Baptisms!!!

2/20/17 Email:

Howdy Y'all,

So this week was a really exciting one. It was the first week of the transfer, and we had 2 Baptisms!! 

We had exchanges over Valentines Day, oh and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!  But yeah, I went to Cameron with Elder Rillamas, he is from Hawaii, and it was really fun.  We went to their Branch Valentine Dinner, and I made garlic bread because Elder Rillamas didn't know how, so they all said I did a good job, but maybe they were just being nice.  But at the dinner, we watched the short version of Johnny Lingo twice, and then played a "how well do you know your partner" game, and that was pretty fun.  

The next day we went and did service at the Senior Center, that was pretty fun. There weren't a whole lot of people there, but there was one lady we chatted with for a bit, then we went back later and cleaned up the place.  We also went and chopped some wood, and last P-day we played football, and we were so sore from that so chopping wood wasn't the easiest, and it didn't help that the wood was wet.  But anyway while chopping Elder Rillamas and I were trying to chop this one piece, and we would take turns to see who could chop it in half. We didn't get it so we just left it, but Elder Rillamas was trying to pull his ax out of the wood, and ended up falling down on his butt, it was pretty hilarious.  But that was all the excitement, other than putting a couple more of our investigators on date for baptism, till Saturday, when Thomas and Amber were baptized!!!!!

Here they are, my companion Elder Hudak is on the right.  It was a really great day, but kinda stressing at the same time because some people were late.  But Thomas' wife gave the talk on baptism, which was really cool. Usually people ask us to give the talks but his wife, Alissia, wanted to do it.  I was so happy, and both of them were just so ready to be baptized.  Thomas, during his interview for baptism, was asked why he wanted to be baptized and he said it was because he wanted to be sealed to his family forever!  That was so wonderful, and that is the goal with everyone here on earth is to be sealed to their family forever, and he really knows that this gospel is true. He would even bear his own testimony during our lessons with him!  It was a real testimony builder for me. The whole day was pretty much, because after the baptism, we got a text from our Stake President, President Justice, and he was at the baptism, asking us to come over to his house later that night, so we were really worried that we did something wrong.  But we didn't and he just talked to us about the goal the Stake has about retaining converts and such, and it was a really good discussion, and we are now going to try to get Thomas, and his wife, and Amber to the temple here in a couple weeks for the Stake Temple Day.  But it was just a really sweet experience.  On Sunday, we got really worried, because our ward starts at 9 am , and nobody showed up till after 9, like there was nobody there on time, so we started late, but thankfully they were both confirmed members of the church!  So I am just really blessed and happy to be here.  

Love you all,
Elder Takis