Baptismal Surprise

March 8, 2010

Bon Dia Famia I Amigonan,

I hope that you are all having a good day today. It was so sad to hear about the tragic accident that occurred back home this weekend. It brought tears to my eyes. I love the Fisher family so much and I was sorry that I couldn't be there for them this week. Fisher family, I love you guys and I hope you know that you are in my prayers! If any of you go to visit them this week give everyone a big hug for me, especially Br.o Fisher and Jordan. Tell them Elder Oviatt sends his love. Porter was always a great friend to everyone and I loved his smile! He's definitely preaching the gospel on the other side! I love you guys!

I hope that besides this tragedy everything else is going OK. It was great to hear that Austin won the big-time state championship game! Way to go buddy! How many state championship rings is that for you now?

Well this week has been a week full of the ups and downs, but we finished this week on a huge up. And I have a feeling that it's just going to keep going up and up and up so that's good. You are all probably wondering about the subject line that I used for this email so let me explain a little more.

Elder Jacobson and I have been working so hard to get our investigators to progress to the point where they could get baptized. It has been frustrating with Madeline and Clifton because they want to be baptized with all of their hearts but we just can't get them there because we have to wait on paperwork, among other things. Anyways we began to become very discouraged this week as we saw that all of our investigators and hopes for a baptism this transfer were slowly starting to fade away. We prayed all week that God would send us a miracle and that we would be able to figure something out this week. On Saturday we got our answer.

We have been working with a family in our branch and we were teaching them the plan of salvation on Saturday. All of them are members except for the youngest two children -- Christina who is 9 and their 8 year old son. We were teaching them the plan of salvation on Saturday and we asked the kids if they wanted to get baptized. They both agreed with huge excitement on their faces and then we asked the Dad if that is what he wanted for his children. He said that it was exactly what he wanted and he pulled out his phone so that we could schedule the day. It turned out that he would be gone at the end of the month and we wanted him to be here so we asked if he would be willing to do it this Saturday! He said that would be perfect! And with that our prayers were answered.

I realize the girl is only 9 years old, but hey! She needs to be baptized just as much as a 49 year old and she is an answer to our prayers so I'll take it. We went over last night and to see the change that has already come into their home is just incredible. The spirit was so strong and the kids were filled with so much excitement knowing that they would be baptized. I was so thankful that God blessed us with this great blessing. It is amazing to be able to participate in the baptism of somebody. It's such a blessing. And to see the change that comes into their lives is what makes it all worth it. It was a huge testimony builder no matter how discouraged or down things might seem God is always there and he always answers our prayers.

Things with Madeline and Clifton are going well too. We passed by on Thursday night and Madeline told us that it was looking like they weren't going to get married here. She told us they had a plan that they were going to go get married in Venezuela and then move again. We were both a little discouraged by that because we knew that if they left Curacao and went on with their lives Satan's hold upon them would get stronger and stronger and the likelihood of getting baptized would move farther and farther away. Anywho, we told her to call her lawyer in Venezuela Friday morning and we would pass by Friday night to see how it went.

All week we were feeling like we needed to take the ward mission leader over to their house to visit them. So Friday night we took him over. We asked Madeline how it went and she looked really sad. She said that the lawyer was gone and would be out of the office for a while. She was sad because their baptismal date keeps creeping closer and closer and she wants this so bad. She has so much faith and it was just hard for her to hear that bad news about the attorney. After hearing their situation the ward mission leader said "why don't you just go to the consulate?" He said "my aunt works there and she's a member of the church! She'll do anything she can to get you the papers you need!" We were all shocked and the story got even better when Madeline told us that after the lawyer's office had said the lawyer was gone she knelt in prayer and just asked Him to help with a little opening. She asked Him to open a door, a window anything. Saturday night she got just the opening by the prompting we had to take along perhaps the only person in Curacao who could help her. We were pumped and we can't wait to see how the rest of it turns out.

Other then that this week has just been full of excitement and adventures. It's great out here. I'm loving every minute of it.

Thanks again to all of you for all you do and for all of your love and suppor. We have zone conference this week which means we get letters and love and stuff that has been in Puerto Rico. President Martineau hasn't come down for 2 months so we are all pretty pumped!

I love you guys so much! Once again, please send my love to the Fisher family. The church is true and I know it with all my heart. And my favorite restored doctrine is that the true Church of Jesus Christ teaches that Families really are Eternal!

I love you all so much have a great week! Go cougars!