The first thing that happened was that Alicia passed her interview! We
were so happy and excited to see her finally ready. So, much to
our surprise and dismay, the VERY NEXT DAY their father decides to go back to
Mexico. Alicia had been crying all day when she found out, because she wouldn't
be able to be baptized Sunday. So, Thursday morning at 2:00, in spite of
everything we said and talked to them about, they hauled off. Of course, we
gave them the direction to the church down there, but it's at least a 2 hour
drive, so if her parents won't come to church when it's 5 minutes away, how are
they going to come down there!? Not to mention how they're going to pay for the
gas and provide for their family. It was a really tough morning. The rest of
the day was good though. We went to the Christmas devotional with the other
zones in Bakersfield. It was really cool to see Elder Jenkins and Elder Vaca
Guzman there. The President and everyone gave really great talks, to inspire
everyone, and also showed us the PianoGuys Christmas video (the one mom was
talking about) It was really great!
So, that was pretty rough, but we still pushed forward for Carmen. We were
exceedingly busy, though, and didn't quite take as much time as we might have to
visit her. Fortunately she's a trooper, so she fought pretty well. Then, when
we asked Rosario to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, she not only accepted it
right off (which was a huge surprise for me) she ran by Carmen's to talk to
her, which was HUGE because Carmen was struggling in her testimony. She was
saying she wasn't sure she'd received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true
(which isn't true, she was on FIRE up until the last day before the baptism.)
Rosario talked to her a good bit, and then when we passed by we helped her
really get excited and in gear. So on Saturday, we got ready to baptize Carmen. It was... something else. So, in most church buildings when you run
the water in the font, you've got to run it straight hot, and then it'll run out
of hot water and the water will be about right. So we did that. Apparently the
building in Taft has an infinite supply of hot water, because when I got in the
water to Baptize Carmen it was VERY VERY hot! She couldn't get in, and I
couldn't blame her. It was a lot hotter than any hot tub I'd been in. So, we
ran the water straight cold, and I jumped in and started stirring the water
around for close to 15 minutes. My hands and feet were redder than a stop sign
and I was pouring down sweat. Elder Johnson about laughed his head off, as well
as the Zone leaders. So then, I
forgot part of the Baptism ordinance (comisionado), so it's a good thing Elder
Johnson reminded me. When she was baptized and I went to change, though, the
spirit was very strong. So, then the next day Elder Johnson gave her the gift
of the Holy Ghost. It felt really good, especially since Elder V gave me the
mandate to go help her.
Brother Palmer is progressing like a boss. He's a licensed Baptist
Minister, but he's received a witness that the Book of Mormon is true, and
while he has a hard time with certain ideas in the Gospel, he's told us he's
going to learn and work on it. We've taught him everything, he's good with it
all, so we're having his interview on Wednesday and on Saturday he'll be
baptized by Brother Bryan, his home teacher. He's super excited, underneath his
cool, grumpy shell. When his wife
bought him a triple combination this weekend, he got all happy and said "Now I've got All of
them!" That's real cool, given his total alliance and devotion to the King
James.
As for Isaias, we're going to have to wait a bit longer; we haven't had
much time to teach him, and he's got a learning disability anyway. So we're
going to plan on next week.
Also; while Brother Estill and Sister Estill were coming back from Fiji
with their son, Elder Ben Estill; they ran into Paul and Family! It was really
cool to talk to them about Paul and his mission and stuff, but they forgot to
mention that they know his cousin! So if someone could let Paul know at some
point in time that I ran into Elder Estill and family, I'd appreciate it.
So that's pretty much it; We've been having a totally crazy time here in
Taft. I'm sorry I haven't had time to send out a lot of letters and mail to
people, but I really think about you all a lot. I love you and wish you all a
merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Clough
