Washington, Serving in the Rain: Near Miss... Black Eyed Baptism

Ugh I am getting to the point of where writing a letter every week is getting really tedious! Sorry just thought I would voice my opinion. haha

Oh man this has been a good week, slightly long, but good!

Monday we were playing some legendary B-ball. It will go down in the History books! Why, you might ask? Well because I got my first black eye! It was awesome! What happened was Elder Cook and I went up for a rebound and I was a bit late to the jump and used eyeball to hit Elder Cook's elbow! Obviously it was successful because my team got the ball! Which is all that really maters...right! Well anyways I put some ice on it and some other things and got to chat with Elder Cook for a bit. All in all it was a good p-day.

On Tuesday we had zone training and interviews with President. Zone training was delightful, one of the best ones I have been too. However, we did get some new training on how to plan. Honestly it is so confusing. We have been asking the Zone Leaders a lot of questions about it. The problem is they don't seem to know the answers. Oh well, we will find out later. Interviews were good. It is really weird, I can tell that or at least it seems that President is asking more questions that hint at me leaving the mission soon. It was good though. Plus, he didn't notice my black eye so that's good.

We did a bunch of service this week. We helped Bro. Stutz cut another butt-ton of wood that he has. I don't mind though because that service is really fun and enjoyable! We also helped the Isbell's move and that was cool. We got to hang with them for almost the entire Saturday. I am going to miss that family! They are super cool! Luckily they will still be in the same stake.

Later Saturday night we went and filled the font for a baptism, but not before a prank was played on us. While we were filling the font we got a call from Bro. Isbell, who told us that we might have to cancel the baptism. Elder Rudd and I, replied with "...are you kidding me!" Bro. Isbell said, "No I am not! Taren just flipped out and left the house and drove off in his car." We were like "well crap" and said that we will try and call him. We called Taren (Bro. Isbell's son) who replied with a very cheery voice. We asked him what was going on, which he told us "nothing". So we then asked him what he was doing and he said "driving to the church", and then asked us what was wrong. We told him we would tell him later. We then quickly called back Bro. Isbell and said that it seems to be alright and that Taren is driving here right now. Bro. Isbell replied to that information with, "I know. I am sitting right next to him." Then a bunch of laughter came from the background. Elder Rudd and I told them that they almost gave us a heart attack! Then they got to the church and a bunch of other wacky/funny things happened while we were filling the font.

The actual baptism went really well. It was such a great experience for all of us. You could feel the spirit so strong there. It is just incredible to be helping people come closer to Christ. We even got to hear Taren bare his testimony. It was so awesome to see him change himself around. What a wonderful experience to be apart of! On Sunday we confirmed Taren a member of the church. It was just a sweet experience.

We went to dinner at the Gardner's house on Sunday evening. One of their daughters is "dating" a non-member named Dylan. Dylan is really interested in the church and we got to teach him the first lesson. He seems to really be enjoying what he has been learning about Christ's church. It will be so cool to see him choose to get baptized. Can't wait for that moment!

Anyways that was our week! Love you all and have a great coming week. Also Shout out to Elder Talmage Thayne for serving the Lord and his people for two years. He is incredible example to so many people. Love that guy!

Elder R.K. Northrup