March 5, 2018

The dopest baptism!! Two amazing youth and the most wonderful couple!! Luis and Cruzita

Baby!

The first mutual this rama has had in ages!! It was very succesaful and fun! 

SUCH A GOOD WEEK! This week four amazing people entered the waters of baptism. Yoaly, Oeshly, AND LUIS and CRUZITA!! 

Yoaly and Oeshly are wonderful young ladies. The young women's program is really coming along these days with new converts and reactivations of less actives. Also this branch had their first mutual that was very successful. The youth are amazing. In church yesterday we were explaining tithing to one of our converts and so she paid and then all the other youth went and grabbed the tithing slips and put whatever bit of money they had in their envelopes and gave it to president. So tithing is the new cool thing to do here in Ocoa! So great to see youth giving the little that they have to God. 

But anyways, the baptism was so amazing and wow! It was one of the most amazing things to see my favorite couple get baptized together. I've learned sooo much from them. Especially Luis. I learned that sacrifice is love. He sacrificed so much to enter the waters of baptism. He gave up his smoking habit that he had since the age of 13. It was hard for him, but he did it for the love he had for Jesus Christ and his church. He sacrificed working on Sundays, even though those were some of his busiest days on his avocado farm. But with every little sacrifice he made, he did it with so much love and so much desire to follow the commandments of God.

 

When he entered the waters of baptism I couldn't decide if it was better to watch him or his wife, Cruzita. I will never forget the sweet look on her face as she watched her husband be baptized. Such a tender smile with such happy eyes full of love for Luis and for the decision they made together to be baptized. At the end, all four of the newly baptized members bore their testimonies and the spirit was soo strong. Ahhh I can't explain it. And then the awkward but still spiritual part was when I was leading the last hymn that talked about the example of Jesus Christ and I just start shedding tears in front of everyone and trying to sing with them. But the spirit was just testifying that these four people really did just do exactly what Jesus Christ taught us, and were baptized in his church and I just felt beyond humbled that God allowed me to play a small part in it all. Definitely one of the best nights on my mission. I love all my converts and people I've taught but Luis and Cruzita will always have a very special place in my heart.