March 14th 2011 - Baptism

Chère Famille,

I have one word BAPTISM!!!!!! Saturday was the baptism of Vanessa Juillerac and Conchita Gonzalez. It was such an amazing moment for all of us, and I even had the opportunity to baptize Vanessa! I did it right in one try too ha ha! I was so nervous! The only down side is that the water for some reason became freezing cold and Conchita couldn't be baptized. She tried to, but she panicked and couldn't do it. She is 73 years old. I said the baptismal prayer and then tried to comfort her so she would let me baptize her. She just couldn't do it. We are going to push the baptism to Sunday and hope that we can figure out the situation with the water.

I was completely DESTROYED after the baptism. Everybody was watching and I thought everybody was going to blame us (the missionaries) because the water was cold. I almost didn't leave the bathroom because I was torn and ashamed. As I sat alone in a stall, I prayed to my Heavenly Father and asked forgiveness. I thought about all the things we could have done to make things work out. I thought about all the things we didn't do, and I come to the conclusion that we did everything we could to the best of our knowledge. It was then that I felt my savior's love and I knew that He was pleased with the work that we had done. Sometimes the opposition is just more than we expect, but I know that the Lord will not allow this to stop the baptism of Conchita!!!

I am still in Carcassonne!!! My new colleague is Elder Bowen, he comes from DRAPER, UT. SMALL WORLD! ha ha Well that is all I have time for I love you all!!!!!!