Happy CoDyPaLoOzA!!!

What a great week for birthday celebrating! A special thanks to all who sent cards and gift and made this birthweek special.

Ready for a sad thought? It is raining slush outside. And cold. Ready to cry more? One year ago today I was in Mexico. :( Over it.

This week was good. Most of it was spent unwrapping toy weapons and shiny things and stuffing our faces with birthday dinners and Red Velvet cakes galore. However, we were able to squeeze in some real missionary work.

Most of that took place on Sunday, when CoDyPaLoOzA officially ended. We went to church and our meetings after. Then we went to a family in the ward who's niece is living with them and asked if she's like to take the lessons. She responded in the affirmative.

Later, we stopped by a referral. An 11 year old girl found one of our cards on the sidewalk right outside her door and decided to call the number because she had been seeing things in their house (Sixth Sense style). We went over and taught the Restoration. It went really well and we have a return appointment with the whole family.

Bored yet? I hope so because that's all you get for today. I love you all! Write me!!

Happy CoDyPaLoOzA!!!

MY FIRST BAPTISM

So the baptism wasn't the ONLY thing that happened this week, but it was certainly the most exciting and made everything else a complete blur. For those reasons, that is really the only thing I'm going to talk about.

On Saturday morning, a family in our ward came and picked us up from our ultra-posh, 19th floor apartment and took us out to brunch. After that, they ran us over to the stake center so we could start filling the font and get everything ready. We filled the font extra slow to make sure hot water was coming out. Luckily the water was warm. We set up the chairs, the podeum, the piano and everything else we needed. Having extra time and realizing how bland the room looked, we stole some pictures from other rooms and fresh(ish) flowers from the chappel to class the place up a bit. We coppied off the programs and finally everything as ready to go.

People started showing up about half an hour before it was supposed to start, but there was still no Alyjah. We called and they were stuck in traffic. They got there right when it was supposed to be starting so she hurried and changed and then we snapped a couple pictures so we could start.

The service was great. We had great talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost and finally the big moment arrived. Alyjah and I stepped into the font and I baptized her. It was such an honor and privilage to do that for her. It made it even better that I onle had to do it once!

On Sunday, Alyjah was confirmed and it so awesome to stand in that circle. The Spirit of the Lord was definitely present.

There you have it. My first baptism. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it. Have a good week, friends and loved ones!