Dear Pamilya
I had my first baptism this last Saturday! I didn't teach RJ
much, but he's this really short (oh who am I kidding, all the kids are short
compared to me) 12 yr old who had his baptism pushed back a couple of times
because of accidentally drinking coffee a couple of times and then having a
lack of testimony. He bore his testimony afterward though and did a good job.
My companion and I were at an appointment longer than either of us expected and
got to the church building 15 minutes, instead of 30 minutes, before the
baptism was supposed to start and we realized that no one had filled up the
baptism font yet. So, the baptism got pushed back an hour and a half because
the font was filling up, part of which was done by filling buckets of water up
from the spigot outside and then carrying them inside.
That was great. I don't think I've been to the baptism of a
child for a long time.Actually, I think Julianne's baptism was the first
baptism I've been to since Brooklyn's. Anyway,
I loved seeing the excitement and testimony shining in all four sets of eyes as
they squirmed in their seats, waiting to participate in their first big step returning
to our Heavenly Father. The Spirit was so strong.
I think the kids are getting a little more used to seeing me
walking in the streets now. The majority of them now, when they see us scream
"Sisters!!" and give us the biggest smiles and hugs. It makes my day
and reminds me of Christ's council to become "as a little child," so
loving and kind. We had found four new investigators last Sunday, they're
grandma I believe is a member, and we taught them the first lesson last night
and I taught part of it in my broken Tagalog and we committed all four of them
to baptism. That was really cool to see. Like I've been saying, I look at their
eyes for the most part to see what people are feeling,even though I can't
understand what is being said, their eyes were shining, especially one girl
whose name is Ann. We had left them with a reading assignment when we had first
met them and she had even written notes on what she had learned by the time we
went to teach them yesterday, she truly wants to learn more about our Savior.
I love being here. The fact that I'm so different makes it
hard sometimes (some people didn't want to see us just because they didn't want
to speak English...and have it judged by me...), but I love seeing the Spirit
work through these people. I love the scriptures and how it applies to our
daily lives, I'm so grateful for my companion and I'm so grateful for the
Atonement of Jesus Christ and testify that He lives and watches out for us.
With much love, Sister Mikenna Jones
ps I think I would rather live with a nest of ants than
three cockroaches...yeah I'm currently sharing a bathroom with them...oh well
that's life in the Philippines
for you!
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