Cold baptisms

This week we had two baptisms! We ended up having to get special permission for Robert to get baptized because he had only been to church twice, but a few weeks ago church got cancelled because of the snow. We have a temple trip coming up and we want him to go, so President Alexander said we could have him baptized. This was the guy that's reading Jesus the Christ and has already finished a ton of church material so he was pretty ready.  Baptisms for missionaries are pretty stressful. Robert showed up 30 mins before the baptism as
planned, but the baptismal pants we had didn't fit him. So me and Elder Everett scrambled around for about a half an hour looking for baptismal pants in his size. Luckily, a guy in the ward had some we could borrow and it all worked out. Elder Everett baptized Robert and Bishop baptized Shequilla. I confirmed both of them yesterday. We also messed up on the water temperature and it was freezing cold. That was pretty funny to watch.

I also had interviews with President this week. He gave me the feeling my Danville days may be over soon, but that's okay because I'm starting to wonder what the rest of the mission looks like. Seven and a half months is a long time to be in an area.

Okay funny story: so there's this guy in our neighborhood we've talked to a few times named Larry, AKA the local drunk. And me and Elder Everett were walking on the sidewalk and see him stumbling along ahead of us. He's got a beer in one hand and a cigarette in another. He keeps swaying back and forth because he's super drunk and then all of a sudden he just stops in the middle of the sidewalk and we see a pee stream splatter out between his legs. He's literally peeing in the middle of the sidewalk on Washington Street.

I've always loved the parable in Mark 4:26. It applies really well to missionary work in that we plant gospel seeds and invite people to do things, but ultimately the spiritual growth is out of our hands just like the planter can't really control the sun and soil of a plant. All that we can do as missionaries is invite. Then it's up to the investigator to act. I've been really fortunate to have been able to find a lot of people here willing to act. Heavenly Father wants to bless us more than anything, we just need to use our agency so he can do that for us.

Sure love ya!

Elder Earnest

Some beautiful (but unidentified) buildings in Danville: