Carrying the Banner: First Baptism!

Hola mi familia!

This was kind of an eventful week! We had my first baptism! Woohoo! It was such a tender moment in my mission. I honestly wish I could do justice to the feelings that I felt and the things that I saw. There was a powerful Spirit at the baptism. Luis was so ready to be baptized, that nothing could have stopped him. He showed up for his baptism so early, and was already grinning from ear to ear! In total, we had 4 people who were baptized: Yahaira, Luis, Modesto, and Themis (an 8 year old little girl). While everyone was changing, I had the chance to spend some time with Yahaira's kids! She has 4 daughters and a couple sons, and the oldest is 9. Annie and Ashley are the two oldest, and they will be getting baptized next month once Ashley turns 8! They are seriously the most adorable little family. The little girls just remind me of home. They just love to tackle and play and love on you. Every time they see me, they just all run up and give me super tight hugs. They always make me feel so special and loved. It was such a blessing to see this cute little family so excited for their mom to be baptized. Their dad was inactive, and now their whole family dynamic has changed. I have seen joy come into their lives as they have accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The program was so beautiful. Themis was the first to be baptized, and her little brother was the most adorable thing I have ever seen. He is probably about 5 years old, and just hilarious. When it was announced that Themis was going to be baptized first, he started cheering! "Yeah! That's my sister! Yeah Themis!" It was so cute, I almost died. After she was baptized by Elder Stephens, he just goes, "WOW! That was so cool!!" He was just precious. It makes me rejoice when little kids are excited about baptism. Even they can understand the significance of such an event.

Luis's baptism!

Next was Yahaira, and there was just such a sweet spirit as Elder Wilkins baptized her. Her girls were so entranced by it, and you could tell that they felt the Spirit. And then the big moment (for me) came as Luis was baptized. At this point, I could not even wipe the smile off my face. The Spirit is so tender at baptisms, and this one was so special. Elder Gamble baptized him, and you could tell it was perfect moment! Modesto was also baptized, which was an amazing moment for Elders Hurtado and Wilkins, I am sure. Modesto has been more active than a lot of our active members for over a year. He just never got baptized. After the ordinances, we then watched the Restoration video while they changed. The Spirit just stayed, and testified again to us how important it is to know for a surety that this Church is the true church on the earth. Juan Carlos, the former-less-active husband of Yahaira was asked to the give the closing prayer. Before he prayed though, he decided to bear his testimony. It was such a sweet and simple testimony. He bore testimony to his wife that this ordinance was going to change their lives. He spoke about how they were going to sealed in the temple in a year, and how they were going to have a forever family. All of a sudden tears were just flooding out of my eyes. It was such a sentimental moment. I felt the Spirit testifying to me of how special this family is. I also felt the Spirit testifying of the power that comes from a family that is sealed together for time and all eternity in the temple. I am so grateful for my parents, and that I have those blessings of the covenant. I truly felt love for this family as they will have the same blessings. They have had opportunities to change so much and be blessed, and they have taken every single one of them. I am so excited for the time when their children follow to be baptized, and are then sealed. Luis was just glowing after the baptism. He was seriously just glowing. It was such an amazing vision. I cannot wait for his future. He said that all he wants to do is give back to God. He wants to do maintenance for the church or algo mas (anything else) because he just feels so grateful. He said that he is just rethinking so many things about work and life. It is beautiful how just a simple ordinance brings so much power and influence.

All the sisters in our zone! I love them all.

LOOK AT THIS PUPPY WE SAW ON A PORCH!

On the more typical awkward- Sadie side of things, I went on a split with Sister Cole on Saturday, and we could not find a bathroom for the life of me!! I had to go to the bathroom so bad I couldn't even walk standing up straight. We were down in Elder Gamble's area, so I only knew where a few members lived, and they weren't home. We walked around, into a super market, looked into restaurants, even a movie theater, and found NOTHING. After 45 minutes we finally found a Burger King! I ran in there only to discover that you had to buy something first in order for them to open the bathroom door for you to use. I ran up the counter and told the girl working I wanted a cinnamon roll (it was the first thing in sight, literally right next to the cash register. At this point, I really didn't care.) She just spoke so slowly- relaxed and casual, which was definitely a stark contrast next to my impatient-I-am-going-to-wet-myself-right-here-voice. "Okay, that's all you want?" "Yeah. And the bathroom." "Okay. Do you want it heated?" "Sure. Just let me use the bathroom." "Okay, let me get this for you." I seriously was dying watching her take precise slow moves to grab the cinnamon role, put it in a box, then walk back and put it in the microwave. Sister Cole was probably just laughing so hard. The Burger King lady was moving slower that an old grandma, and I seriously thought that my bladder was going to explode at any moment. Finally after a few agonizing minutes she came from around the counter and opened the bathroom door. YAY! I survived! Mostly I was just so scared that since it was so cold outside that if anything happened, it would just freeze to my leg.... haha. Oh man.

Elders are so awkwarddddd.

Another exciting thing from Sunday, Sister Richardson and I got to teach Primary! We have been waiting to hand out the CTR rings prepared by the Northfield 14th Ward Activity Days girls, and teaching Primary seemed like the perfect opportunity to share them! We taught about following the Savior and leaving everything behind that would prevent us from to choosing the right. My heart was so close to bursting teaching these kids. They all have so much love for Jesus Christ, and such a grand understanding of who He is. Every question we asked about Him, at least 5 little hands shot up, ready to give us answers. I felt the Spirit testify to me of how special little children are in the eyes of God. At one point we asked them to give us examples of things we can do to follow Christ's example. Themis, who was getting baptized later that day, was about to jump out of her seat. I swear her hand was up so high that had she jumped out of her seat, she would have touched the ceiling. We called on her, and she says, "I'm getting baptized today!!!!" It was so enlightening to see everybody so excited about following our Savior's example! After our lesson, we taught them about choosing the right and handed out the children's green CTR rings, each with a little note from one of the activity day girls from my home ward. They LOVED them. Every single little Primary kid swore to wear the ring every day! I have been in this ward for long enough now that most of the kids know my name, and so for the kids who received notes from Emmy, it was really special. Emmy is an example to me. She knows the truth, and wasn't scared to share her experiences and her testimony of choosing the right! So thank you NF 14th Activity Day girls for helping my kids here in NYC! The testimony of a child is precious and pure, and when shared, it is impossible to not feel the Spirit.