Weekly Letter Home, March 21

Hello there everybody! Happy Monday to you all. Here I am on the last preparation day of my 6th move call. So weird how time flies. I have not as yet gotten your weekly letter, so I guess I'll just start with what happened to me this week.

The best news is the baptism of (name)! He's the newest member of the Tanzi Ward. He showed up on Sunday forty minutes early for choir practice wearing a white shirt and tie. I'm so happy to see him take this important step in his life. And even though it was his girlfriend who referred him to the missionaries, he told our district leader during his interview that even if she dumped him he would stay active in the church, because he knows it's true. Baptisms really are the best part of missionary work, because it's the culmination of all the work you put into helping these people. After baptism they're primarily the responsibility of the ward, and we can just play a supporting role when invited by the ward. So I'm very glad to add another wonderful brother to the responsibilities of this ward!

I'm not really sure what else to write, honestly. We only had one investigator at church this week, which is pretty low. The good news is he's a member referral from a really strong member, so I am hopeful for this guy. He snuck out after sacrament meeting, though, so we'll have to teach him the law of the Sabbath.

It's funny; I remember before my mission how I thought I'd probably tell people church is three hours if you want, but if you can only come to sacrament meeting that's cool too. No. Church is three hours, and if somebody's not willing to sacrifice three hours out of 168 they're probably not ready for baptism.

We're also working with an investigator who's sixteen and is going to be a father soon. Yeah, he lives with his girlfriend and her mom and she's about seven months pregnant. He's such a good kid, very mature, and really wants to be baptized and be an eternal family. It's just interesting to me that the world sees nothing wrong with such a situation. We really are unique when we teach the world that such things are reserved for lawful marriage only. I believe they plan to get married, which is good. I just can't imagine being that young and having to care for a wife and baby. I'm very thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ which can help all of us be cleansed from our sins. No matter what a person has done in the past, he can be forgiven and changed and reborn.

Well, I'm almost out of time, but I'm glad I got to hear from y'all this week! I sure love you and I pray for you every day.

Until next week,

Love,
Carter