Listen to the Apostles

 Hello. So this week was indeed a memorable one. On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to go to the temple. Over a year ago (late September I believe), I was a fresh, new missionary (although with nearly 18 months as a missionary, I still feel rather new) and my first transfer in Mexico was soon coming to a close, we baptized an extremely nice woman named Norma. Anyway. I found the email I sent that week and this is how I described the baptism. The following is an excerpt from a letter written on September 27th, 2021, titled: “I was afraid I was gonna kill the poor woman”:  

Now, I suppose I should explain myself and the title of the letter. This Saturday we had another baptism. The lady’s name is Norma. Now, Norma is a very nice woman, but she is a slightly older and well, um, large individual and my companion told me I would have to do the ordinance. Fine. So the whole weekend (well like one day I guess) I was really worried, like the title says “I would drop ’n drown her cause I wouldn't be able to pick her up and then I’d go to jail for manslaughter or something.” 

So, on Saturday morning we begin the service, and this time it was a bit of a larger crowd than last time, so I plunked out an opening hymn on the piano, said some uninspired words that I’m sure no one understood anyway, and then we started the service. While I was waiting for her to come to the font, I’m just standing in the water, and the font doors are closed so I’m literally just telling myself “Do. Not. Drop. Her.” So, she finally comes out and I badly explain where her hands go and stuff, and then I say the prayer and baptize her. Now, I now know why there are witnesses cause I thought I succeeded, but it turns out her legs slipped out from under her and then my worst fear almost came to pass because she was having a very difficult time standing up and she was grabbing my clothes and arms trying to stand up, she almost took me down with her. Luckily the second time around the ordinance was successful. So I suppose a good but a bit of an anticlimactic ending.

I’ve changed much since writing that letter, and I’ve long since gone from that area, and actually, I hadn’t had contact with Norma since I left. I felt bad because she was always super nice to me and I felt as if she was my own grandmother in Mexico. At the temple it was really good to see her and other members from my first ward, Cincoc 2. It's been quite a while since I was there. We were at the temple for a while. We got there at 9:45 ish and the session didn’t start until after 11. Afterwards we walked around the grounds a little, waiting for Norma to leave the temple. When she left we took some pictures and then we rode with them in the combi that took them, and the combi dropped us off at a point where we could take Mexibus to our area. It was a good day to be honest and great to see Norma again. 

Thursday and Friday weren’t as exciting as other days in the week, but we were able to visit inactive members and investigators. We have these people were teaching named Armando and his wife Paty. who’s an inactive member. It’s very fun to visit them. Paty struggles with severe anxiety and depression, so life is very difficult sometimes, but she’s very nice. We visited an old man named Genaro. Genaro was a referral passed from other elders. It turns out he’s an inactive member. Genaro is a quiet, shaky fellow, but he’s nice and he came to church on Sunday which was a nice surprise. 

Saturday was the big day. It’s when President M. Russell Ballard and Elder Gary E. Stevenson came to visit. We arrived at the mission offices just after 2. There were 2 missions present. The other mission was the Mexico City Northeast Mission I think. We waited over an hour for the conference to started. All of us were pretty dang excited. Just after 3, we all were told to stand up, so the Apostles could enter. It’s surreal to see them in person. Especially someone like President Ballard, who’s like 95 and Elder Stevenson said he’s been a general authority for more time than anyone else serving right now. We heard from Elder Douglas of the 70 and his wife first. They were very brief. Afterwards we heard from Elder Stevenson. Elder Stevenson has a lot of energy. He was walking around amongst the audience and asking for participation. Also the thing I didn't realize about these 2 men, is that they both are pretty funny. Elder Stevenson talked a lot about Preach My Gospel, and he said “a working missionary, is a happy missionary” which is a very simple formula, but it’s true. After his remarks, we heard from President Ballard. He spoke and told a lot of stories from his mission. He’s also very funny. He talked about the importance of getting the investigators to pray and the need to have the Spirit. His stories were really good. Its just crazy to see men like these up close and in person. To close the meeting we sang Called to Serve. It’s a different experience to sing that song in the presence of 2 of the 12. After that and the closing prayer, they got up and left. We had to stay standing until they left the building and drove off. After that, we sang some Christmas hymns, and we’re told to leave. Man, it was a great meeting, but it seemed like it went by sooo fast. I don’t have any photos cause all that was prohibited. Seeing 2 Apostles up-close and in-person like that, is a once in a life time opportunity I think. I just need to put their teachings better into practice (hence the title)

Anyway that was my week. At church we had Axel (I hope his baptism is really this Saturday) Armando and Patricia, and Genaro. It was good to see them. 

See ya 

Pics. Heres some from the temple. I don’t have all of them but heres a few.

And some from last week