April 26, 2006

"6 dunks later..."


Baptism #1 is underway, or underwent.(however that would be said). It went well, all things considered. Sister Clove & I played a musical number of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It sounded pretty when we practiced, but I can't say the same for the performance...and I'm not just trying to be humble. I don't know what happened. I think it brought the spirit though, George cried. And the Mission President's wife said she could still recognize what song it was. I guess that was a compliment. The actually baptizing was eventful-6 dunks to completion. I guess the drain plug was defective and the water level kind went down which didn't help much. And he's old. After the first 4 dunks we threw another guy in there to help push down whichever limb might float up. It was amusing for some, but I was praying my guts out that he'd live to see his confirmation. He did, and he's doing well. I'll get some pics posted on my blog. (PS George was a member referral, and someone that was ready. Everybody's got somebody that needs this. It's cool to give this to somebody and to see real joy come to you and to them. Alma 29:9 Think about it, and share it out of love)

Baptising George brought our teaching pool down to 0. That was kinda depressing, but we've got a lot of potential in a few people. They just need a lot of help first. We actually had some awesome experiences of contacts through less actives. The Elders had tracted into one lady (Patty) whose sister (Evelyn) is a less active member in our ward. Nobody even knew who she was and she wasn't even on our last ward list. We've taught Patty and Will once and thought we'd try to meet Evelyn. We stopped by Monday and talked to her and her daughter Annie (age 9) for over an hour on the porch. Evelyn was baptized 15 years ago, and has lived here for 8 years, but never really gone to church. She did say that she wants Annie to be baptized, but doesn't care how or in what church. doesn't really grasp authority. She says she doesn't know if she believes in the Book of Mormon etc. Annie loves us and wants us to keep coming over. We're hoping she's coming to the Primary activity. I think she will.

We're working with 2 other LA members that have never really been contacted by anyone. They all have families that aren't members and want to learn. We just don't know how easy it will be. We're being blessed, but it's gonna be a lot of work.

A lot of time this last week has been spent planning our Youth Fireside for our ward. It's a low-key "cottage meeting" in a members house, with treats of course. We're still working out material, but something about being your best self, and who we are. It's coming together.(ideas accepted--) It's gonna be awesome hopefully. We're talking to each youth individually and helping them find someone that would like to come, and they all seem to have people.

I think that's about it. I have crazy amounts of stuff to do today. Wednesday's just aren't long enough. I need to get pictures!!

Until next time.


[Jen's note: Ruthie has the settings so that any comments made on her blog go to her email so I'm pretty sure she's still able to read the comments if she isn't allowed to check out her blog. :) So feel free to leave comments.]