Elder Doug Gardner: Third Times The Charm (Loma Week 5)

I know I've said this before, but this has probably been the craziest week of my mission. Let me explain a little:

It actually starts two weeks ago on p-day when we were playing soccer. I chased after the ball (all alone) and stepped on some mud and slipped and fell. I fell fast and hard and didn´t have time to put my hands up. I smacked my face on the cement and broke my two front teeth. I went to the dentist immediately and he took x-rays, said that luckily it didn't hit my nerves or anything, took some molds and told me to come back in a week.

Now we start this week:
On Tuesday morning I went back to the dentist. He spent half an hour drilling my teeth to little stumps (they looked gross). Sadly I didn't get a picture, I hope to get one this week. When he was done he took another mold then put in temporary teeth. They are big and don´t match my teeth very well, but he is going to put in better ones (from the states) this Thursday.

We came straight from the dentist and did divisions with the district leader. He went with Elder Rose to my area and I went with Elder Rasmussen to work in his area. It was a lot of fun because Elder Rasmussen was my roommate in the MTC and we are good friends. But during the day the zone leaders called us and took away our cell phone (they had lost theirs). So when we got home at night we had no way of calling our companions and figuring out when we were going to meet to switch and go back to our own areas. We went to sleep and waited in the morning hoping our companions would show up. They didn't. We tried calling them from local phones about 5 times during the day but they didn´t answer. So we just kept working. When we got home at night they finally answered their phone and they came to meet us and we went back to normal.

Elder Rose told me that they had talked to Miriam (the lady we talked to last week who wanted to get baptized on Saturday) and she was excited for her baptism. So we went to the church to make sure the baptismal font worked, and we learned that the hot water was broken. So after thinking and praying for a while we decided to do the baptism in another chapel with the zone leaders. But Miriam had gone fishing so we couldn´t get a hold of her to see if it was ok with her. We spent all of Thursday passing by members and inviting them to the baptism.

On Friday we had the baptismal interview for Miriam. The zone leaders told us that the district leader would come and meet us in the apartment to do the interview (he still didn't have a cell phone). But the district leader didn't show up, so the zone leaders said they would head over. We called Miriam and told her we would be a little late, she said it was ok. But we showed up VERY late. The zone leaders took almost 2 hours to show up. When they got here we headed over to Miriam´s house but she had left and we couldn't get a hold of her. So one of the zone leaders stayed with Elder Rose to try to find her later and I went with the other zone leaders to their area. In their area we met up with the district leader (the zone leaders needed a baptismal interview too) and he stayed with them and I went with Elder Rasmussen to his area again. We still didn't have a cell phone but they told us they would come to the apartment at night to switch back. We hurried home after a lesson and waited and waited and waited. Finally at about 10 the doorbell rang and a member told us that the zone leaders had called him and told him to tell us to meet at the train station tomorrow at 12.

So we went to the train station at 12 on Saturday and waited and waited and waited. Finally at 12:50 the others showed up and we all went back to our normal areas. Elder Rose and the zone leader hadn't been able to find Miriam until that morning, but she passed the interview and everything was a go for the baptism. So we ate lunch then went to pick up Miriam and go to the other church for the baptism. The baptism was really good, except the water was cold anyway and Elder Rose had to do it twice. But the most important part was that she got baptized and was washed clean of her sins.

On Sunday morning we called Miriam and she said she was ready for church and just waiting for her daughter´s family to come pick her up. So we went to pick up some other people (José Luis and Ruben). When we got to church, two minutes before it started, ¡Miriam wasn't there! That was a stressful moment. Fortunately she showed up at 9:03 is (church started late anyway so it didn't matter). I had the opportunity to confirm her a member of the church of Jesus Christ and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very special moment and both her and her daughter had tears in their eyes.

So that was a really long story, but it had a very happy ending. It was a crazy week, but the most important part was that another daughter of God was able to enter the waters of baptism and recieve the Holy Ghost. That made it all worth it.

I hope everyone has a great week. Talk to you next time!

Love,
Elder Gardner