Two Baptisms!! 9/19/2016

This week was awesome, especially towards the end!! I mentioned last week that we were projected to have two baptisms this past weekend and we did!

First on Saturday, JH was able to get baptized! He is a way good guy and has really changed his life around a lot in the past few years. JH had been in and out of prison for about half of his life and could barely remember back to when he didn't have the supervision and restrictions of the law. This week his life changed in two ways. First, he was made a free man, and second, he entered into the covenant of baptism. He became a part of a family; somewhere he can turn for help and support, and receive the blessings that God has in store for him. It was great to have the opportunity to help him get baptized because I got to see a glimpse of repentance/change work in his life. I remember the first time I met JH, he walked into church and I realized I didn't recognize him so I decided to see where he was visiting from. After talking to him I found out that he was not a member of the church and that he had grown up and his Dad always had the missionaries over so he always felt right at home with the Mormons. JH continued to come to church and we taught him all of the lessons and even before the first lesson he wanted to get baptized. Because he was finishing out his sentence we had to wait until he was completely off of parole to baptize him. This last Saturday JH enjoyed his first week out, and his first week in as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Then on Sunday, the daughter of a new member, A, decided that she wanted to be baptized as well. She had started to read the Book of Mormon as a 9 year old girl! How cool!? I never thought about reading when I was that age. A did awesome at her baptism and really enjoyed it. She was able to be baptized by her father who had just received the Priesthood not too long ago. I am sure that it was a great experience for her and I know she could feel the support of a loving ward family that filled all the way to the back of the room just to watch her baptism! Not to mention she was a bit nervous, at first, about having a big group but in the end I am sure that she enjoyed seeing all of the young kids that came to watch her baptism.