New Members
Elder Butler and Elder Barnard
Stairs to their apartment.Dear Family,
Hooray. Well it was a great week here. We had lots to prepare and lots to do but all turned out well. We had investigators to finish preparing, a mission conference and interviews to help prepare, and the noche blanca to get all planned out and finalized. And today to celebrate we went with the zone to Chicamocha National Park here in Santander which was very cool.
The first part of the week we spent finishing up all the interviews for Saturday. The zone leaders do baptismal interviews for their district leader so Elder Butler and I spent basically a whole day doing interviews for Central, our district neighbors. They all turned out well.
Also Elder Romero who lives with us got Dengue fever so he had to spend some time in the hospital getting tests done which meant us being short one missionary and one of us spending time with him there. I spent Tuesday sitting in the hospital with him.
Also this week we had a special mission conference with an Area 70 from Venezuela named Elder Mestre. All in all there were about 60 missionaries, everyone from Bucaramanga, Cucuta and Barranca plus the assistants and President and Sister hacking. The conference was held in our chapel so we were in charge of getting everything organized nice and early and arranging for something to eat. We organized with a member here who does catering and we got some nice sandwiches for everyone during the break and everything turned out very well. Elder and Sister Mestre gave very good training sessions and it was a very good conference.
Saturday morning we had interviews with President Hacking. It was a nice short interview. He thanked me for the work we had done in the zone and said it was a clear example of how a few good attitudes can change a whole zone. He expressed that he had no worries about how things would go for me after the mish because I already know where I will be, what I will be doing and I have great family support.
Saturday night at 6 we had our baptism service. We arranged this whole past week the clothes for it. We collected all the white baptism suits we could find in the zone and even had a few brought in from Barranca. We spent Friday night and Saturday afternoon arranging the church and all the last minute details. At the end of the day all 12 baptisms from the zone and 6 from our area went great and were confirmed on Sunday. We had over 100 people attend and many investigators from other areas who absolutely loved it. One of our investigators named Carlos who was trying to decide on a baptism date but was struggling to make the decision went and really really felt the spirit. On Sunday he came up to us by himself and said "I made my decision, I want to be baptized this coming Saturday".
The church has 2 floors, the sacrament / cultural hall and kitchen upstairs and all the classes downstairs. We arranged everything from who would use what bathrooms to get changed faster. We set up a room across from the baptism room with all the white clothes. We started upstairs in the sacrament hall because of the large crowd. We played a short video "finding faith in Christ" from 6 until 6 30 and during that time we got all the famous baptism pictures in white with all the missionaries and families etc. The first counselor from Pinos directed and President Hacking gave a nice talk about baptism and we had a special musical number from some of the members in our ward.
After that we had everyone go down in groups to keep the reverence. We had the baptism room filled with as many chairs as would fit. First we had all those who were baptizing and being baptized go down and we waited in the room across from the font. There we got everyone lined up in their order with their baptizer and explained to them how it would be etc. Then we had them send the investigators down and take up the chairs closest to the font up front. We sent all the members down and they filled up the rest of the chairs and a lot of people had to stand up in the back or in the doors.
Then we started baptizing!! Haha it was so awesome, we just went through the line and started baptizing them like crazy. I baptized 2 of our 6 investigators (Lia and Karla). I was one of the first to baptize and I had time to dry off, change, go upstairs and get my suit and when I got down they were still baptizing people.
Afterwards everyone headed back upstairs and reverently listened to interlude music while the last ones got changed. They gave the time to the new converts to share their testimonies. The only ones that were brave enough were Cesar Gomez and his wife. It was a very spiritual thing, they told about their conversion etc, their testimonies and the new process they were starting. It’s such an amazing feeling to see people and especially families make these changes and become converted.
Nights like Saturday are what it’s all about. I can’t lie - I did drop a tear or two. Baptizing families is what we live for and these people really are converted. To just think about the generations that could change because of this step, the kids, the grandkids, the great grandkids and all the missionaries who will come from them and go find others... it’s the greatest. I am so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to be a missionary and I know that he puts us where we need to be and where his elect are waiting for us. I remember praying in the MTC and knowing that there were families here waiting to hear what my companions and I would tell them and praying that we could be led to them and I really know that we were and just at the right moment. We are far from done with our work here but this is close to a very great way to finish the mish. The stake president gave a very nice welcome to all the new members and everything turned out great.
Today to celebrate (and because it’s been planned for a while) we went with the whole zone to Chicamocha Nat’l Park about an hour from Bucaramanga. Last week we collected 25 dollars from everyone to pay for the trip. We rented two big vans for 8 bucks a person and the rest we used to get into the park and prepare everyone some food. We made 60 peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches and included oreos and chips. We met up early this morning and spent the day in the park. There are all kinds of beautiful views and a cool Gondola thing that takes you to the actual park. I got some good souvenirs and everything turned out great.
Well I’m about out of time but like I said I am loving life and everything is going well. This week we have transfers so we will see what happens in the zone. Pres told me I would not be going anywhere but who knows if my comp will be changed, I hope not but we will see. Despite baptizing 6 people we still had 10 more investigators in church, the work just keeps on going and we can’t quit now. Tonight we will head to Barranca to spend 2 days working with them and then back to our area to keep on keeping on.
I love you fam. Happy 4th of July and Happy birthday Cameryn! I know we are in the truth and I am so grateful for all the blessings we have. Stay great, love life. Love Elder Barnard (PS I have sent about 12 pics of us, our apartment, the baptism and the trip so hopefully they all arrive.
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