Elder Mike Payne: Week 76 - January 27, 2014

This week was incredible!! I seriously don't think I have ever been so happy and so fortunate! I love the mission so much and I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else...well other than the beach in Hawaii with the family in 5 months...but still! haha

Anyways, we were able to have 4 baptisms this week. We have been working so hard with all of these investigators. A couple weeks ago we were able to marry a family and the wife and her two daughters were baptized yesterday along with another one of our investigators named Maria.

I think I talked about her last week but she is incredible. Since the first visit she has been just a ball of happiness and has really motivated me to be a better person and always be happy, no matter the situation. She has a daughter that is interested and she has now come to church three times.

This baptism yesterday was one of the most spiritual and most stressful baptisms I have ever had!! My companion, Elder Cantu, and I went to the church early on Saturday morning to clean the font and make sure everything was ready. We went back on Saturday night to start the water heater and turn the water on so that the water would be warm for Sunday.

As we got to the church an hour early on Sunday we noticed that the water was up to about my knees. The water was coming out slowly and was coming out very hot, which was awesome. After sacrament meeting we looked at the font and noticed that the water wasn't coming out and as we tried to turn the faucet, nothing was coming out. I can't explain the frustration I felt!

I was asked to baptize the two ladies and I was super nervous because I was thinking I was gunna have to baptize on my knees. Then we decided to call a big truck that delivers water to your house if you don't have any. The baptism was scheduled for 1:00 and they said they would get there at 1:15. So we were kinda stressed. 1:10 came around and I remember going to the bathroom to change into my baptismal clothing and kneeling to say a prayer. I asked God to help us to have a very successful baptism. Right when I got up from my knees I left the bathroom and saw the water truck outside. They were asking us where to put the hose to pump the water into the font. All of the work we had made to put in warm water was going to waste as they were about to pump in this freezing cold water. I opened to the doors to the font to tell the worker where we wanted the water to go. As I opened the door I noticed that the font was full and the water was warm. I honestly can't explain how it happened. It was such a crazy miracle and after that everything went great!!!

We had about 50 people in the baptism with 6 other investigators that have baptismal dates for February and March. We are having tons of success here and I am loving it so much. During sacrament meeting we had to bring in more chairs into the chapel because we didn't have enough room. We had 83 people which is the most this branch has had in a very long time. We had 11 investigators in sacrament meeting and I got to give a talk. I think it went really well and we are hoping to keep baptizing every week.

We are also teaching an American boy named Adam. He lives with his grandparents who took over custody because his mom isn't responsible enough to take care of him. He will be getting baptized on Febraury 9th. But our lessons are super funny. He has ADHD and doesn't like to sit still. So I always have to put on a show for him as we teach. Yesterday we taught the first vision and I got lettuce and made a pretty sweet forrest and I did a bunch of other stuff.

Sorry this letter is so long but it has just been an amazing week!! We are going to be baptizing another investigator this weekend so it should be another great week!!

Thanks for everything and I will talk to you all soon!!!! Have an amazing week y que Dios les bendiga!!!

Elder Mike Payne