Some Good News 🙏
From: Seth Gifford
Date: Mon, April 19, 2021, 11:16 AM
Subject: Some Good News
Hola amigos!
These last two weeks have been some of the longest, and busiest weeks ever. It was definitely a rollercoaster ride, that’s for sure!
This past Sunday, Milton and Carmen weren’t able to make it to church in person, and me and Elder Jensen were SO sad the rest of the day. We did everything we possibly could to help them get there but they couldn’t come because Milton had a work emergency. We were worried because it probably meant we would have to push Carmen’s baptism back another week or two…or so we thought…
The situation is extremely complicated and confusing and I’m not going to try and explain it. But I will say this; we found out on Wednesday night that the baptism was still a go and so we had 3 days to pull it all off. We went crazy and those three days were super stressful trying to get everything ready. We had to drive all around for almost 2 hours just to find some decent baptismal clothing, and we were making so many calls to invite people and make sure everything was good etc.
Flash forward to Saturday, everything was lined up pretty well but we still had a lot to do. Because of the unique situation, we had to do a lot of coordinating between the stake and wards to figure out how to do the baptism and confirmation.
We finally got everything ready an hour before the baptism and starting filling up the font. We heard it took 2 hours but then the Bishop said 25 minutes so we weren’t too worried…until it started filling up… It went really fast but it only stayed warm for 5 minutes. We tried to let the water heater cool down before filling up more but we needed the water to be up to a certain point before everyone came. But, sadly, the water heater stopped doing it’s job and so we had to accept the fact that it was going to be cold. Not to mention, the drain kept opening, so I had to roll up my pants and go plug it up.
But, despite the opposition, we had a special baptism. The first one on my mission! I’ve literally been working so hard for a long time to try and find those who are ready for baptism and accept the gospel and all of my hard work till now has been SO worth it. If Carmen is the only the comes closer to Christ and enters into the covenant of baptism from my time in North Carolina, then it will all be worth it and I couldn’t be happier.
The water was definitely cold, but Carmen took it like a champ. Our mission President, President Adler showed up to attend the baptism. It was unexpected but pretty awesome because usually he doesn’t attend baptisms, but he decided to come to this one and it was really special. It was a tad bit nerve racking though because he wanted me to translate one of the talks for him, so I sat by him to do it and I totally butchered it haha. My Spanish definitely needs some work…but luckily it will probably improve soon though. In about a month to be more specific…
If you weren’t catching my drift there, President Adler called me last week and gave me the news that I’M GOING TO GO TO MEXICO ON MAY 18TH!!!!! 🤯
Pretty crazy. I love this mission in North Carolina and I’ve learned SO MUCH from it, but I look forward to going to my original assignment and learning even more there. I’m so grateful for the experience I’ve gained up to this point and I’m glad I’ll be able to apply all I’ve learned so far in Mexico. I have a long road ahead, and I imagine it’ll be pretty hard to adjust to the culture and differences in Mexico, but I know that’s where the Lord wants me to be soon and He’ll help me get through it. It’s crazy because I did the math and by the time my mission is over, I will have spent almost the exact same amount of time in North Carolina as Mexico, with only one week more in Mexico 🤯
Well, besides all of that, not a whole lot more has happened. Just the good ‘ole grind. Calling, contacting, and a few awesome lessons.
I just wanna say that I’ve definitely seen the Lord’s hand so much these past few weeks. My testimony has definitely become strengthened and I know that not only does our Heavenly Father exist for certain, but He loves us more than anything,and is always anxious to bless us and help us. All we need to do is have faith and reach out to Him and He will take our hand and guide us along. The path may be bumpy, it will probably be really hard and at times it will even be kind of scary, but through it all, if we keep going and have faith in our God, He will lead us back to Him and one day welcome us back into His loving embrace. Nothing can be better than that.
I love you all and hope you have a super epic week!
Love
-Elder Gifford
Pictures:
