Monday, January 21, 2013 - "Savior Redeemer Of My Soul..."

Hola Mi Famila! Another week gone....it has been quite fast in some aspects and in others quite slow. But it has been quite a spiritually gratifying and uplifting week with many new insights and things to ponder. I'm not really sure what I said last week about my musical number, but on Monday I got together with Elder McNeil from Mesa who is in my Zone who plays piano. Tuesday night I got together with Elder McNeil again and practiced. Then came Wednesday, the big day! We arrived early to practice and everything went well. The meeting started and I went first right after the opening prayer. The number went quite well-not as well as I would have liked for me, but well. I think everyone was quite impressed. Everyone was saying how Elder Cornish's countenance changed when I started singing, like he was impressed to. I almost moved Hermana Hernandez to tears she said. And Elder and Sister Cornish both came up and said thanks for inviting such a strong spirit to the meeting. The conference with Elder Cornish was really good! He served a mission in El Salvador and they were mission presidents in the Dominican Republic and so he knew Spanish quite well. His wife too, but with a very, VERY thick "Gringo"accent. We talked about many things at the conference and it was really good. At the end we he left it open for about an hour and we could ask any question we wanted about anything and we would discuss it and he would answer it. In the end, we talked about the Atonement and he showed us a video of Abraham and Isaac and how their story relates so much to the Atonement. Although I knew the correlation between Abraham and Isaac and Jesus, this video really impacted me. It showed how Isaac being the only son of Isaac and giving him as a sacrifice to God and how hard it was for him to give his only son that he ever had. it also showed how Isaac was WILLING to go and he knew that that is what God wanted for his father Abraham. Of course the application is that God gave his only begotten son and that it much have really been hard to give that sacrifice to the world, but he loved us so much that he wanted to do it. And Christ was WILLING to be sacrificed and give his life for us. This video really impacted me so much and for the whole rest of the week I couldn't get the Atonement of Jesus Christ out of my head. I was constantly thinking about it every day all the time. I also had a continuous love and I reflected on these things. I had a new insight to the Atonement. Yes, I didn't learn of anything new, but I was reminded and received a witness of the Atonement. I was able to use these thoughts and feelings in many lessons that we had this week. I loved teaching and telling people how Christ willingly took upon him the sins of the world and basically lived each and every one of our lives and left each and every one of our pains and problems that we had. And all this because he loves us. And God gave us His son because he loves us too. Soo much....we can't even comprehend the love that God and Christ have for us. I was very impacted by this and still have lingering feelings. So to this weekend....Saturday...baptism of the little girl.... So, we arrive at the Church a little late and the other ward is there setting up for Mutual or some activity that they were going to have. We nicely asked for the room with the baptismal font and they gave it to us. We began cleaning the font and all and went to go turn on the boiler to heat water so that it wasn't freezing cold for this little 9 year old girl. We get the boiler started and leave and then come back and it had turned off. Apparently the gas tank finished and there was no gas, so no hot water. So we said, whatever and moved on to fill the font. Well, we began filling the font and the water pressure begins to lessen. Here in Hermosillo, there isn't a lot of water and so at night they lesson the water pressure to try and save water for the city. Well, this isn't very good for us trying to fill a font in only an hour. We decided to leave it hoping for a miracle and we came back an hour later and it still wasn't filled to the first step of the stairs and it was nearing 7PM time to start the service. Well, by this time only 4 members showed up for the service and our zone leaders. Only 4 MEMBERS!!!! Of all the people we invited and the responsibilities that we delegated to people, only 4 members showed up. And not one of them was the bishop or his councilors or the ward mission leader. Well, 7PM came, and later 7:15 and the font wasn't filling and the little girl didn't even show up! That was the craziest thing. We thought, oh she is really timid and shy and she probably backed out and doesn't want to get baptized anymore. So we called it off. We drained the font and told the 4 members thanks so much for coming and for your support, but we aren't going to have a baptism. We left with a couple to go to the house of the little girl to see what happened. When we got there, no one was there and the neighbor said that they had left to go baptize the little girl. That was the strangest thing for us. The next morning, we went to their house again with that same couple to see if we could take them to church, but again, no one answered and we thought, well maybe they already left for church on their own (they were probs just sleeping). We got to church and they weren't there. This was so depressing and I was a little annoyed. After church, we went to visit them again and the girl’s aunt said that the night before they had taken a lot of time to get ready and by the time the left and had gone to the church around 8PM, it was locked and no one was there. So they had gone, but we had already called it off and left. So that happened.....I'm not sure at this point what is next. We will probs be setting another date for this coming Saturday. The girl has already said that she wants me to do it (well, she didn't tell, us but her mom...she doesn't say a word to us remember?). All kids are in love and obsessed with us Gringos and we are quite playful they say! I do enjoy playing with the kids! Well, that was basically my week.... I hope all is well with you all. At last, the final week of this Transfer! We have transfers next Monday, but I think I will be staying....but who knows... I love and miss you all tons! ¡Yo sé que vive mi Señor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner