OUR FIRST BAPTISM

OUR FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY COW! NO ONE EVER PREPARED ME HOW FREAKING AWESOME A MISSIONARYS FIRST BAPTISM IS!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY HOLY HOLY DULCE DE LECHE!!! IT WAS THE BEST THING OF MY LIFE. 

First of all I just wanna say... IM ACTUALLY GRATEFUL FOR NOT HAVING BAPTISMS MY FIRST TWO MONTHS. Because it made this baptism sooo worth it. It was soooo sweet. All the hard things I go through on this mission IS SO WORTH IT. BECAUSE SEEING MY BABY ANALIA GET BAPTIZED BROUGHT SO MANY TEARS TO MAMA HERMANA TERRYS EYES.

AHhhh. OKay. Imma try to explain how amazing it was. Sooooo... yesterday at approximately 2:00.. Analia comes to la capilla(chapel) to get ready for her baptism. :) When she came out in her white vestido(dress)... my heart exploded with the spirit. She was radiant, GLOWING! I couldnt believe the change I saw in her. She was smiling from ear to ear!! And when she first stepped into the font.. the spirit hit me like crazy!! I kept hearing in my heart and in my mind, ¨Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!¨¨ OH YOU´RE WELCOME JESUCRISTO!!! A billion times youre welcome!! And when she came out of the water... I lost it. She was so happy. And of course knowing Analia, she was laughing.  IM SO JEALOUS. I WANNA GO BACK AND RELIVE MY BAPTISM DAY!! I never really thought about how special baptism is. I believe its one of the best things we can do on this earth. To promise Jesus that we´re gonna live our lives for him. And in return he gives us those sweet, beautiful feelings of the Espiritu Santo(Holy Spirit). SO MUCH LOVE. AND THEN.. while Analia was changing, we had a meeting of just singing and rejoicing. The only people in Analias family that came to support was her uncle CARLOS the dude with two fingers. I felt soo bad.. but its all good because the members (actually all of them were less actives) that came.. really brought the spirit. And me and Hermana Zendejas sang Oh mi Padre. I looooved that soo much. I sang with alll my heart. Allllll for Analia. :) And then when she came down the stairs.. everyone just stared at her in awwww. Guys.. this little thirteen year old WAS GLOWING. :)

The end of the meeting we sang Soy un Hijo de Dios. I was the music leader and as I was looking out in the crowd.. I looked to the front row.. and saw my little sweet precious little perfect Analia crying. :) She never cries!! And to see her feel this spirit and to see her understand how important she is to Heavenly Father... made me the happiest missionary in the world. And during the WHOLE DAY I prayed so hard for Analia to feel the spirit and to know that she made the right decision.. and my prayer was definitely answered ten fold!!! And then we were about to end with a prayer.. And Analia stands up and bears her testimony. She first thanks her BEST FRIEND (Rocio) for being an example and sharing the gospel with her (ISNT THAT THE CUTEST THING??) And then she thanked Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for giving her this opportunity to be baptized. And ended by thanking us, her missionaries for teaching her the gospel. :) I couldnt stop the tears. Nothing brought me more happiness to see  how mature and how much spirit this tiny little rugrat had. :) Im sooooo sooo thankful. I thank my lucky stars for the opportunity God gave me to share the gospel with her. And ya know how it all started? I forgot to tell ya this!! It was my first month here.. and I stunk at Spanish. But there was one time where we were visting with her friend, Rocio. And Analia walks in the room and right off the bat I invited her to church. AND SHE CAME TO CHURCH THAT SUNDAY! So yaaa.. Im kinda happy that even though my castellano was terrible, I invited her to church and eventually invited her to be baptzied. :)  The process really works!

Anyways fam.. yesterday was a good day. :) I wanna end by giving thanks to the Hobble Creek 12th ward. En serio. I WAS SOOO BLESSED TO GROW UP IN THE GREAT WARD THAT WE HAVE. Lima is now..just barely.. beginning to grow.. but theres so much that we can work on. Im grateful for the unity that hb12ward has and all the fun mutuals, activities, trek, girls camp.. ALL OF IT! Theres something beautiful that happens when people in the ward come together, enjoy one another and learn about Jesus Christ and his evangelio. :) THANK YOU 12TH WARD!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!! The youth especially are sooo blessed! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!!

I love you so much. Thanks for being the incredible family that you are. :) I feel you with me in Lima all the time. :) My time with HQ is ending sooooon. Two weeks. :/ I feel Heavenly Father preparing me now cause Im pretty positive IM staying in Lima! So ya.. pray for me. Specifically for me to be at peace.

 Sometimes my love for the people can be frustrating cause my problem is that I WANNA HELP EVERYONE.. I WANNA HAVE ACTIVITIES THAT ARE AWESOME.. I WANNA TALK TO EVERYONE ON THE STREET.. I WANNA LEARN THE LANGUAGE PERFECTLY ASAP. Things that just stress me out!! How do I handle that? I need someone to tell me that I cant do everything and what Im doing right now is the thing that God wants me to do. Ya know? Ya get me? :) Other than that... IM SO HAPPY!! But theres just these times where im like.. burdened with worry and anxiety.. I JUST WANNA HELP BUT I DONT KNOW HOW.  So just pray for me family that I can feel peace and trust Dios to lead us.

WANDA AND LUANNA!!! Jorges sobrinas!! Were baptizing Wanda on the 25!! Shes soooo smart! Luanna is 7 and Wanda is 11. :) THEY ARE TOTALLY LIKE LUKE AND PAUL!! I love teaching them. ;) Wanda is soo ready for baptism. :):) 

Tambien.. we're baptizing their babysitter Silivia.. HOPEFULLY on the 2 of February, (she smokes) tambien the friend of Analia.. Milagros!! ITS LIKE A CHAIN REACTION!!!!! MILAGROS LIVES IN THE SAME HOUSE THAT I DROPPED OFF MY MONEY IN FOR CHRISTMAS.

I love you guys. :) I love our mission. I want to tell you that Gladis moved away with her little boys like 1 month and a half ago. We were informed on friday that Gladis died.. and theyre not sure what to do with her boys. Its off our hands now.. but please pray for the family and the little boys, Franco y Emanuel. I cant say anymore.. cause Im gonna start crying. :) Kthanks. :)

 I dont feel so homesick anymore because I know this mission is gonna flash right before my eyes!! WE GOT THIS!! We got this people, lets rock and roll!!!!  Carry on!

CHAU!!!!!!!!!