So this week has been kinda crazy. We did exchanges on three separate days... once for me to go practice singing for the Spurs/Jazz game (I told Paeden to tell you about that), once for Elder Lish to do some training, and once to be trained a little by the zone leaders. It made for a prety crazy week, and we're pretty tired now. We are super excited though, because Jaime accepted the invitation to be baptized and came to church. His wife got baptized a year ago, but he backed out and hasn't been to anything since. He's missed it and known that it's true, but has just been scared. He had a rough upbringing in southern california, and lost his leg to bone cancer not long before his wife's baptism. Because of his background he has a hard time trusting people, and doesn't feel like he fits in with all of the "perfect" people at church. He;s known that he needs to do it, but it was always just going to be later. Another big challenge is that he gets some pretty serious anxiety attacks, so building up to a big decision is hard. We went by just to visit him on friday, and, long story short, spent four hours with him breaking down the wall he'd put up and making the choice very clear to him. We gave him the ninth of as his ultimatum. On that date he either says "yes Heavenly Father, I will do what you've asked so that you can bless my family with the things I want for them," or "no, I'm too scared to do what I know is right." Normally that's way too long to spend talking to one person, but the spirit was there so srong the whole time... It was really what he needed. His wife and kids were there in the room, too, when he agreed to do as our Father has asked so that he could receive the blessings in store and ultimately always be with his family to take care of them. We went back on saturday to remind him to come to church, and he faltered a little bit, saying ",I'm too lazy." It was anoother long visit... but exactly what was needed. We we're there for about two hours, again making the options very black and white, and reminding him of the commitments he'd made, the spirit he had felt, and the help from God that we had promised him. It just came down to "Where and when do you want us to meet you?" His only condition ended up being this: Nobody makes a big fuss over him being there, and we call him Jimbo, because you have to smile when you say that, and jaime carries the sting of the past. The next day we were sitting in the foyer, five minutes after the meeting started, really disappointed... Then we saw his wife coming around the corner. We held our breath... and he followed just behind her! He came and loved it and his whole beautiful family was so much happier as they were united at church. It's not going to be an easy few weeks for him, but he will be baptized on April ninth, and by so doing will bring his family closer together, and qualify himself for the gift of the holy ghost which will make him strong enough to completely overcome his anxiety. (That was one of the things we felt impressed to promise him, and the legitimacy of the promise was pretty much proven when he ended up telling us that when we came and brought the spirit, his anxiety went completely away)
That was definitely the most exciting thing that happened this week (except Evan also got the priesthood yesterday), and I'm pretty much out of time now...
Thanks for everything! I love you all.
Elder Katzakian
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