Buenas! Oh my gosh we had the most embarrassing baptism this week. So, Hermanita Abi was baptized. She’s our convert Argi’s sister. She likes going to church and to Primary and everything! So we taught her all the lessons. She told us she wanted to be baptized! Abi is way cute but so shy with new people. She will not say or do anything in front of anyone new. She’s 9 and way sassy (this word does not exist in Spanish and it’s really quite a bummer). We were a little worried about what was going to happen when the time came for her to actually be baptized. But I didn’t really think about it too much - I just prayed a million times that everything would turn out okay.
So the day came. On Saturday, we all took the bus to the church together and I was surprised at how well everything was going. Usually on baptism days we have soooo many problems. Abi seemed excited. But as we arrived at the church Abi started to get nervous. We went inside and saw the font and she really started freaking out a little bit. She was just super nervous about eveything - that her dress was going to float up - that she was going to drown - that the water was going to be cold.
When the time came for her to actually be baptized she started saying, “I don’t want to, I don’t want to!” And we legit had to talk to her for like 10 minutes haha. At one point we had to start chanting “Abi! Abi! Abi! Abi!”
At last she decided to do it and she stepped in the water and two of her fears became a reality. The water was way cold and her dress kept floating up. After like 5 minutes of coaxing from the side of the font, she finally decided to do it! So Elder Tingey baptized her. But her foot came up out of the water, so they had to do it again! She almost refused to do it again but finally agreed. This time it was okay but she choked a little bit in the water and cried after.
She really did want to get baptized but didn’t actually want to physically do it. Hermana Tenorio and I were very concerned that everyone was going to think we forced her to do it, but that so wasn’t the case!
Abi really is a good girl, who wants to do what’s right! When we asked her why she wanted to be baptized she told us that she wanted to follow Jesus’ example. My heart melted! Little kids’ desires to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ as so pure! In the mission, I really have come to understand why Christ loved little children so much. Their spirits are so much closer to heaven than ours :). Even though her baptism was stressful, I love Abi so much!!!
This week I got a sty in my eye so I had to use my glasses and not wear any eye makeup for one day. It was so embarrassing because everyone told me that I looked different (and weird). Usually people tell me I look pretty haha but instead they asked me what the heck happened to me. It really is amazing the wonders that a black line across the eyelid can do. The next day my eye felt better so I wore make up and looked normal again :)
This week in my personal study of the Book of Mormon I read about the cycle of pride among the Nephites. Basically the Nephites were righteous, received blessings, became rich, got prideful, turned wicked, were condemned by Heavenly Father, became humble and turned righteous again. The cycle goes on and on in the Book of Mormon! And I was thinking about how I’ve seen that same cycle in the mission, especially this week.
Things have been going really well in our area. The people generally receive us and are moderately interested. And when things are going well, it’s so easy to get a little prideful - and a little lazy! So we’ve had it easy for a little bit. But Heavenly Father decided to humble us! We went to go contact in a part of our area we usually don’t go to, and literally talked to everyone (who would open their door) and they all said no! All morning all we heard was NO! And working in the morning is so hard because the sun is so hot and legit sucks all the energy out of you. The next day was exactly the same! A morning of ridiculous sun and pure “no”s. We were kinda sad! But the truth is we needed a little bit of humbling. It’s easy to forget the source of all that is good in this world when things are going well!
So my invitation for this letter is that we won’t let ourselves get lazy in thanking our Father in Heaven for His help, His mercy and His grace in the bad times and the good ones too :)
Love,
Hermana Keeler
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