All I have to say is I absolutely love our zone here in Yuma! Things are going really well (even though we've fought some adversity) and I am just so impressed at how much work everyone gets done for the number of missionaries here... It's pretty impressive. So it was a big baptizing week here - we had 3 and the sisters here had a family of 5 that got baptized and it was pretty intense. Both of these families are really solid and really sincere, but super hard to get a hold of. Nobody has cell phones and they're super busy. A lot of times when they set up lessons or plan on going to some type of activity, the craziest things come up (whether it be with family or work) and things just don't seem to work out. So it was kind of stressful arranging the baptismal interviews just because of those coordinating types of issues. We were scared on Monday because the fellowship for Damaris (the mom in a little family we baptized) called us and said she didn't want to meet but then we called her and she said it would be fine... so basically once we got in there and it was business time. I wasn't about to leave that house until all of those people were interviewed. Thankfully everything worked out, they got interviewed and Damaris got baptized with her two little girls, Jessalyn and Iris (the most awesome 9 and 11-year olds ever), and the baptism went super well. Our bishop in 9th ward, Bishop Titensor, was one of their fellowships and he baptized them like a champ - everything just went really smoothly. But the wild part of the night was when the niece Milly (short for milagros - miracles) just didn't show up to the baptism! She had been interviewed and we had permission from her mom, but I guess her mom just thinks she can get baptized anytime and ended up taking her out to the foothills to go visit some friends or family. We were just so shocked that we didn't really know what to do. So we decided to do what we do best! We baptized the family and they loved it. I sang "When I am Baptized" and Damaris was just crying the whole time. That's definitely one of my favorite baptism songs. But it was just so good to see this family that we've been working with for so long get baptized! It was just such a relief and so sweet to see how the 9th ward just embraced her. We decided English work isn't too bad.
I also got to interview most of the other family that got baptized and it was pretty crazy - they have been super hard for the sisters to get a hold of, so they haven't been able to teach them an incredible amount. They're definitely sincere though and even though they don't know a whole lot, they know what's important. So the interviews were definitely longer than normal and Candi (the mom) basically taught me the entire first lesson when we were talking about prophets! So that was pretty fun. And initially, only the mom and 2 of the boys wanted to get baptized so those are the ones I interviewed. But then the night before the baptism, we found out that her 2 teenage girls had a change of heart and wanted to get baptized too!! So all 5 of them got baptized Saturday and the baptism of one of the boys was really funny - he just dropped into the water like a deadweight and he was just like sprawled out under the water definitely with no part of his body touching the floor. Apparently he says he discovered a talent...he says he's really good at being baptized.
The confirmations were definitely a little stressful though - because of crazy circumstances (family that they haven't seen in months randomly coming for just one day yesterday and stuff like that) Damaris and her girls didn't come to church, and one of the girls in the family the sisters baptized didn't come. So we spent a large chunk of the day arranging everything so we could still give them the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. It was quite the battle and I definitely don't think Satan wanted them to have the Holy Ghost, but we were simply not going to take no for an answer. We took it as a personal attack from Satan and our persistence definitely paid off. So thankfully we got everything taken care of and it was a huge weight off my shoulders. It was probably the most stressful day of my entire mission (because of working out not only the confirmations, but also trying to find Milly so we can arrange a time for her baptism) but thankfully we made it and life is just so much better now. We're glad that being Spanish missionaries has made us a whole lot more diligent and persistent - that's the only way all of this would be possible. The families are in good hands and have really solid fellowship so we're glad that they have so much support. Basically Yuma is just doing really good and having a lot more success than normal! It's never produced like it is now, and especially not with so few missionaries.
So it's been pretty incredible - we have met a lot of really promising, really cool families this week. All of them come from member referrals, and we have just had some really cool experiences. While we were picking up dinner earlier this week, Sister Huston in 9th ward told us about some family friends and that she's taking the 2 teenage boys to seminary with her! They've already been going to early-morning seminary for 2 weeks and love it! She had also taken the 2 younger girls to activity days and they liked it as well. So we taught them, had a way good lesson, and the little girls were able to come to church yesterday (it's tough because the dad has serious health conditions). Another referral we went to with Sister Leos and it just did not look promising at all. The lady was totally not opening up or showing any interest. But somehow, we're not sure when, she just opened up and felt the spirit super strong. She started crying and even though it was a struggle to get her to pray, she had a way good experience and then had her 2 boys pray as well. It was just a testimony to how it is definitely not us that prepare people - it's all Heavenly Father.
We also had a cool experience this week when I was on exchanges with Elder Sawyer, who's a greenie in San Luis. He's awesome, but sadly everything cancelled on us that night. We did get to stop by Maureen and she randomly had her cousin's cousin over there whose name was Rod. I guess he's actually living there now... He's a big older Native American guy who has difficulty seeing because he has one artificial eye and his other eye has cataracts. But he's super sincere and we ended up teaching him the first lesson. When we invited him to be baptized, he said he'd like to do that because his mother was also baptized into our church. We extended Oct. 15 and he was surprised and just said, "Whoa, you surprised me there!" But then he didn't give an answer... he thought about it for a little bit and asked if he could Oct. 2nd because that was his birthday! So we were all excited, but sadly it will have to get pushed back a little bit because he wasn't able to come to church yesterday. But yeah, he's super legit and will definitely get baptized soon.
So this has probably been the most eventful week of my life and I can't wait to see what happens this week! I'm excited for General Conference and I'm excited to see what happens with transfer calls Sunday night! Ahhh, I don't want to leave Yuma...
Things are great! Love you all!
~ Elder Carlson
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