Hooooooolaaaaa!!!
It was so fun to talk to everyone on Christmas!! I can't believe it's the last time I'll call my family in the mission, that's just too weird to me. The time is going way too fast and it's freaking me out.
Enough about that. On to more interesting and important things. Jeffrey was baptized this Saturday on Christmas and it was really just the most hilarious baptism I've ever had. So many things went wrong but you would all be proud of me because I kept my cool (although it appears that to some people it came off as indifference, but whatever.) First of all, we told everyone involved to be there at 6:30 so that we could start the baptism on time. We got there at 6:30 and guess who was there??? NO ONE. Okay. So we unlocked the chapel and went inside to see what was going on with the font and guess what we found?? A font full of green water. We were like . . . . . . . WHAT IS THIS??? HNA Bravo started freaking out and saying, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna do???? And I was just laughing because there was nothing we could do, so why worry about it?? He was just gonna have to get baptized in green water and that was that. So we went back to the house to call everyone but on the way we saw everyone come and turned around. Fortunately no one said anything about the green font, so Jeffrey went to change his clothes and we waited on the elders from another branch who were also going to have a baptism. We waited and waited and Jeffrey and his family started to get really anxious because I guess they had to go somewhere afterwards, but finally the elders and their investigators showed up, everyone got changed, and we took pictures. Then we realized that we had another problem-none of the members that we had invited showed up and we were going to be short a witness. Uh ohhhhhhh. We ended up starting the baptism still waiting on the guy that we frantically called and as I sat there listening to our ward mission leader, the ridiculousness of it all hit me and I started to laugh. I was just thinking-bueno, the font is green, we don't have two witnesses, we started late and we have no idea what we're going to sing for our special number. I could react to this in one of two ways-cry, or laugh. I think I'm going to laugh. And I continued to laugh throughout the baptism, even when the zone leaders showed up and I probably should have behaved myself better but I just couldn't help it (and they ended up saving us because hey, 3 worthy priesthood holders walked in the door and could be witnesses). Then we got up to sing and it sounded so bad and I started laughing even in the middle of the song. Okay it was kind of immature but really I was just dying. But despite everything, Jeffrey was baptized and confirmed the next day and we were very happy and so was he!!! And that's the most important thing of all, and the reason that I think I was so calm thoughout the whole thing. I knew, deep down, that everything was going to be just fine, that even though it wasn't the most orthodox baptism ever, that everything would work out okay. And it did!!!
So that was our baptism. The rest of the week was kind of lame-everyone left for Christmas and no one wanted to talk to us. But I'm excited for this week. The blessings always come after the trial of faith. :)
Spanish word of the week: Malcreado. It means, literally translated, badly created. But generally it's used to describe bratty children, rebellious teenagers and disobedient missionaries, also misbehaving pets. Basically it means someone who doesn't behave themself very well. I LOVE this word and I use it a lot, haha.
We're still working with Monica and Kevin. All this weekend we were trying to find her and couldn't but it turns out that she was in the hospital and they're gonna have to operate. We brought the elders to give her a blessing and then stayed with her and talked to her about the Atonement. This turned into a session of answering her questions of the soul, and it just so happened that we were able to answer them all with the Book of Mormon. We then asked her to pray right then and ask Heavenly Father if it was true. She did, and after the word Amen we all stayed there with our heads bowed and our eyes closed for a minute. HNA Bravo and I finally looked up, but Monica was still there with her eyes closed and head bowed, listening. Finally she looked up and smiled at us. We asked her how she felt and she said, tranquila. We asked her if she had received an answer and she said yes. We asked her if she believed that the Book of Mormon was true and she said yes, because it answered her questions. When we left I really felt that we had been instruments in the hands of the Lord. It was an incredible feeling!!!
I know that God lives, that He is my Father and He loves me. I know that Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten Son and the Savior of the world. I know that there is no other way that we can return to the Father except through His Atonement. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and that he was called to be the prophet that restored the true gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth. I know that the priesthood of God is here upon the earth and is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that The Book of Mormon is true, that it is another volume of sacred scriptures and if we read it every day and apply its principles, we will get closer to God and to His Son Jesus Christ and we will have happiness and joy in our lives. I know that families are forever and that the work and the glory of Heavenly Father is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children, in other words, all of us.
He wants us to live with Him forever, but it depends largely on us.
I love you all. I love this work.
Hermana Chamberlain
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