Christmas Present Times Two!

December 23, 2013

WASSUP!

So President Essig challenged us at the beginning of this month that for Christmas we were to give Christ a present of one person being baptized. I've really been focused on that goal personally and have been thinking about how I could accomplish it. My companions and I were able to give Jesus Christ two presents in two people being baptized!!!

Matias (Priest), Francisco, Benjamin and Sebastian (Priest) at baptism in Lo Prado 2 on December 22, 2013

BENJAMIN AND FRANCISCO GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!! It was an incredible and very spritual service for me personally. I'm so excited for Benjamin and Francisco for all they have done and the strides that they've made to be able to be baptized by water. Next week is baptism by fire baby!!!

Boy did we REALLY have to work for Francisco's baptism though. This is the experience that I want to share in my letter home this week. TONS of miracles happened in a short lapse of time so that Francisco could get baptized, that's for sure...

My companions and I had taught everything to Francisco and it just came down to his interview on Saturday and baptism on Sunday. We had planned everthing out with him so that he could be at his house at 4pm on Saturday for the interview and obviously go to church on Sunday morning and be baptized after church. Well, what we had planned definitely didn't work that way. On Saturday, Elder Richardson came and did the first interview for us and everything went smoothly. We then went to Francisco's house and when we got there, he wasn't there. We talked with his Grandpa and he said that Francisco had gone to Estacion Central to his cousins house since it was his birthday and they were going to celebrate it. The Grandpa's like don't worry though because Francisco will be home a little later. Elder Richardson returned to his sector. We planned to go to Elder Richardson's sector with Francisco and do the interview in the evening. We kept calling almost every hour and Francisco never came home! It came to 9pm and Francisco still hadn't gotten home from the birthday party that he was at, so we asked Francisco's dad for the number where he was so we could talk with him and basically tell him to get home as fast as he could so that we could do the interview. Francisco's dad first gave us a wrong number...after trying and trying to call Francisco over and over again, I was praying in my heart that Francisco's dad would answer and give us the right number (this was at like 1030pm and Francisco's dad had already told us that he was going to come home on Sunday!) Francisco's dad finally answered the phone and gave us the right number! We called Francisco at his cousins home at like 1120pm and they were up just playing video games and I was just like...Francisco, you have to come home tonight or there's no way that you're gong to be able to be baptized the next day! Francisco's like ya I'm going to talk to my uncle right now so he can bring me home and I can get right to bed so that I can get up bright and early and go to church tomorrow! I was like ya and we need to do your interview as well in the morning before church starts!! Francisco's like ya that's fine don't worry about it Elder. We got up a little earlier and called Francisco so that he could be ready in the morning for his interview and he was like...Elder, I can't get baptized today. My dad said that I can't. (We had already taught the mom a few times and she had understood the importance of baptism by authority and immersion and had signed the form for Francisco already. I thought that the mom had talked to the dad and everything was ok, but apparently not.) We hung up the phone and I'm like we've got to pray for a miracle to happen. We gathered around and knelt down and pleaded to our Heavenly Father that he would help Francisco's dad understand and soften his heart. When we were done, we headed over to Francisco's house in faith that he would let Francisco get baptized. My companions and I arrived and Dabne (Francisco's mom) had just gotten home from her night shift. We were like so your husband doesn't want Francisco to be baptized?? She's like...no, he's gonna be baptized! I just talked to him and he's going to let Francisco be baptized today. I literally started jumping up and down in excitement. I didn't even know what to do!! We called a member from the ward so he could take all of us to Huelen since Elder Richardson had already turned around since we told him that Francisco's dad said he couldn't get baptized. The member said he could take us to Huelen so we hustled over there. Francisco had his interview and we arrived at 957am with three minutes to spare before Sacrament started!!! The person that was going to baptize Francisco never came to church so we talked to another Priest in our ward and he said that he would be happy to baptize Francisco. That was probably the craziest morning of my mission, but I thanked Heavenly Father soooo much for those miracles that he was able to do for us. He is so merciful and I was so lucky to be able to see them all happen. That was a huge testimony builder for me that Satan puts tons of obstacles in the way but our Heavenly Father is much more powerful and nothing is impossible with Him on our side. Basically the Lord is awesome!

 

Elder Jenson, Dabne (Francisco's mom), Francisco, Matias (Priest in Lo Prado 2) and Elder Jenson's companions at the baptism December 22, 2013

Thoughts/Highlights of the week:

1. We never had a ward Christmas party...we had our Ward Conference yesterday and the theme was "venid a mi todos los que estais trabajados y cagados y yo os hare descansar...porque mi yugo es facil y ligera mi carga." It was pretty sweet!

2. I got the Rafie's package!! Tell them thank-you and I love them so much!!! :) I also got alot of letters. Thanks for the support and prayers.

3. My camera died. I have a few more picts of the baptism and 12 Days of Christmas but you'll have to wait a little longer. Sorry!

4. I love serving the Lord "a full" like it's said here during Christmas time in Chile. Like I said a few weeks ago, there's nothing that brings greater satisfaction than serving the Lord. There's not a better present to give Him than doing His work.

I'm REALLY excited to see my family on Christmas day! It's gonna be great to see you guys again. I love you with all my heart. I hope you can feel it!!!!! Best Christmas day present! :)

Don't have any more time left. I hope you ALL have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year this year. Serve someone!

Love,

Elder Jenson