Baptism

It's been one insane week. Mainly towards the end of it was the crazy part. Earlier in the week was good. I got to go on exchanges with my trainer, Elder Christensen, who's my district leader. That was really fun. Just like old times in Seminole. 

We've also been able to do some great service this week too. We got to help paint a members house and then helped one of our investigator's friends move. We've also been able to meet with quite a few people this week as well, which is great. I'd say that's probably the biggest problem we have is trying to get in contact with people again. It seems like most people can only meet at the same time as everyone else can only meet at.

Saturday and Sunday was when it got crazy. I'm happy to say, though, that on Saturday J and C got baptized!!! It went great. They invited a lot of family and so there was a lot more non-members than members there. One of the missionaries who taught them in Plainview was at the temple and got to see them after the baptism, which was cool. 

Later we found out an investigator's brother died so we couldn't go see her. Then we got a text from C telling us that her husband had appendicitis and was in the hospital for surgery. We went up there, getting lost a couple times going through Tech campus, but weren't able to see him.  Everything went well fortunately, but he won't be able to work or drive or anything for at least a week, which will be rough for them since they need the money from him working and they have trouble finding regular babysitters for their kids so C can work. 

Sunday we got a request from the zone leaders to go help out another set of missionaries in our zone. One of them was up sick all night and so couldn't go to church but was supposed to give a talk so I went with his companion to their sacrament meeting so he could give the talk instead. After that we went to our ward where I got to confirm J and C!  It was a little nerve wracking at first but it went great. After church we got to see one of our prior investigators.  He's doing a ton better! He has a job, is able to pay his own rent, goes to church, and looks like a completely new person! 

One thing I learned this week is how dumb it is to speed. God never made or told us to make time. We created time on our own and we tend to try to speed things up because of it. God intended us to slow down and appreciate what God's given us and not be going too fast and missing everything we could enjoy around us. She said it a lot more eloquently, but realizing that has helped me resist the urge to speed as I drive and "Elder Tiwi" yells at me a lot less now, haha. I love y'all!

-Elder Carlson