Baptism At Last

January 4, 2016

Hey Guys,

We had a great week this week. We started it off with divisions on Tuesday, and I got to go work with Elder Ramirez again. That is probably the last time I'll ever get to teach with him, which is kinda sad, and exciting because we both are in our last stretch. We did lots of visits, and we even visited some members to talk about visiting with the missionaries. It was a blast.

On Thursday we worked during the day, had an interview for Hortencia, and then we were in by 8pm. The mission put in place that rule a week after Christmas. I wonder what happened to cause it. Haha. The other missionaries stayed at our place again and we played Monopoly several more times. Monopoly has become an addiction for the four of us. I won the last game of the year 2015 and Elder Ward won the first of 2016. I am currently 5-4 which is impressive because every round 1 person wins and 3 people lose. We usually just play on P-Day, but having the Christmas and New Year's celebrations helped us get a few extra games in. Today I lost just barely to Elder Ward. It was lame.

On Saturday we had the long awaited baptism of Hortencia. We contacted her after a reference another member gave us, gave us a reference in October. It has been a long road because she had a stroke several years ago and can barely walk, speak, or read, but we were patient and the ward was great. They showed up to help take care of her all this week after last week's event in church. The service was great, but the logistics of baptizing someone who can't walk right were weird. We slowly helped her into the font, and even though I was going to perform the ordinance, my companion also hopped into his baptismal clothes and stood in the font as well. His job was to hold her feet. We were only gonna be able to do it once. It went smoothly, until she freaked as she went under and went all stiff. We got her under but she stayed in the font a little while just floating until she calmed down.

Sunday was great. We had 3 people in sacrament, the most I have ever had here. The counselor for President Klein confirmed Hortencia. It was a nice way to finish off the transfer. I am so grateful for the time I have been given to be here in Progreso. Transfers are this week, and I am expecting to be transferred to San Pedro. It's never a sure deal, but that's where I imagine that I will end up.

I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich