Baptism

So we were definitely able to get out more this week.  It was actually pretty normal, except that we still have to go back to the house periodically for cleaning of  the wound and such.  Elder Lish is doing really really well considering that he just had surgery. Mostly you can't even tell anything is wrong at all.  His energy has also been better since he's been more careful about what he eats. I'm trying to be a little better too. It's just pretty hard because our food is somewhat controlled by budget and members... though the members are really good about complying with our dinner requests, so that's good. So yeah, pretty much the members are good, and Elder Lish is a super stud.  He just keeps trucking along and teaches me a ton every day.

The most exciting thing this week was definitely Evan's baptism. We should be printing out pictures today, and sending them, so you can probably expect to get them soon. Unless, of course, something goes horribly wrong at the wal mart photo center...

The Spirit was so strong at the baptism, and there were a bunch of people there. Evan has really been touched by all of the love that everyone shows. His seminary class got up to sing a special musical number for it and so he and I got up and sang in it too.  Probably the best part was that his mother was able to come, as well, and she was moved by the spirit that was there too.  When we got out of the water, Evan said he felt different... really good. He didn't really have words for it, but he cried into his towel a little in the dressing room, and it made me so happy to see him so happy.  Then we went into the chapel and the young men's president had all the young men get up and welcomed him in and gave him a really nice set of scriptures and everything, and he teared up a bit there too, and so did his mom and so did the young men's president and probably a bunch of other people too.  It's amazing to see how great he feels and how powerfully he  feels the spirit.  He will be ordained into the priesthood next week.  We're also going to be teaching his mom (and hopefully his siblings) starting Tuesday.  She's just been hard to get with because she's a single mother and manages at Golden Corral to provide for her family.  She is a wonderful woman, and so ready for the Gospel as well.  I have this beautiful picture in my mind of Evan getting to baptize his family, and I can't wait to be a part of helping make that a reality.

Other than that we started talking to a girl who is "talking to" a Mormon boy who works making movie trailers in L.A.  She's really open and nice and is reading Our Search For Happiness, as well as the Book of Mormon.  She's 22 but her mom was there too, and is less enthusiastic. I feel, however, that we can help her to focus on the right things to feel the spirit and come to know that the things we share are good and true.  The daughter, onthe other hand, will need less help. It's also helpful that the guy she's kind of seeing is a returned missionary, so he's really good at helping her along as well.

Those were pretty much the highlights of the week. It's also getting warm enough that the lizards are starting to come out... also the cicadas, which are a little annoying.  Something cool though, is the story of when Nephi and his brothers go back to get Ishmael to come with them and he says "...we did gain favor in the sight of Ishmael, insomuch that we did speak unto him the words of the Lord."  Then the Lord softens Ishmael's heart and the spirit moves him to follow Nephi and co.  This is a really good type of what we should do.  Most of us have done the first half, the gaining favor (a.k.a. making friends), but many haven't done the second. That would be speaking the words of the Lord unto those friends.  There are a lot of easy ways to do that; e.g. "Hey, check out this cool video [on mormon.org] about this amputee guy who rock climbs," "There's going to be this really cool chili cook off at my church. You should come get some free food," "You know Moses? Well a guy kinda like him is going to be speaking coming up in a few weeks and it's broadcast on byu tv..." etc.  When you do that, you will find that often peoples hearts will be softened to ,at the very least, learn a little more. Try it, it's pretty sweet.

Anyways, gotta go now. Talk to you next week :)

Much Love

Elder Katzakian