9/28/2009


Hey everyone! Can you believe it's already almost October??? It feels like the month just begin! How is everyone? I hear Liz and John have a baby on the way, CONGRATS!!! That's soo exciting? Well this week has been alright. A little bit slow but alright. We have needed to do more contacting because our investigators aren't exactly progressing... so that's pretty frustrating and if you've served a mission you know how hard it is to find people through knocking and contacting. We found 5 new investigators from knocking and contacting and hopefully they will become progressing investigators. Right now it's hard to tell. So today is P day. We cleaned, ran some errands, and then went to the park to play some games with our zone. That was fun although I always get picked last for teams... yes, I'm that great at ultimate frisby and what not that everyone wants me on their team haha. Anyway, that was fun and hey don't worry I totally got plowd into by one of the Elders because neither of us saw eachother and so skid pretty far into the dirt but surprisingly it didn't even hurt ha. So now I'm hear emailing and then we have appointments until the end of the night. So my week wasn't all that interesting but I still haven't told you about the baptisms, so I'll do that.
So Militza Paulin and Maria Concepcion both ended up being baptized on Septiembre 20, 2009. It was such a stressful day! We had been trying to figure out how we were going to get Militza baptized because she can't walk and is not tiny either. I was so stressed about this, thinking maybe she shouldn't be baptized yet because she passed out a before that and I just didn't feel that great about the baptism (probably because I was so nervous). So that Sunday we made all of our calls to make sure everyone (those we teach) was going to go to church and of course Militza and Maria were having problems and said they might not go. Late Saturday night, the day before her baptism, Militza called to tell us that her husband couldn't take her but would take her to the baptism. Hermana Lowry told her that she had to go to church or else she couldn't be baptized so if he couldn't take her then we could try to find a ride. That Sunday morning we called to make sure she was going. She told us that she needed a ride because her husband wouldn't take her. We were so stressed but had to do everything posible to get her to church. I called everyone I could think of but couldn't find anyone. (Just a side note, you should be proud because I call people which those conversations are in spanish; which is so scary because I don't speak great spanish and I have a hard time understanding spanish let alone on the phone which is even harder. I'm pretty proud of myself and you all should be too ;-) ) Anyway so we couldn't find anyone but Militza said she could take the bus and we told her we could reemburse her for it. So she was going to take the bus but last second her husband ended up taking her which was great. So we also had problems with getting Maria to church. Maria didn't want her daughter Elena to take her because they were in a fight and so she didn't have a ride. It was last second so we couldn't find anyone to give her a ride. We ended up going to her house to find a crying Elena and everyone just was not happy. We told them that she needed to go to church or else she couldn't be baptized. Maria's other daughter, Angela who is an inactive member, said she could take Maria. They started getting ready and we went to church. Through all that running around and stress both of them ended up going to church! Our other investigators didn't but they did so we were happy enough about that. So church was good. Militza bore her testimony for the special Sacrament meeting which was organized by our wonderful ward mission leader, fHermano Galvez. Hermana Lowry also gave a wonderful talk. So that night was the big night. Their baptism was at 6:30 and we got there very early to make sure everything was going to go well. We decided how we were going to get Militza baptized and all we could do was hope and pray that everything turned out. We were hoping sooo bad that Militza's husband would come but he didn't but her two daughters came which was fabulous. So we got Militza and Maria dressed, took some pictures and the baptism started. When the time came for them to be baptized I was sooooo nervous. We had Hermano Galvez, who said the prayer to baptize her; Hermano Ambrosio, another amazing member of our ward who has the cutest family; Elder Schlechter; and Elder Garcia help get into and hold her in the faunt. It was so nerve racking! She was absolutely embarrassed and in a little bit of pain. They got her in the faunt and dunked her but her foot popped up so they had to dunk her again. When they brought her up the second time you'll never guess what happened!..... She passed out again! They hurried and closed the curtains and Hermana Kelson (who was able to come back here to Las Colinas for their baptisms. If I didn't say already she was transferred to Seaside or Monterey), Hermana Lowry and I ran in the bathroom to see if she was ok. Hermana Kelson and I were holding onto eachother praying like crazy. Oh my goodness we were so scared. Hermana Lowry shoved through the four men to get to Militza who was unconscience in her wheel chair. She said her name really loud and started blowing in her face because that's what woke her up last time. She woke up very quickly and started looking around. Hermana Lowry asked how she was doing and she said, "Oh, I think I need to pray." Oh my goodness i was so grateful that she was ok! we brought her into the bathroom and she was totally fine. We started helping her get dry and whatnot and almost missed Maria's baptism because had pretty much forgotten about it with Militza passing out. The same four men, Hermano Galvez, Hermano Ambrosio, Elder Schlechter, and Elder Garcia helped baptize Maria Concepcion who is also in a wheel chair because of her age she can't walk real well but she is a bit smaller than Militza so it was easier on them. They carried her into the water and I don't think she understood that she was going to be immersed in the water because when they dunked her after the prayer face had utter shock on it, just like a cat who hates water has been dunked under water. They had to dunk her twice also and both times she flung her arms up with her eyes and mouth wide open after coming out of the water. She is so cute. They wheeled her into the bathroom and we all asked how she felt and she looked at us like a little kid and said in her small squeaky voice, "Estoy frio!" Which means I'm cold. Like dorks, we totaly forgot to bring towels so we could only find a couple small little town which we dried poor little cold Maria with. She was dressed pretty quick but it took a while for Militza to get dressed and we forgot the DVD that we were going to put on for the people while they waited for Maria and Militza to get dressed (give us some slack we were pretty stressed about this whole thing ha) so they ended up singing himns for over a half hour haha. They were so tired of singing but the spirit was really strong. So once Militza was dressed we went into the chapel and everyone was thrilled to stop singing. We ended and everyone afterward came and congratulated them and it was just great. That ward is so amazing. About half the ward showed up to their baptisms, they're always so supportive. Anyway so that is how the baptism went. Both of them are doing great. Militza didn't have the greatest experience being baptized but she told us that she feels different now, more peaceful and has more energy. Yesterday at church she bore her testimony and it was so beautiful. She is an example for all of us. Oh I love those two women so much!
Anyway that's how the baptisms went and things are going good now. Keep praying for us! I hope all is well there and I would love to hear from you all... hint hint hint =-) Hasta la proxima semana!
Love,
Hermana Alvey =-)