JUANS BIG DAY

I'm so glad to hear that you guys had a good week. I'm sad I wasn't able to be there for luke and dads birthdays, but it sounds like they had a good time without their favorite son/brother! :)  We had a really great week. Things started off slow because we got behind with interviews being on monday. but we ended the week really well, including Juans baptism! Everyday this past week we passed by Juans house, asking him how he was doing with giving up smoking. Each time we prepared ourselves for the worse, but each time he said that he hadn't smoked. His wife and his kids were so excited for him. On Sunday we went to church with him and his family. When we got to the church we had all sorts of problems setting everything up. Turns out nobody had keys to the baptismal font, so we had to break in using a fork. We started the water and it looked like it would easily fill up by the time of his baptism. Right before, we checked the water and there was hardly any. Me and Elder Bof panicked and we found a bucket and a garbage can and cleaned them out. We filled them up with water from the hose outside so that the font would fill up. The good news is that it filled up. The bad news was that the water was ICE cold. Juan afterwards joked with us and said that the ocean was warmer. But the baptism went real smooth. The best part was when he bore his testimony. He has had a lot of struggles getting to baptism with his smoking and health issues, but he said he didn't wait too long or too short. That everything was perfect timing. And that he has hope and faith that in the same timing all of his family would join with him so that they could get sealed in the temple. Now we just have to work with his wife :) We had a really cool experience with one of our investigators. We were teaching her about the plan of Salvation. We got towards the end and we asked her a question. We told her there is only one person standing in her way to be with God some day, who is that person? She thought for awhile and guessed a few times. She guessed the evil in the world, temptations, bad influences, the devil. But we told her no. The only person in your way is your own self. It was a neat experience because it was like she lit up. I have been thinking a lot about that as of late and I really like this quote- The Savior seems to say to us: “Come unto me, and I will give you such assurance and hope and strength that you cannot be taken hostage by anyone who seems to do you harm. I will liberate you into love. And then you will no longer give anyone cause to resent or fear you. Instead, they will respond to the love that I have bestowed upon you. By abiding in me, you will do much good, bear much fruit.” C. Terry Warner Time is flying here on the mish. this week is independence week for chile so I'm looking forward to all of the empanadas and mote con huesillo! I love you guys have a great week!