonte with us. When we explained the Holy Ghost Jyheam said "I feel the holy ghost right now! It's like a warm feeling in my chest" and at the end of the closing prayer Jaysean said "When he asked if the Book of Mormon was true my heart was like 'ding'!" And then when we left, they all said "We should have a Book of Mormon study when the missionaries leave! YEAH!!" And we left and they all were sitting at the table reading the Book of Mormon with each other hahaha. They're just kids but they get it way more than anybody else does. Hopefully Sandra and Katrina feel the same. We are teaching them in Bishop's home tonight.

The Orozcos are still kinda where they were last week. We saw them on Saturday night and they didn't come to church even though they said they would... That was disappointing. So we will have to try to help them keep the chaos out of their busy home. We will see them a lot this week I'm sure.

Chris and Matthew are being baptized next Saturday. So we have to pull all of that together this week. It should be fun. I'm really excited for that one too. They're awesome kids and they ward is keeping good track of them.

That was our week. Very busy again. And tonight will be way busy too. We have to end our p-day early because we have so many appointments. Oh well. Good thing missionary work is fun!

I'm happy because I'm busy. It's hot outside but not too hot. No problems. Life is easy. Thank you all for you love and life updates. I appreciate it a lot.

Love,
Elder Paxman