Fwd: BAPTISM OF AZUL!!!

June 24, 2016

Fantastic Family and Friends!

¿Como estan?  It sounds like there's lots of Summer Fun in Utah!  All is well down here in Mexico!

This week, we've hardly gotten to have any lessons.  We've spent a lot of time in the offices.  One hard thing about being in a trio of secretaries is that if one of us doesn't have work in the offices, another one does.  So every morning and every afternoon we're running around to get something done.  Today was the Financial End of Month, so all week I've been getting everything ready for that.  But I just finished!  Yay!!!  Now I can relax for another month!  :)

The highlight of this last week is definitely the baptism of Azul last Saturday.  This baptism was one of the best moments of my entire life.  You may think, "Why? She wasn't even your investigator."  And I'm not sure exactly why, but after interviewing her and knowing all that she had done to prepare herself, and then to enter the baptismal font myself with her and baptize her.  I just left feeling very happy and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be a worthy holder of the priesthood and for the Restored Gospel in our lives.  After her baptism, she got the chance to share her testimony.  She told us that about a year ago, about the time that she had her baby, even though she felt older and entering a new phase of life, she began to feel alone and empty.  A few months later, a problem occurred and she went to a park, and sat on a bench, alone, and cried.  She asked for a purpose in life because she felt like she didn't have one.  A few months later, the sister missionaries passed by and invited her to be baptized.  She said no.  When they taught the Plan of Salvation in a later lesson, they testified that there is a purpose for why we're here on Earth, and that this purpose was created long before.  In this moment, she felt a loving, fatherly hug. "Like the hug that a father gives to his daughter when she has fallen down."  In this moment, she knew that she wanted to be baptized.  It was super special hearing her testimony.  She started to cry and many of us did too.

The only other big thing from this week was a Zone Conference on Tuesday.  Zone Conferences are always so powerful!  I love to hear the wisdom and experiences of President and Sister Mecham.  (Probably because it reminds me of the wisdom and experiences of Mom and Dad).  At the beginning of the Conference, the Assistants chose three companionships to teach a lesson in front of the whole zone, like what we all had to do in the last zone conferences.  We weren't one of these three companionships chosen, and then they continued teaching new topics.  And I sighed a sigh of relief because I had a feeling that I would be chosen on.  :)  Then when President was finishing up his words, he said, "Okay, Elder Jarrett and Elder Chavez, now I want you two to teach, but this time the investigator is going to say no to being baptized.  I want to see how you respond and what you do to finish the lesson."  :D  Haha, so my feelings were right.  And we were given a harder scenario than the others.  :)  So we passed to the middle of the circle and began to teach.  I feel like our lesson was very guided by the Spirit.  The words just came came out my mouth without me really thinking about them and as I heard them, I thought that they were exactly what the investigator needed. It was another awesome experience.  

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!

Elder Jarrett

Photos:  Azul's baptism and me with my first authentic Mexico City Quesadilla (which don't have cheese)

P.S.  Last week, we didn't have internet in the offices, so I grabbed a Book of Mormon in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and Japanese.  I felt like the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French were practically the same, so I was intrigued by the Japanese.  I studied the first page for a while and noticed with symbols were repeated most and the order in which they were placed and I learned how to spell "Nephi" and I learned how the punctuation works and everything.  Then I was talking to a member in our ward who knows Japanese and I learned a little bit more.  Then he told me that German is really similar to English, and I didn't believe him.  So I printed off the first page of the Book of Mormon in German and I began to study that.  And it's true.  It is similar.  So I began to study that.  So that's what I do when I get bored in the offices.  :)