My first baptism!!

 Hola todos!

This week was pretty great honestly. Just an awesome week. First of all, Harlie's baptism was Saturday and it was so awesome. We invited a lot of people and probably about a third of them showed up. Which is a little lame but it's okay. But overall, it was just a really powerful baptism. Harlie shared her testimony and talked about how she is so glad she got on the plane to come live here because she never would have run into the us. Her testimony was really powerful. 

Originally, I thought Harlie was going to ask me to do the baptism, and I really wanted to, but Elder Rehkow and I told her that she should choose who does the ordinance. It should be her decision since it is her baptism! Her answer to mostly everything is basically "God will choose who should" and Elder Rehkow and I are like ummm.... ok.....:) 

So later that week, Harlie is doing a baptismal interview and in the same building was someone from our mission presidency. It wasn't our mission president, but it was his first counselor, President Thomas. So instantly after seeing President Thomas and talking with him for a little bit, Harlie says "I think God wants you to perform my baptism!" So President Thomas is basically like "Heck Yeah I will" and so yeah that happened. Elder Rehkow and I were both wanting to do the baptism and someone from our mission presidency swoops in a takes it.:) Harlie asked a friend from the ward to do the confirmation which was pretty cool. Elder Rehkow and I were basically just there at the baptism to speak. But yeah, definitely a funny experience. 

Harlie's baptism

Another totally epic experience this week was when I accidently flooded the apartment! Our dumb washing machine is broken and we need to get it fixed. Basically what happened is, I started a load of laundry before district council and it just decided to break and flood the apartment. I was doing personal scripture study when I got up and walked over to the laundry room and there was like 2 inches of water running everywhere. I was pretty angry to be honest. Throughout the hour of mopping it up, I decided to put a smile on my face. I realized that being in the a bad mood before district council would only make things worse so I decided to be in a good mood and laugh it off. 

Our dumb washing
machine

Everyone else we are teaching is progressing pretty well. Not as fast as Harlie though because Harlie was awesome with keeping commitments. Every time we asked her to pray about The Book of Mormon or The Plan of Salvation. She did that night and felt through the Holy Ghost that it was true. Everyone else is just are a bit slower which is fine. We're going to see if we can put Bill on date this week and do a baptismal interview with Gracie, who is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday. Jackie and Adrianna are wild cards at this point. Don't really know what's going to happen. 

Last week, I got to do final exchanges with Elder Linehan. He is such a great and hardworking Elder! He is going back to his original mission in Medida, Mexico and this will be the last exchange I have with him. I'm going to miss him. While on exchanges with him we found a guy playing a guitar in his garage. We talked with him for a little bit and he wanted to learn more! It was pretty hype. Elder Linehan and I set up a time for him and his actual companion to teach him this week. Finding new people and getting a time to teach is always a great feeling. 

For this last little bit I wanted to share a snippet from a talk I listened to all about The Book of Mormon. This Book is so incredibly important! The Book of Mormon and the Bible work hand in hand in testifying of our Savior. 

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ explains: 

-The purpose of mortal life and death,

-The certainty of life after death,

-What happens when the spirit leaves the body,

-The description of the Resurrection,

-How to receive and retain a remission of your sins,

-What hold justice or mercy may have on you,

-What to pray for,

-Priesthood,

-Covenants and ordinances,

-The office and ministry of angels,

-The still, small voice of personal revelation,

-And preeminently, the mission of Jesus Christ,

-And many other jewels that make up the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This ancient record is proof that God doesn't just speak once and forgets about the rest of his children. He doesn't just call prophets, send his only begotten Son, and then call it good and never speak again. That would make this life an eternal waste of time. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God calls prophets and He is still speaking. The only way to know for yourself is to read the book, and find out for yourself. 

Anyways, I am so glad that I could write to you all this week. I hope that you can have an excellent week and see how God's hand is in all of our lives.

Sincerely,

Elder Pack

We got to see little baby chicks in a box at a farm