Hi Mom!
I had a good week this week. As I told dad, it was really stressful and really happy and really peaceful. About the baptism, it was stressful preparing because we have been trying to prepare the oldest brother to pass his baptismal interview so he can get baptized with the other brothers, but sadly he did not pass. He is awesome, but he has a lot of influences on him that are not helping him find out what is true. So, we have to work with him still. But his three younger brothers passed, and were baptized and confirmed on Saturday. They are awesome. Like you read, most of the service was in Creole, so I didn't understand much. The boys have a long way to go still, but they knew enough and best of all they had a desire to repent and be baptized and follow Christ. I hope that we can get them to go to the temple this month. That would be a miracle, but their aunt would be willing to help us so we will do it! I have a picture I attached at the bottom. They only took one, and it's kinda goofy but it works :) I was smiling; that's all that matters. It was really tough to prepare for the baptism because we weren't even sure it was going to happen and we didn't have much time to prepare but everything came together by 6:45 pm on Saturday and the service proceeded! Once it started though, I felt relieved. It was out of my hands. Also, the ward did a really good job of helping us.
And there were many other interesting things that happened during the week. I talked to dad about most of the other stuff. I went on exchange in our area with my zone leader, Elder Morrill (Brandon - you know his mom) and we had a good time. He claimed that he learned more from it than I did but I learned a lot from him. He is really humble and he knows how to work. I like him. We met tons of great people that day and we went and taught one of them yesterday for the first time. Her name is KC, she is also Haitian. She accepted the message very well and committed to be baptized! Spiritually, she is very mature. She understands the scriptures, and she is the first person that has actually read the Bible cover to cover. It's frustrating when we meet people who say, "the Bible says this" or "I only believe in the Bible" when the truth is that they've probably only gandered through the new testament and read a couple of verses on their own. Anyway, she understood the Restoration! Seriously, I think I could use the Bible to teach the entire restoration lesson (we did with KC). So I'll be letting you know more about her soon. We are also contacting two other new people who have serious potential, we are just yet to sit down and have a lesson with them about the Restoration. Raymond and Benjamin (and his family). They are both from Ghana.
When you get time, you should look into ichthyology theology... Elder Thompson said he wanted to major in that field of study. It is the study of fish religions. Apparently he had taken classes at BYU about it. Also, in your class do they go into the subcategories of Christianity? Like Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, etc. Something I have noticed about Hindus is that they will believe everything you tell them. Maybe that is just their culture, but they don't quite understand the apostasy and the fact that Christ has one true church, according to what we believe. So, it is tough to get very far with them, because either they are non committal or they do get baptized and then start going to whatever church. haha.
I talked to dad all about conference. Elder Uchtdorf always, in my opinion, gives the best talks. and he didn't let me down this time. I think the two he gave, one being in the priesthood session, were the best. And Elder Bednar's talk. I loved all the new seventies... it was a special thing to see Elder Dube on the stand. As you could imagine, the members in the Maplewood ward were very excited to see that. I was too. I hope to see more African general authorities. They are fabulous people. Our bishop is one of them... I don't know how he manages to do all that he does. We ate dinner at his house last night, and I was so impressed with his capacity to balance work, church, and family and stay as peaceful as he is. He and his counselors are wonderful.
Stay in school! Let everyone know I love them and that I am jealous they are in school. I've said this before - oddly, I miss being in school.
I love you too!! Have a great week
Tab
Hey Dad!
I will take more time today to type a letter to mom, but I would like to answer your questions. I had a crazy week! It is one I will not forget because it was so good but so stressful. I went on two exchanges this week and one in particular, was one of the neatest experiences I've had on my mission. It wasn't special really, but I never was so happy or at peace as I was that day. I went with Elder Penrod to their walking area in Irvington (the hood of hoods in our mission) and it was awesome. I really miss being in a walking area. It's so busy and crazy there, but I felt more at peace than I have in my entire mission. I just wanted to talk to everyone and there was no rush to it. Maybe it was ignorance - haha. Later that night though, we got stuck in the more dangerous part of their area and it so happened that the power was out for a couple blocks. That was a funny experience that if I wish I had more time to explain. But I honestly felt like I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse - police everywhere, traffic is all messed up, flares in the streets, crime going unnoticed because there's no streetlights, houses empty, etc. It was something like the beginning scenes of I Am Legend. Eventually we got picked up and we went home. So that was fun!
We got to watch conference at the Maplewood chapel. There were more members there on Saturday than I would have expected, and Sunday there were even more. It was nice. I don't think it's on TV anywhere here, so the members who didn't come to church hopefully watched it on their computers. My favorite talks were by Pres. Uchtdorf, especially his priesthood session talk. I also liked many of the new seventies' talks. They did well! I really liked Elder Hamilton's talk and Elder Vinson's talks, but I had a hard time paying attention when the fly came in and wouldn't leave. Elder Bednar I enjoyed, and of course, President Monson. I was surprised when he didn't speak at the end of the afternoon session yesterday!
I'll write to mom all about the baptism.
Smoked turkey....? interesting! You ought to try frying it. I still hope to one day have some smoked salmon :)
Thanks for writing. I love you!
Tab
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