Holy Smokes! This week went by super fast! We have been all over the place haha! I LOVED your emails and your pictures! Glad to hear that the parties march on there in river city! I saw the picture of Blake taking the water right off the tip of the hose and it made me laugh. I don’t know who is more entertained by that...her or Dad? She’s a cutie though, I love her. Sister Maluenda saw the picture of her this morning and just kept saying "Que Hermosa perra!" Give her a bacon treat for me. Man I AM SOOO EXCITED THAT ALEX IS PLAYING FOOTBALL! So many times on my mission I realized how much football helped me prepare for these experiences out here. I miss it a lot, it really is some of the best memories of my life! Keep up the work big dog! And don’t repeat anything that Berg says, unless it’s good stuff about us;) Ya never know what might come outta that guys mouth!
So I have to tell you about our baptism Sunday. One of THE MOST special baptisms my whole mission. I wish you all could have experienced it! Emmanuel was so ready and had made so many changes that he could hardly wait to get in the water! He picked a young man from the YSA to baptize him, so I’ll tell you his whole story!
One day the YSA was playing soccer out on a field in our area and a young man named David, a recent convert of 1 year, saw Emmanuel walking along side the field and he yelled out to him and invited him to “come play!” He did. Emmanuel later told us that he never felt the way he did during that soccer game. They invited him to institute the next day and he went. Then a young lady named Karina in our area invited him over for a lesson with us the very next day. In the first lesson he was a bit skeptical but he had REALLY GOOD questions. He wouldn’t quite accept a BD, but we invited him to church that Sunday. He came and LOVED it. He then stayed afterwards for our baptism and right after the baptism we went and set a BD with him. He was on cloud 9 and feeling the Spirit super strong. After that he was solid as a rock. We became really great friends as we continued to teach him and he came to church activities, parties, and all the YSA activities. The YSA LOVES HIM!
So we continued to teach him up until his baptism and the service was amazing. The Chapel was full! In the picture I sent, that is part of the YSA that was there to support him! We sang his favorite hymn, "Brightly beams our Fathers Mercy". The baptism was perfect and after wards Emannuel got up to say some words. As you can see in the picture he’s a pretty confident, good looking, tough guy. But he got up and just started crying and said, "Never in my life have I felt so loved like you all make me feel. I feel like this is where I’ve always belonged." He bore a powerful testimony of the church and of the Savior and everyone was super emotional. After that EVERYONE went up and just swarmed him. He was so happy.
So now the rest is history! He’s doing AMAZING and we are all best of buds. He has already invited all his friends to be taught and we’ve already set like 3 BD’s with his friends and neighbors. On Monday night we had a BBQ at his apartment with the whole YSA and it was great. There were a ton of non members there and Emmanuel just worked it for us haha! He was great! I’m so proud of him!
Besides that, all has been just great! We had a week full of trainings, great meals with the Maluendas, (definitely a perk of being and assitant haha) and finding a bunch of great new people. The Lord just blesses us so much! I don’t ever want it to end!
Besides that all is more than well. I tell Elder Munsey, “I’m not trunky at all.....but I’m so excited for my family to come and see how amazing my life is down here. You are going to LOVE it and love all of my family here. Thank you for everything you do! You all are the best! Take care and be safe!
Much Amor,
Elder Smith
