Hello everyone!
I'm going to attempt not to use the word "home" in any part of this
email. Here goes nothing.
I literally can't express how blessed I feel to be here serving a
mission. I never realized how many people you could come to know, and
let alone love, just by actively trying to talk to everyone you can
and serve. I feel like I have just acquired more and more family
members as I have been here and I wish I could just take them all ....
with me.
The baptismal service was pretty great! My companion and I took on the
challenge of putting up the font alone and it worked out pretty
well....except the part when the whole thing almost fell over. (See
video and photos for clarification). We got to the baptismal service
and apparently one of our investigators who was coming to watch
overheard us talking to the man who was getting baptized about how he
would have to wear all white, so he showed up all dressed in all white
too! Everyone made jokes that we could just throw him on the program
if he was that excited. I was worried about what we would do for a
musical number, but at the last minute we decided to just stick to a
solid well known hymn "nearer my god to thee". My companion and I
started singing and we could tell that people were really touched by
the words, they even began to open the hymnals up to the song. Then
little by little, they decided to join in with us and by the middle of
the second verse it had turned into an intermediate hymn with us as
the two directors. Even our overzealous investigator in white was
belting in the back. I guess that's what we get for picking a
well-known song at the last minute. We also filled it up way too high
with cold water, so we had to fill it up to the very brim with hot
water. When we got in it was still way cold and when I baptized him I
sent a tidal wave to the third row of spectators. SPLASH ZONE!
One of the greatest moments was hearing the newly baptized man give
his testimony afterwards. He studied and prepared what he was going to
say and delivered a powerful message about the living water that had
filled his life. He really had things so clear and it was incredible
for me to think that a month ago, following Christ wasn't even
something on his radar. An innocent desire to learn English turned
into a burning desire to become more like Christ.
Last highlight of the week was definitely the primary program. It
started out pretty rough, about half of the kids didn't show up, the
other half didn't want to give their parts in front of everyone, and
the tape player for the music started doing a flux remix in the middle
of the first song. I subtly pleaded with the director to let me play;
she was reluctant but finally let me sit behind the piano and take
advantage of the torturous years of forced piano playing. Little did I
know that they would sing "Bring the world his truth" which really
triggered the Terri Jenkins tear glands, making it very difficult to
play. I just reflected on all of the years I boldly declared as that I
would "be the Lords missionary " and now I AM the Lords missionary and
very soon I will not be the Lords missionary anymore, but it just
renewed the fire that I have to share the gospel with however many
people physically possible. The spirit was so strong during the
meeting, no wonder Christ always desired to be surrounded by children.
You all only have to deal with two more emails from me, keep going
strong! Also if you've never written me, you have 2 weeks to sneak one
in so I can't guilt trip you for "never" writing. ;)
I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Jenkins
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