A Beautiful Baptism

26 October 2015

Dear Family,

The young woman we have been teaching was baptized yesterday! Her parents went to her baptism so we got to meet them and we were invited to their house after. Her mom commented about how interesting it was that so many paths had joined and prepared her daughter for this because their family has so many Mormon friends, even though they didn't realize it. Her boyfriend was there with his whole family, a friend of hers from high school who served a mission in Ecuador a year ago (they went to a Catholic school together), her aunt and uncle who are members (her dad's brother and his wife), and her friends from work who were sealed in the temple a week ago. Her mom knew Hermana Diaz in our ward from the gym but didn't know that she is a member of the church. That Hermana Diaz. She knows EVERYONE.

We had a little bit of stress because we don't have a ward mission leader and because none of the bishopric members could attend the baptism but the bishop assigned the Elders Quorum President, Hermano Diaz, to preside and Leo Hendriquez, a future missionary and YSA leader, to conduct and plan the service. 

On top of planning a baptismal service one of the bishopric counselors called us Saturday night and asked us to speak in church. I was actually excited because I already had a talk prepared. One Sunday I was sitting in Relief Society and thought, "If they ask me to speak in this ward I know exactly what I want to say," and I wrote down a few points on a sticky note with scriptures that I wanted to use. When they assigned me a talk the last time I spoke here I prepared a new talk so I still had that sticky note talk up my sleeve and felt prepared. Hermana Souza, however, was not happy. She was obedient though, and gave a wonderful talk about obedience. I talked about humility.

A new member is back from her trip! She shared the gospel with her friends. It's the best feeling seeing someone I shared the gospel with share it with others. She also helped us finish the lessons with the young woman we are teaching before her baptism and both the new member and her husband went with us to teach another couple this week. They shared their conversion stories and testimonies with them and reassured them that Mormons are normal, it's just the missionaries who have weird rules. The newly baptized couple remind me of Mom and Dad in a way I can't explain. I really wish you could meet them.

I'm out of time but remind me to read you all of my journals, especially the recent ones, on the way home from the airport.

Hermana Eva Van Cott