Monday, January 14, 2013

Domingo and Lorenza's baptism

Querido familia,

This Saturday we had the Baptism of Domingo and Lorenza Ayala. It was also supposed to be the baptism of their youngest daughter, Sofía, as well, but we had some problems with her.

For the baptisms, we asked a member from the branch, David Simonini, to be the one to perform the ordinances with them. Well what happened was that Domingo is a bit bigger than David and Lorenza is was just a little too heavy for David. So, when they went to go under the water, they both had their feet fall out from underneath them. No one hit their head on the steps or anything, but by no means was it graceful. Well, Sofía was the last in line to go, but when it came her turn she wouldn't go because she was worried that she too would fall. So we talked with her for a few minutes while the rest of the branch waited patiently. In the end, she just didn't want to do it, so she didn't get baptized this weekend as planned.

Later, I was talking with David and he commented that we had neglected to tell him that two of the people he was going to baptize were gordisímos (really, really big/heavy people). 
So now that Domingo and Lorenza are baptized, we (meaning Elder Waldron and I as well as them) are going to be working with their kids to get them baptized too. Domingo is just a really cool guy who can always put a funny comment in anywhere; he'll probably be the district president, if not the branch president, before too long. But we were talking with Domingo about the Priesthood and how he can get ready to receive the Priesthood and then baptize his kids in a couple weeks.

Just a few days ago, we had two senior missionaries named Elder and Sister Brimhall came to Reconquista and we spent our morning today with them. Mostly we were just looking for a couple things that they needed as well as showing them where some things are. They don't have any mode of transportation, so we had to figure out the erratic bus schedule for them as well (We don't take the buses anywhere, so we didn't already know). They're funny though. Elder Brimhall served his mission in Peru fifty years ago and still remembers his Spanish pretty well. He speaks a little bit slower and doesn't speak the way they do here, but he seems like he won't really have any troubles with the language. His wife, however, doesn't know any Spanish, which made it a little funny when we were at the super market with them and she was being signed up for a membership card to the store.

Our first meeting with them was interesting though. We were walking over to their apartment to meet up with them and the two other Elders and when we got there, they (Elder and Sister Brimhall) were already outside talking with one of the counselors to the district president, Presidente Pereyra. President Pereyra was trying to explain a few things to them and when he saw us, he just started giving us instructions for things they needed. When we set out to leave, they first thing Sister Brimhall asks her husband is if he has the key. He didn't and the door was shut. He just said, "I thought I had it." It was just funny the way that it happened.

Things are going well with Elder Waldron though. There are times when I feel like he does a lot of inappropriate things, perhaps not inappropriate for someone else, but for a missionary it isn't something that he should be doing. It's not like it's big things, just things like making comments in English during lessons (which I worry will offend or make uneasy the people we're teaching) or checking out girls. What's really funny though is that lately Elder Sharapata and Waldron have been trying to show how much better their city is than the others's (Elder Sharapata is from San Francisco and Elder Waldron is from Philadelphia).

I feel like the week, for the most part, went by fairly uneventful, which could be a good thing I guess that we aren't running into any types of trouble or problems along the way. Right now though, we're going to be spending a fair amount of time looking for new people to teach now that all the people we've been teaching are getting baptized. A lot of it will be teaching Domingo´s family though; his kids and some brothers and sisters that live here in Reconquista.

os amo,
Elder Burt

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