Week 24: Baptism!

June 29, 1988

We taught Trudy the fifth and sixth discussions  on Thursday and set up a baptism interview for Saturday.  In the afternoon, we were at K-Mart for a few hours to get a new battery for the car.  We had to make a few calls to the mission office to get the purchase approved.

Friday morning, we tracted a few streets.  We had a half hour teach with a man we tracted into. He had some interesting ideas, but seemed teachable.  In the afternoon, I took Elder Friend around to meet some members.  In the evening we went on team-ups with a stake missionary and went on to Fort Ord.  We were going to teach an investigator the fifth discussion, but he was not at his barracks.  We ended up giving a short presentation on the Book of Mormon to the soldiers on CQ duty.

On Saturday morning, we started tracting Noche Buena Avenue. This street runs north and south, the length of Seaside, and it is also just a block east of our apartment complex. We can get a lot of tracting in without putting any miles on the car, brilliant! Anyway, we got a few call backs which look promising.  In the afternoon we did a service project, moving some stuff out of a member's home.  Trudy had her interview at 4:00, and it went well.  After that, Elder Friend and I cleaned the font at the stake center.

In the evening, we stopped by to see Trudy and go over the baptism program with her.  Trudy has asked me to do the honors, though I was her third choice.  The first two were the elders that found her before my arrival here in Seaside, but they could not get permission to come down for the baptism.

We attended our church meetings on Sunday morning, and then had our correlation meeting with the ward mission leader.  We started filling the font at 2:30.  We were filling buckets with hot water from the kitchen and dumping them in the font, because the water heater for the font has died, but we eventually ran out of hot water, so we had to finish filling the font with cold water.

The service started at 4:30, after we took pictures in front of the stake center of Trudy and I in our baptismal whites.  After the talk on baptism, I led Trudy into the water, which was ice cold!  Trudy let out a shriek, and everybody laughed.  Then I baptized her -- okay, I had to do it twice because her leg came up the first time.  Trudy was having some trouble catching her breath because she was very cold. We had to calm her down before we could continue.  After we changed clothes, Elder Friend did the confirmation.

This was supposed to be a happy occasion, but I was feeling a little ambivalent, because it appears that Trudy's conversion happened before I got here.  Also, because of my last companion watching TV at a members home, I didn't feel worthy of this blessing.  It did not help matters that I had to baptize her twice and, even worse, that I dropped her both times!

We continued tracting Noche Buena Ave. on Monday, and did most of the street in 4 1/2 hours.  We got some call backs and set up four appointments for Tuesday.  We also got in one door and taught a first discussion.  The lady we taught was sincere and open, and teachable.  She wanted to read the Book of Mormon and agreed with most of the things we talked about.  I think we can baptize her.

The thing is, we almost missed out on teaching her.  First, there was a no soliciting sign on her house, and we typically skip such homes.  Next, there was no answer when we knocked on the door, and after about a minute we started off toward the next house.  I lagged behind to close the gate to the yard, and that's when this lady answered the door.

I looked at Friend and saw that he was stepping onto the curb across the street. I signaled the person at the door to wait and then tried to get Friend’s attention. Friend was by now realizing that I was not catching up, he turned around, saw me and then saw the person at the door. He turned around and came back and we went up to the doorstep. I gave the approach and this lady let us in.

As we sat down in her living room, this lady mentioned that her back was giving her trouble. Friend talked to her about priesthood blessings and we ended up giving her one. Then we taught her the first discussion.  Her name is Elizabeth and, as I said, I think we can baptize her.

On Tuesday, we went to the four appointments we set up on Monday, and got dogged by all of them!  There is nothing like getting excited for a possible teaching appointment only to get stood up by the contact.

Today we went out to the tide pools in Pacific Grove with Elder Tango and his companion and the sister missionaries.  Later we drove down to the beach in Carmel by the Sea.  In the mail today I got a letter from Geoff, in which he basically ripped me a new one because of my negative attitude.  He specifically told me that I am not unique because of my challenges, but because of other reasons.

I think I can see what he means.  My companion has been having some money issues this week, Elder Tango is often frustrated by his companion, who himself has some health issues and other things he is dealing with.  I am determined to keep this new perspective. My faith will survive the challenges and trials ahead and I will put my past behind me. No longer will I be intimidated by others; no longer will I let my discouragements get the best of me.

I should be grateful to have been involved in the baptism of Trudy. It is the spirit that converts, not us, so what does it matter if her conversion happened before I got here? For whatever reason, it was decided that she should be taught the discussions a second time, and I was here for that. Heck, think of Friend who showed up in time for the last two discussions and the baptism itself. He does not appear to be bothered by the fact that he did not get here sooner.

Life is Good!

Love

Douglas