The biggest news is that Jerico and Colin both got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! I baptized both of them. There was so much opposition that came up this week that tried to stop them from getting baptized, but they got baptized!
On Tuesday Jerico´s mom changed her mind and said that she wasn´t going to let him listen to us any more or go to church and much less get baptized. We passed by every day to try and talk to her and convince her to change her mind, but she kept hiding from us and sending other people to tell us that she wasn´t there or that she was busy. But on Friday Jerico sat down with both his parents and bore his testimony and told them that he wanted to get baptized. The next day we saw him in the street and he told us that his parents were going to let him get baptized that same day, and they came to his baptism! All of their extended family came to the baptism, as well, and they had a great experience. We let Colin and Jerico borrow the Joseph Smith movie to watch yesterday, hopefully they watched it.
We´re still working on getting Brillit, Jeremi, and Melanie baptized. Their only challenge is waking up on Sunday morning to go to church. This morning I was reading the July Liahona and there is an article that talks about why we should go to bed and wake up early. I really liked it, and it is really important. Just thinking about my life before the mission, you miss out on a lot of life when you wake up late. There´s a promise from Gordon B. Hinckley that if you go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 6am , things will work out for you. I encourage all of you to follow that council. Especially now that the school year is starting.
We have seen a lot of miracles this week. Last week a 45 year-old man named Rafael came to church and had to leave after sacrament meeting. We made an appointment to visit him on Wednesday and he is so prepared. He was taking notes during the lesson about the organization of the church of Jesus Christ, the apostasy, he wrote down what he needed to ask God about in his prayers. But he didn´t want to accept a baptismal date for the 22nd of August. He thought it was too soon. We visited him on Friday and he loved the lesson and he had felt that god had answered his prayers about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but he didn´t want to commit to getting baptized the 22nd. We invited him to come to Jerico and Colin´s baptism and he was the first one to show up (because he showed up at the hour it was supposed to start). He came to church yesterday and he stayed for the 3 hours. Later on Sunday we saw him in the street and askeed him if he had meditated more about his baptism and he said "I´m going to get baptized on the 22nd" We´re really happy for him.
Also I don´t know if I told you guys about Erick and Mariela last week, but we eat dinner at Mariela´s parents´ house on Thursdays and Sundays. Mariela is going to be reactivated on Sunday and Erick will be baptized in September. The parents of Mariela are Eduardo and Mariela. Mariela (mother) is active in the church and Eduardo has been inactive for 25 years. They have 2 sons that are returned missionaries. Yesterday, out of nowhere, Eduardo showed up to church with his family. Later in the day we stopped by to teach him and he said that he feels like it is time to return to the church. He said that on Saturday we went out to eat with his son Victor, and Victor bore his testimony to him and he felt the need to return to the church. He´s going to have his interview this week with the bishop and soon will be an active member of the church. He wants to get married to his wife in the temple and get sealed to his children. It´s a miracle. In such a short time his entire attitude toward the church has changed drastically. Yesterday in the Elders Quorum class they talked about being good parents and the importance of having one on one time with each child. I think this story is a testimony of that. I´m so happy for this family.
So I recieved an email from the Fonseca family from Caja de Agua, and I don´t know if you guys remember me talking about helping a recent convert Stefany start her mission papers way back in November, but she got her mission call! You´ll never guess where she´s going! Mexico City!!! but the east mission. I´m really happy for her and her family. They´re going to be blessed by her service.
I hope you guys have a great week!
Elder Jones
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