So this January has been the craziest month of my entire life... We set a big goal of 7 baptisms and we achieved it! But it took every ounce of everything we had... spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. It seemed like with everything we did, it would initially appear impossible but then through all kinds of prayer and an incredible amount of work it would be just barely possible. Especially with the two families that got baptized. So Jeff and Kendra Wilber did in fact get baptized this last week and we had some awesome confirmations yesterday. People commented on them all day to us and the special spirit that they felt specifically during those confirmations. it's definitely a special family and I can already see how much they've helped the ward and gotten everyone excited. They have had to overcome some of the most intense opposition I've ever seen, but they (esp Kendra) overcame it with just the most steadfast, unwavering faith I've just about ever seen. After Jeff got baptized he talked to us a lot about how glad he was that he followed through with everything and especially with the plans that he had for his family. The last few days before his baptisms I guess he had all of these dreams about baptism and figured that God was trying to tell him something. Also, the day after Kendra got baptized she was texting Rachel (her friend/fellowship) and said that she felt so amazing, and that the only time she had been close to as happy was at her wedding. It was also interesting at the baptism because the water was barely above my knees in the baptismal font. And I don't necessarily have the longest legs in the world so that's...not a lot of water. Thankfully Jeff and Kendra are both pretty small people and everything went fine. When Jeff came up out of the water his 4-year old daughter said, "Good job Daddy!" She wanted to get baptized too.
Other than that, we're getting really excited for the Dobson Ward! It's tough when Spanish missionaries take on an English ward as well, because all of the sudden things explode in that English ward and it can make it difficult to put a whole lot of time into Spanish. Especially since there seems to be all kinds of untapped potential in this ward as well. We've been trying something kind of new here with working with the members and it's pretty cool. We visit our member families and share a spiritual message about the centrality of the doctrine of Christ and the importance of missionary work. we talk about how the gospel has blessed them in their life and talk about people that they know. We're gathering a list of non-members in our area (regardless of whether they're interested) and talk about the people they know. Basically we want to get to know who the members know, and help them make small steps with those people that they do know. At least 70% of the baptisms in our mission come from member referrals, so we're finally starting to put our time in the area that the success comes from. It's also cool because we're seeing the spirituality of an entire ward increase, as opposed to a couple families and just us. Everybody's getting involved and everybody's getting excited. We're praying with the members, by name, for people that they're working with, and helping them extend their sphere of influence. The more members are able to associate with other people and just be out there, the more people see that light and have a curiosity about what makes us who we are. We've also found out about all kinds of people that have potential that have come to activities and things before, that we just would not have found out about otherwise. We've visited well over 20 families so far and it's been cool to share spiritual experiences and really get to know them. Now when I see them at church we already have a relationship established and I can ask them how they are doing with their neighbor or their friend, and give them ideas or encouragement. It's been pretty sweet :)
Dinner last night was actually with an older widow that was an incredible missionary! She shared all of these incredible experiences she's had sharing the gospel and all of these families that got baptized because of it. I guess she has been super focused on missionary work her whole life, and that's the kind of thing I want to do when I'm older. I want people to be taught in my home, I want friends and neighbors to know and have the chance to learn about the gospel, and I always want to be "an example of the believers". There's so many blessings to be had through missionary work, not just those people that we come in contact with, but also us as individuals and our families! It is the most important thing that there is and we have to be act like it is :) So this lady actually has a neighbor who asked if she could go to church with her (she didn't end up being able to go that weekend but was nonetheless interested), so we're going over with her on Thursday to be introduced to the family and we have a pretty good feeling about it. As we were praying about our February goal the number 3 came to mind and we distinctly felt like we would find a new couple in the Dobson Ward and that they would be very prepared and get baptized in February! So we'll see what happens. We're excited. Which reminds me, the other day one of our ward missionaries who is preparing to go on a mission asked us if they trained us in the MTC to use the word "excited". I guess we say it a lot. It was pretty funny though to hear him ask that question, because he was 100% serious. So we're planning on having Dobson Ward's 2012 baptismal goal by the end of February. We'll see how it goes!
I think those are the main highlights for the week... Brenda is getting baptized tomorrow and she couldn't be happier. Her fellowship friend is getting pretty elaborate with the program and everything so I'm interested to see how the whole thing turns out. Also, our new ward mission leader Brother Robles in our Spanish ward is awesome and completely on-the-ball so hopefully we'll see some good things happen in the ward. All of the auxiliaries come to correlation meetings and are definitely committed to find people to teach and retain those that get baptized. Oh, and another cool thing - Hugo is the 20-year old son of Alberto and Adriana. He said he wanted to wait and get baptized with his girlfriend (who was then in Mexico). By a miracle she made it over here this last week and is now here with her 2 little girls. So we taught her on Saturday and hopefully we can see them get married and baptized as well!! We also have hopes for another one of the Castillo family. His name is Javier (he's Xochitl's younger brother) and he went to a ward campout this last weekend and I guess he really liked it. Pres. Richardson talked to him about baptism and we're going to see if we can decide on a day tonight. We're going to keep baptizing this family one by one until they become complete. It's definitely a crazy household, but it keeps getting just a little bit better. So that's what's going on here in Mesa! It's already warming up here and we don't really se jackets or sweaters too much. Arizona weather is loco. Well we're loving it down here and are way "excited"!
Hasta luego,
Elder Carlson
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