Week 56: Starting 2014 with the Baptism of Alfonso!

Hey family!

Thanks mom and dad and Brandon for your emails.  I really liked them a lot.  Made me feel good.  So, thanks for that.  :)

Well well well...this week was pretty awesome!  I had fun and felt good.  This week we prepared Alfonso for his baptism. What an amazing experience.  But I'm going to save that for the end of this email.

We were teaching Alfonso last monday and all of the sudden he started telling us a story about how he was talking with his amiga about the church, that she had some questions and stuff.  And Alfonso answered them perfectly and he said that he felt really good sharing the gospel.  And also he told us that he saw ¨the other side of heaven,¨ the movie where the girlfriend faithfully waits for her missionary, and he said that when he saw it he wanted to do something like that, ...being a missionary.  A future missionary???  Maybe, who knows; but that would be so cool and awesome.

One day my comp and i where contacting people because all our citas fell through. So we go to this one house and this grandma came out and said she was catholic but it was okay to pass in. So we go in and meet her son in law. Who turns out to be christian. So we start talking to him about the bible and christ and stuff. He had a ton of knowledge of christ and the bible. It actually surprised me!  While we were talking i was thinking to myself, how or what can i teach him right now to help him or bring him to church.

So, literally right after the scripture in the bible, Ï have other sheep which are not of the fold, one fold and one sheperd¨ So i pulled that out and we read it. and i explained it a little and BOOOMM pulled out the book of mormon and we started talking about the book of mormon and joseph smith and how to gain a testimony about it.  Then we read a few parts in the book of mormon to show him that it says the same things as the bible. That God is always the same.  He wont say one thing to a nation and say a different thing to another. He understood really well and said that he was going to read it. It was a really cool lesson.

After all that he shared something with us that i believe he was inspired to say it for me.  He started talking about the story when the apostles saw Jesus walking on the water.  That they thought he was a ghost.  But Jesus said, Peace, it is me.  Then peter asked the lord if he could walk on water as well.  And Jesus let him. So, peter stepped out of the boat and started to walk!!

He had his sight set on the Lord.  He didn't look to the left or the right or behind him, completely set on the Lord.  But, then he noticed the wind and the waves and started to look around him and got scared.  He took his sight off the Lord and started to sink in the water, and called for the Lord after.

Hearing that from him touched me.  I needed to hear that in that moment.  I was having a little hard time.  But that story comforted me and i felt the spirit.  It made me realize a lot of things.  I was thinking about that story all that day after.

I am here to serve the Lord.  I am his servant.  There isn't anything better than this work.  Nothing better in the world.  I only have these 2 years to be apart of this great work all day every day.  What an amazing blessing I have!  The mission is honestly the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Changed and is changing my life for the better and I'm really grateful for that.  That night my comp and i talked about that for about an hour!  It was a cool spiritual talk.

I did divisions this week with the new elder in my distrito, Elder Norblad.  He's from Plamdale, California, and hes 18!   Isn't that crazy, haha, and he graduated in 2013, thats wierd!   I'm old...I decided to do the divisones because he is having a hard time with spanish and teaching.  So i helped him out the best i could and gave him some pointers and stuff.  It was a fun divison with him.

And now for the best part of my week....Drum roll please bum bum bum bumb bubm bumbum aiahfdghdghdihgfdhgf    El servicio bautismal de Alfonso!!!!!!!!!!

I was so nervous and so excited at the same time.  One of the sister missionaries asked me ¨Your nervous huh?¨ I told her no then she told me ¨ Then why do you keep walking back and forth checking everything?hahaha   My comp and i filled up the font, (I got picture ill send you)  Then the baptism.  It was so spiritual!

When he entered the water my heart was full of joy (like the scripture in alma) Then the brother that did the ordinance said it perfectly and everything.  Then he was baptized!!  After we were singing hymns waiting for them to change and i had tears in my eyes i was just so grateful to be able to bring a soul unto christ.

My comp and i just gave each other a huge hug haha Because its pretty rare to find someone and start teaching them and see their baptism without changing an elder out.  Then after it was all over and everyone left we gave our gift to Alfonso.  I gave him a tie and my comp also, and we also gave him the book of mormon, the D and C and pearl of great price and the bible!

Then he asked me how it was when we first met him, because he doesn't remember because he was really really intoxicated. So i told him and then he started thanking us for finding him.  For helping him come unto his savior and helping him through this experience.  That was the best feeling in the world, to have your convert thank you for everything. What an amazing experience!

I know this church is true, and that I'm in the place that i should and need to be at this moment in my life. Thanks for all the support; and i love you all!

Love,
Elder McNamara