Tuesday, January 4, 2011

1st Baptism and Other Awesome Stories!!


WHAT”S UPPP!!!!!

So it’s transfer week, that's why this letter is coming to you from the frozen tundra on Tuesday!  I am not getting transferred this time so don't worry. My companion and I are staying together for at least another one which is awesome! This week was the first of many baptisms to come. Had a lot of fun and a lot of really good learning experiences.

First things first!  The baptism! It was on Saturday the 1st. It was awesome. We had some crazy things happen to us. First, the Sunday before, we realized that the baptism was that Saturday, and had to scramble to tell people and get the preparations done. Good old me and my forgetfulness. So we told everyone we could and put together the program and hoped for the best.   We had called the Bishop on Friday night because we couldn't get into the closet with the baptismal clothes. We were scared that no one had the key to it because it wasn't supposed to be locked at all. Any ways so we finally found someone with the key and let us in.

We asked bishop how long it takes to fill the font up.  He told us about a half hour so we were like sweet! So we showed up only about an hour early to fill the fount up - which went against all of the advice I've received before my mission.   Needless to say, the font takes about two and a half hours to fill, so when 9:45 rolled around - 15 minutes before the baptism, we had to use every available pot and pan we could find in the kitchen to fill it up. It still only got half full and was pretty cold. It was hilarious! Despite all of that funny stuff it was the greatest experience ever. The lady being baptized was crying the whole time. Her son - who I baptized, was so excited and we really saw a huge change in him when we went in the water. It was a great ending to the story.

My companion and I have learned a few good lessons this week too. A huge one that I really had to humble myself and realize was that I can't do it alone.  More than ever I have had to rely on two brains rather than just my own dumb self to get things done. There are reasons that we work in pairs, you just have to be smart enough to realize that Elder! Also the other thing that I've never been good at and really had to humble myself to do was communication. If you are not communicating your problems and concerns, then how in the world is your companion going to know to change. Lifelong lesson for all of you out there! So I've obviously been rebuked pretty hard by the spirit this week but just like the song: “Rain drops keep falling on my head, but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red” I've learned to take the lessons and use them to change!   It’s making life GRRRREEAT!!!  :)

So it’s been sunny and kind of warm here... well 34 at least. It’s nice seeing the sun shining when we go out to work!

OOOHHH!! A really cool experience that has been happening this week. OK OK so this guy is the husband of a member in the ward.  Missionaries have been coming over for the past about 15 years teaching and trying to help him to want to be baptized. He's stubborn as a mule! Every time the missionaries try and even suggest picking up the Book of Mormon he cuts them off and says “don't waste your breath,  I'm not doing it.”   So when I got here I tried to get him to do the same thing and sure enough got the same result. I didn't know what to do because I knew he needed to do it. We'll you know me I can be just as bull headed as he can be.

 So, I went home and prayed about what to do. We went back and he told us that he had been having a dream where he'd been waking up reaching out for something. He couldn't figure out what he was reaching for but he wanted to know.    Well, I asked him again to pray and read the Book of Mormon and got the same "no thanks” response.  Well before he could finish talking, I turned to his wife and said “will you read it?”  Man, he got humble really quick and chimed in that he wanted to read it with her. So we challenged them to read every night together. We came back about a week and a half later and got talking to him. I could see that there was a light turned on in his eyes. It was amazing. We asked if he had any questions. He wanted to know about the Iron Rod. So we started to talk about it and I had a huge prompting to go out to the car and get the Gospel art book. I flipped open to the Tree of Life picture and showed him the story with the picture. He looked at it and I told him to just study it. All of the sudden he broke down and cried. And I'm pretty sure this was the first time in ohh a very long time that he had cried. He looked up at us and said "this is the answer" meaning that this was the answer to his prayers. The answer to why he was reaching out in his dream. It was THE Single most spiritual experience that I think I've ever felt in my life. We committed him to be baptized, and he told us “Yes! Absolutely!”.

It’s just really amazing that I get to be here watching the Lord work. It's not me it’s all Him. I just get the privilege of being around watching the miracles unfold before my eyes. I love it.

Oh man and yes the pepper that is in my finger is a Habanera. It was HOT !!  enuff said....

Well I’ve rambled for long enough. Till next week!
Write me and I will send you something too!
Love
Elder Yukish

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