Baptizing a Primary

This week was amazing! Haha I think that my comp and I are going to end up baptizing a whole Primary......

 

This week we found lots of new investigators. One of them is the ex-mother-in-law of a recent convert that is now living with her. The RC landlord asked for the house because she needed a quick option so she is now living with her ex-mother-in-law. We helped her move some stuff into the house on Tuesday and afterwards we took advantage of the situation and taught G** (the ex-m-i-l) We've been trying to teach her for a while now because we contacted her about 2 months ago. Well, we finally got the chance! She accepted a baptismal date but it fell through because she didn't go to church :( Its all good though because with the RC living with her she's for sure going to get baptized!

 

Some of the other news are part of a family of 13. Only 3 of them are members. The mom met with the missionaries a few years ago and really wants to be baptized but can't because she and her husband both need to get divorced so that they can then get married. BUT, in the mean time we are teaching her granddaughter, niece and the son of the niece. The two kids are 10 and they both want to be baptized. The niece wasn't 100% sure so we have to work a bit more with her; but when she sees her son get baptized, we think that she will want to as well.

 

We also are activating an inactive lady who has a granddaughter living with her who is also 10. She wants to be baptized too and the gma is all for it!

 

This week we found that there is a grandson of a family who wasn't registered after he was baptized. He turns 11 today. If they can't find all of the necessary info, he will have to be baptized again.

 

Yesterday a member came up to us wanting us to teach his nephew that will now be with them every weekend. He is 8 about to turn 9 in a couple of weeks.

 

Then there's E**. He's 10.

 

So in total we are teaching four 10-yr-olds and will probably start teaching a 9 and an 11 yr old. Ya, we're going to baptize the Primary. The Primary President is happy.

 

So ya, that was a brief recap of this week  :)

 

Please wear shoes while jumping rope. That is unless you want your toes to be smacked by a tube of plastic whirling around at a million mph. If such is the case, I advise to keep band-aids and ice close at hand.

 

Love you all!

Elder Groneman

Mi querido familia. ¿Cómo están? Espero que estén bien

Mi querido familia. ¿Cómo están? Espero que estén bien. Se escucha como si todos.............[My dear family. How are you? I hope that you are well. You'll hear if all...] 

 

Ya, okay I won't write in Spanish. I should send a message in pure Chilean Spanish just so that when you send it through Google Translate it won't work    ;P

 

Anyways, all's going well here. It's rained the past few days here, so, of course, every Chilean hid inside their home and made scones (the Chilean version). Now I am very aware of how worn out my shoes are. Haha the good part of walking all day is that the water in your shoes eventually gets warm and keeps your feet warm too   :)

 

E* went to church yesterday! Finally! They haven't been going for the last few weeks. Haha it made me laugh that of all the weeks to go, they go when it rains which is when the majority of the other members don't go to church. Oh the irony. The gpa said that starting in 2 weeks they are going to start staying for the 3 hours sí o sí. If all goes well and there aren't any random surprises (which there always are) E** should be baptized some time in May.

 

Last night the rain actually helped us. We were walking down the deserted street and we see this guy just standing calmly under the overhanging of a building. Yes! Someone to talk to! We started talking to him and he told us that he was waiting for the rain to let up so he could walk to his house (he didn't have an umbrella). Haha he´s trapped - perfect! We start teaching him and he actually got really excited and wanted us to go to his house another day so that we could teach his family. In the end we walked with him to his house so that we would be able to find it in the future because he didn't know the direction because they had just moved there. Hopefully we can find it and teach the whole family!

 

When there is rain and wind, please be sure to secure the ends of your umbrella. It's not that fun when it flips inside-out and instead of blocking the rain, it acts as a personal resoviour (ya, spelling. I know.....)

 

Les Quiero! [Love you!]

Elder Groneman

Short & Sweet

Sad News: E** did not get baptized. He passed his interview and everything. The problem is his dad and grandpa. They kept up with their problems, excuses, and doubts; so, in the end, E** did not get baptized..... We´ll see what happens. Now he won't be able to be baptized until May at the soonest  :(

That was the main thing that happened this week. We walked a ton because basically all of our appointments fell through for some reason. But we did have some good contacts.

One of the few lessons we had was with an investigator who co-habitates with a less active. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. Wow, I've never seen someone get soooo excited about the Plan of Salvation. Usually there is some excitement but this guy, wow, he was really excited. Like more excited than Pepper [our dog] when Dad gets home. Ya, really excited. What called his attention most was the Resurrection and the fact that everyone will be resurrected - the good and the bad. Also, he loved the thought of the Celestial Kingdom. He told us that he is willing to do anything to be able to go there with his family. Little does he know that he just committed to getting married! Anyways, it was great seeing the light in his eyes as we taught and testified. It really was something else. Like a little kid on Christmas morning (one that's not getting coal in his stocking).

So ya. That was my week. Short and Sweet - like one of Mom´s mini-cupcakes   :)

Never underestimate the power of bubbles. They can turn any adult into a little kid again :)

 

Love you all!

Elder Groneman

Gotta love the missionary equivalent of Christmas!

Well, like always when we have baptisms planned, Satan throws everything he's got at us and the investigators. Two of the 3 won't be baptized this Sunday as previously planned. The other one hopefully will but it's not 100% certain right now. He still wants to and is ready but the problem is with his gpa and father. Ya, giant story there that I do not want to take the time to write because it would take forever! So ya, pray for E**!!!

 

HAHA so I feel like I'm in my training again. With my compañion we are now speaking 3 languages each. Portuguese in the mornings, Spanish during the day, and English at night. Ya, let's just say that in the mornings I don't talk as much as I do during the rest of the day. It's a work in progress but slowly I'm getting the hang of Portuguese. I'm still nowhere near being able to speak fluently though. I'm good at reading it out loud though.

 

General Conference was great! Gotta love the missionary equivalent of Christmas! It was sad seeing Pres Monson give such short talks. Powerful, but short. Actually, his talk Sunday morning was just parts of like 2 or 3 of his past talks. I have those talks on my pen drive and have listened to them enough that when he was talking, I recognized every word. Elder Hales basically said goodbye :( We may have 2 more Apostles soon......On the bright side, I really like Elder Stevenson as a new Apostle. His talk was a great way to explain priesthood keys and their significance and importance.

 

Now, the question is this: What are you going to do with all of the counsel and advice that you received this weekend? (I'm assuming you all watched/listened to GC, if not, go repent and watch it.) Many times people ask "why are they saying this again? They've said this a million times now". To answer that question I pose this question, "How hard have you tried to apply what they've said?" The reason why the prophets repeat the same counsels over and over again is because we, as human beings, are naturally stubborn and lazy in nature and don't like working for the change. News Flash! We are not with God. If we are comfortable with how we are now, it means that we are comfortable not being with God. God is found outside of our comfort zone. Now go and ACT! That is all.

 

So ya. That's about it. Please be careful of witches offering some of their brew. If you drink it, it may be the last thing you do.

 

Love you all!

Elder Groneman