1-23-12

So this was a week full of a ton of things again. When is there not a lot that things that happens? We went and taught Bro. Falk for the second time. The Jewish part member who has multiple sclerosis. When we went to teach them week he had just come back from the hospital earlier that day. When we walked in the door of the nursing home of where him and his wife lives he was lying on his bed naked with a couple nurses around him. The member with us walked straight in and started talking to him like nothing was going on. My companion and I turned around and waited in the hall until they covered him up. Once he was covered, we went ahead and went inside. We taught the Plan of Salvation with him. It was awesome all until he said that he does not accept Jesus as his savior. So that is the biggest challenge to get over. He thinks everything is beautiful and he loves it. It is just that one thing... This is a different challenge for us with everyone we teach mostly has problems with the Word of Wisdom. 
   On Wednesday we went over to Moneeshas to check up on her. Since she was to be baptized on Sunday we wanted to be there every day to make sure everything was going well. She was having a very very very hard day. After talking she admitted to us that she smoked the day before because of stress. At that time we told her that she could not be baptized that Sunday because she has to be clean for at least a week before she gets baptized. It was heart breaking when she told us that. But I was so glad she did though because it would not be right if she was baptized knowing she smoked that week. She learned a great lesson with this though. She learned a great lesson about personal revelation and how it works with all this. So I think it was a good thing it happened and she learned this life long lesson. So now she will be baptized in a week or two.
  Yesterday John was baptized. We had the service right after church. He has a great desire to follow the commandments and continue on the bath and get the priesthood and prepare to go to the temple in a year and be sealed with his fiance who is a member. He did not get baptized for her but for himself. We know that because earlier this week they got in a fight and he did not care what happened with them two that he was determined to be baptized anyways. I have learned that on a week of someone being baptized a ton of stuff goes down. And it goes down hard because Satan works his hardest to keep people from making this step and entering onto the path that heads towards Eternal Life. So he was Baptized. I had to put him down in the water three times before he was fully under. He kept kicking is legs up. We practiced before the service telling him you have to be completely under water and do not kick up your legs. haha But he kinda forgot once we were in the water. haha. But the third time I put him down in the water he was baptized. I knew before it all happened that it would take mulitple times so nothing was  a surprise. You would think that the first time I baptized someone that it would be a mess up but nope it happened on the second person I Baptized. haha But it was funny and such a great experience though. I love being able to Baptize. And just see the person and how different they are when they come out of the water. So next week he will be confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. Then the week after that he will be Ordained a Priest then the week after that he will be able to bless and pass the Sacrament. And also get him to go do Proxie Baptisms. So Hopefully everything goes as planned for him. So please pray everything goes well with him and then also with Monessha. She has been ready for a while now but she just needs to drop that smoking... I hope everything is well. Have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*