Monday, 29 September 2014

1st Baptism


Hello Everyone,                                                                    September 29, 2014

          It´s wonderful to hear from you and everything that´s going on back home. Please continue to write me and update me! It´s about all the news I get here in Mexico, besides mission statistics and what not. Anyways, I am doing great here! My biggest challenge is still Spanish. I feel like once I can understand people and talk to them, that it will open up a lot of doors for me! 
          My pants are okay, for now ha-ha. I made a nice hole in the knee, but I was able to sow it up. It may not look very pretty, but it works. It hasn´t fallen apart yet, so I will keep my fingers crossed! 
          That´s awesome that Derek is a DL in the MTC. That reminds me of something. So when I was in the MTC, I found out that Derek would have been in the same zone as me. Because one day after gym time, this Elder walked up to me and said, "Elder Strate, are you from Canada?" I had never even talked to this Elder before and I didn't know him. So I said, "Ya...why?" Then he said, "You were supposed to be my companion! But then they changed it or something." Then I put the pieces together. Because the district that this Elder was in came a week after I did. So I told him that It was probably supposed to be Derek. I just thought that was kinda cool.
          Anyways, since eating the cow feet, I haven't been fed anything worse. We have tortillas with every meal and usually rice too. So, I made a mistake on the info that I said in my last letter about the baptism. The baptismal date for this lady and her family actually isn't for a few more weeks. However, we still had a baptismal service on Saturday night! We baptized a man named William. His wife is a member and they have two little girls. This is the first time that I have ever baptized anyone, and it was a wonderful experience! I got to perform the baptism! It was pretty cool. Except I had to do it twice because William's foot came out of the water the first time ha-ha. But that's okay. I will try to send some pictures of us with him, but right now this computer is not letting me attach any pictures. But I will do my best to get them to you. Anyways, it was a wonderful experience and I will never forget my first baptism!
          So, we met someone this week that I really like. His name is Arturo. He committed to baptism in our first visit. He has had some struggles in his life and he is really down on luck. He showed us a big scar that he has on his head from a surgery he recently had. He said that one of his "amigos" smashed his head with a rock. When this happened, it broke a big piece of his skull right off. The piece is about the size of my hand. So, he wasn't supposed to survive longer than a day after the accident. But he did, and here he is. He seems really open to the gospel and he said he really wants to change his life and get away from all the bad things that he has been involved with. I feel really good about him and I think he is going to take our lessons really well. I can already see him dressed in all white clothes ready to be baptized. I'm really excited for him. 
          Anyways, everything is great! I love you all so much, please continue to pray for me! I will try to remember all of you in my prayers too, but that's a lot of people ha-ha. Nevertheless I will try. One last thing, if any of you decide to come to Mexico...make sure you buy some sweet bread from the vendors on the street. It is soooo good!! Don't worry, It won't make you sick. The bread here is very sanitary, and it tastes awesome! Adios!

                                                                      Love   Elder Strate

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