Wednesday: We had Melqui's baptismal interview in the morning and all went well and he passed. He is going to be baptized on Saturday. After that we had a lesson with Sabrina. We talked about the plan of salvation or in other words God's plan for us. Her grandfather passed away recently and we knew that the message would be good for her to hear. We talked a lot about how everyone will have the opportunity to hear this message and for those that didn't get that opportunity in this life will have that opportunity in the spirit world. The spirit world is the waiting period after we pass on. There it is a place where people who have accepted the gospel will spend the time in peace and for those that didn't get that opportunity will be taught just as we do as missionaries. It shows that God loves each of us and wants to give us all the blessings of the gospel. At night after ward visits we played some basketball with members of the ward.
Thursday: We had zone conference in the morning and it was all about baptism. Baptism is the gate which leads us to return to live with our father in heaven. There was a part that really liked and it was all different types of references that told us how important being baptized is. The New Testament says in John 3:5 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The Book of Mormon says in 3 Nephi 11:33 "And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God." President Nelson said, "Begin with the end in mind." and the Lord said in The Pearl of Great Price in Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." All these sources point us to the first step of returning to Heavenly Father and that is through baptism. Which is central to our purpose as missionaries.
Friday: We got a text from a good old friend who was known as Elder Harvey. Now I got to call him Hayden Harvey. He was a great missionary who served in this mission about a year ago with me. He was one of my favorite zone leaders and he took us out to Jimmy John's for lunch. I advised him to begin with the end in mind after the mission and to find his eternal companion haha! At night we had a great visit with Parley again and got a feel for what he is going through and he is ready to make some changes in his life and got work off on the 28th of July to be baptized. After that we had a good lesson with Luis. We got an interview time set up with a member of our mission presidency and found him a new place to live so he can get baptized.
Saturday: We printed off Melqui's baptismal programs and got all those things set up. We got the room ready and the font filled and sure enough it was time! It was a good baptismal service and everyone that gave a talk or bore their testimonies were fantastic. Melqui said he wanted me or Elder Rodriguez to baptize him and since Melqui has Latin background and names we let Elder Rodriguez do it so I didn't butcher it haha! We ended up staying with Elder Rodriguez for a while waiting for his companion.
Sunday: Luis had his interview with President Peter's in the morning and it is just a waiting game for now to see if he can get baptized this weekend. If not whenever he can. We went to Rose Canyon ward council afterwards. Then we had the Rose Canyon sacrament meeting where we stood in the circle to confirm Melqui a member of the church and to give him the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. It was a great experience to be apart of his conversion. Afterwards we went to Butterfield Canyon to sit with Luis at church.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Aaron Ashby
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