Melissa got baptized! | December 18, 2017
Hello family!
First time eating fast food on my mission...Taco Bell!
One of our investigators, Jesus Antonio, got a guitar for Christmas and was really excited to show us and play a little for us!
Thanks for the Christmas cards/decorations! The card at the very top is from the First Presidency, so cool!
Hot chocolate smiley face! (all our cups were dirty, so we drank it like soup....are you proud, mom?)
Melissa's baptism! (yes, I've gained weight...)
John, the other sister's investigator (right) with Meiker, who baptized both Melissa and John (left)
I got the cards and LOVED them! Thanks Mom and Lauren!
I'm super excited about this, so I'm going to cut to the chase...Melissa got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! I am so happy for her! Her baptism was so beautiful. She shared that day with John, an investigator of the other sisters on Aruba. It was really special because both of them are Arubians, and it's pretty rare for Arubians to accept the Gospel. They are usually more closed off than Latinos. So the Arubian members of the branch were beyond excited! I didn't get as many pictures of her after her baptism as I would've liked, but I'll send a couple. She is already a missionary! She was telling us that after the baptismal service, she was talking to John's mom who's not a member, and invited her to church! She told her she would be there and would sit by her and everything! She is the best. And we are so excited for David's baptism this Saturday! I told President Egbert a little about Melissa's baptism as well:
My spiritual experience this week was definitely Melissa's baptism. It was the first time an investigator that I had been teaching has been baptized, which was really exciting. Melissa was so happy when she came out of the font. A few weeks ago, we asked her how she was feeling and she said choked because of some marriage problems that she and David are having. We asked her the same question after her baptism and she said, "I feel new. I feel like I can breathe." It was so amazing to see how her baptism affected her. She received the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday and the blessing she received after was so beautiful. I felt the Spirit so strong both when she got baptized and when she received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The experience I've had with David and Melissa, being able to find them and teach them and now watch them be baptized, has given me a sure knowledge of why I am on a mission. It is to help these people who have been prepared by Heavenly Father to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that I am able to do this work and that I have the privilege to work with the people of Aruba!
Other than that, this week has been a little stressful because we were doing last minute things for Melissa's baptism as well as starting to work on David's baptism. But it was a good week! We had some great lessons.
Something really random that happened this week: we were at the church to meet David for his baptismal interview, and the branch president was there so we started talking to him. We found out he was there for a funeral...a woman in the ward's sister had died so they were holding the funeral at the church. We didn't know anything about this, but we walked into the chapel and saw everyone sitting there waiting for it to start, as well as the casket. We weren't going to participate because we hadn't been invited, but then the branch president asked us if we could do a special musical number for it! So we sang "How Great Thou Art" with about a 10 minute's notice at a funeral that we didn't even know was going on! It was a really beautiful service, but it made for quite the strange day...
Anyway, I hope you all have a great week leading up to Christmas! I can't wait to talk to you all in a week! I miss you so much and love you tons!
Love,
Sister Davidson
First time eating fast food on my mission...Taco Bell!
One of our investigators, Jesus Antonio, got a guitar for Christmas and was really excited to show us and play a little for us!
Thanks for the Christmas cards/decorations! The card at the very top is from the First Presidency, so cool!
Hot chocolate smiley face! (all our cups were dirty, so we drank it like soup....are you proud, mom?)
Melissa's baptism! (yes, I've gained weight...)
John, the other sister's investigator (right) with Meiker, who baptized both Melissa and John (left)
I got the cards and LOVED them! Thanks Mom and Lauren!
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