Roller Coasters!

Burbank Overlook

Canolli

Dina's Baptism

Helen

Happy Valentines Day

Heyo familia!

Everything's been rocking it over here. Hermana Nelson and I have had quite an amazing week! We're talking to everyone, teaching up the wall, and .... we had a baptism! The lovely peruana Dina got baptized on Sunday! 

It was quite the roller coaster ride to get her there though, but she's been doing AMAZING!

Sunday comes along....and she calls to tell us she can't make it tochurch. She's too nervous. We try to call everyone for a ride and everyone is super sick. We rush over to her and say a prayer and are blessed with a calming spirit. A ride is found and she makes it to church. We push her baptism out an hour so she can still have dinner with her sister and all is well. We show up at the baptism and....nothing has been done like we planned! But that's okay, because I take after mom when it comes to doing things on the spots. We quickly put together a program, got someone to share a testimony about baptism, we gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, the Elders gave a "missionary minute".....it all worked out and was wonderful.

Oh but here comes the best part.

Dina is deathly afraid of water. And by deathly, I mean stinking super scare, in all forms of the word. We convinced her to be able to do it just once and everything would be fine and she'll survive. Well, she did it. But they didn't use her full name. She had to do it again. She hates water and was all covered in it and etc. and starts saying right there in the font, "no puedo, no puedo, no no no" our hearts dropped and were pounding like crazy! This is quite the leap of faith and she is still put to the test! Immediately we grabbed her towel and reach our hands out to her, like the angels at the door of heaven words come to our mouths to calm her down --thanks to the Spirit. She wipes her face and we testify and she bears testimony of why she's doing this. She takes a few breaths and is back in the font. Just one more time I promise her. The audience is full of tears. The suspense is thick . . . she doesn't go all the way under. ....last time, we promise Dina! Hermana Nelson and I are literally kneeling at the edge of the water/font and praying so hard in that moment that it would be the last time and that Dina would do it. And she did!

Her faith truly had to conquer that fear of water. Afterwards she was very glad she had survived but even more glad she made the covenant with God. She bore overpowering testimony and everything worked out fine in the end. But it was a crazy roller coaster of emotions! I've learned that faith truly does conquer all and that we shouldn't let our fears get in the way of stopping us!

The end is truly worth it, and it was quite the perspective to be on the side where I knew the blessings and the ending and the whole point and knowing it would all be worth it. I realize that we have friends here in this life -- and our Heavenly Father too, of course-- who we learn from, support us, and know that "end point" and want to see us there and see us reach it and feel happy. It was a moment I've never experienced before, but one I'll never forget. I learned a lot about God's pure love and his true desire for all of us to have eternal salvation and exaltation.

I hope you all have an amazing week! I know this church is true and make sure to read scriptures and pray daily as a family!

con carino, hermana day