Buongiorno! Boy it's been a week. Transfers, baptisms, orange mold, luggage tetris, strange yellow goop of mysterious origin... It's been a week.
Let's start with baptism! Our investigator Giuseppe was baptized last Saturday. It was such a great ceremony. He didn't want to announce it beforehand in church because he said he gets flustered in front of a lot of people. People found out anyway and there was a good thirty people there. He was secretly happy though, even if he complained a little bit. That's just him. He loved the musical number that one of the Sisters prepared. He was grateful for the talks. He was kind of scared that Anz. Stewart wouldn't be able to pull him out of the water, but that turned out OK! Afterward was my favorite part. After the ceremony ended, everyone spontaneously lined up to congratulate him. He was overwhelmed by all the love that they gave him. Members and non-members alike sincerely congratulated him on his baptism. The young people have particularly taken to him. Even though he's 50+ years old, he's actually just a 12 year old in an old man's body. He gets along really well with the young people and they love having him around. That was mostly who was at his baptism! The week before, he spent a lot of time with them setting up that tree of life activity, mostly without us there! He hung out with the youth and helped them put it together and they loved having him there. He's one of them! He was beaming after his confirmation on Sunday and he received even more love from everyone. I was thrilled to see how much the ward has really welcomed him in, even though most of them don't really know him that well. I don't have any worries now about him assimilating himself into the ward.
Transfers! This time went a little smoother than the last one. The new missionaries' plane was on time and only two bags were delayed, but they showed up after about an hour. I feel like these new missionaries keep getting younger though. Maybe I'm just getting older. The first option is more logical I think. ;) That was Wednesday. Friday, we hired a bus to pick up the departing missionaries from the hotel at 5am. Our bus driver though called at 5am on Thursday morning wondering where we all were... I was not happy to be woken up! He figured it out though and all the departing missionaries made it home. I'm getting really good at luggage tetris, or in other words, "how many suitcases can you cram into the bishop's office. The answer is about 64, give or take a few. While we were stacking though, we noticed a strange yellow goop advancing down the floor. It was really scary. Some poor Elder hadn't put his shampoo in a bag and it leaked all over his suitcase. Luckily most of his stuff was unharmed.
As for the strange orange mold, I emptied the compost this morning and a mysterious gas flew out of the can... After letting the vapors clear, I noticed some very peculiar orange mold. I learned today that mold can be orange. I didn't know that. I kept my distance though and blasted it with the hose... Gross. Other than that, the house stayed mostly clean this week, mainly because we were hardly in it.
I love Saturdays. Sure it's P-day, but that's not why oddly enough. I love Saturdays because it's the one day a week when we can get a full two hours of study in. All the other days we have to be in the office by 9am. My testimony of scripture study has really increased in the office. I feel the difference it makes to not have a quality study each day. It feels like something is missing. I've adapted and started making time in the evenings for some study and I've seen the difference it makes, even if I just read a chapter before bedtime or write a few thoughts in my study journal. It's really therapeutic and also a nice time to unwind and open up for inspiration which sometimes I might be too busy to recognize. I'm working on that problem as well. In other words, it's just a good time to "let go and let God," as they say.
I had a great study this morning and I wouldn't be able to write all of the insights I received, but one I particularly liked. I was reading in 2 Nephi 10. Verse 19 says, "wherefore I will have all men that dwell [on the land] that they shall worship me, saith God." I think when a lot of people hear the word "worship" they think of a self-centered God who wants only praise to Himself and wants all to be subjected to him. They look at it as a one way deal in which we worship Him and He gets the glory. Fin. But what we need to realize is that God doesn't ask us to worship Him just so that He can receive some sort of satisfaction. He asks us to worship Him because He knows that if we do, we will be on the right path and we will be able to return to him. Some synonyms of "worship" are "honor, venerate, revere, adore, glorify, idolize, adulate." When we worship Him, we put ourselves in line with His will. After all, Jesus taught that the most important commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." If we love God, we will follow His commandments. If we follow His commandments, we are blessed and others are blessed as well by our obedience. If we follow His commandments, we will return to Him. In summary, God asks us to worship Him not so that He can be happy, but so that we can be happy.
Have a great week everybody. I love you all!
Picture: The day of Giuseppe's baptism. Left to right: President Dibb, Anz. Stewart, Giuseppe, and myself.
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