Pony wrestling and Candice's Baptism!

This week feels like 2 weeks but in a rapid pace! A lot of this week was spent getting ready for C's baptism. It was crazy/nerve wracking on Thursday because after C's interview, we went to look at the jumpsuits for C. All the jumpsuits there would either fit me or a 7 foot male. (Aka a Karl Williams! Haha) luckily we went to the stake center and they had plenty of sizes to choose from!

So funny story! After C's interview on Thursday, she asked for a blessing. Our district leader was explaining how a priesthood blessing works. He said, "we then put our hands on our heads to give you a blessing." Without skipping a beat he corrects himself and moves on. Only C noticed what he said and kept laughing until she told us after the blessing. We had a good laugh over that! 

Saturday was such a good and fast pace day! It started with waking up at 5:30 to go to a ward coordination meeting at 7. We then went to the farm in Poolesvill. Last time we went was at transfers to help autistic kids ride horses. This time.... We wrestled ponies! Oh, well... the elders were the ones who pinned the ponies against the wall while another person put a harness over their head to drag them out of the stall. Then we had to help push from behind to help get the pony into the field so they could run around. There was about 5 ponies in all. Some of them have never been touched before so they were a bit unhappy to be tugged around. They had some crazy eyes going on! I wished I snapped a picture! We also did some weeding and painting a fence. Before we knew it we had to rush home to get ready for the baptism.

Once we got to the church we were running around to get things set up. Time flew right on by. We filled the font once before last month without any problems. But this time, the water wouldn't heat up!!! We were laughing because one of the last times we met with C, she said she wanted cold water to be baptized in. When she got in the water, she looks at us and mouthed, "It is so cold!!!" We then said that's what you asked for! Haha. She was a good sport and pulled through! We had a few people from the ward there! I was touched because C only came to church twice in our ward and the first time was at her friend/coworker's ward. Her friend/coworker, Cathy, brought a surprise for C! When C went to Cathy's ward she met one of Cathy's friend there too. Well, when Cathy told her friend that C was getting baptized, her friend came home early from vacation just so she could see C be baptized!! That really touched my heart! 

The best part of the night was when C texted us and thanked us for teaching her. It never felt like we did anything to teach her. She asked questions and we answered them. She knew her stuff because she was finding it out on her own. I never in my life met someone so hungry to learn! It has been so wonderful!

 We recently got a new mission leader, Brother Martin. He is a such an amazing and organized man! After all, he is a lawyer! He also quite funny in a straight face tone. You wouldn't know he was cracking a joke unless you were paying attention. One of the funniest things he said was yesterday in Sunday School. He said, "If you are too busy keeping up with Kim Kardashian, then you are too busy keeping up with the Lord." It is so great to have someone to hold us accountable to go see the people we plan to see. This week we are working on getting to know ward members a little bit better. It should be a lot of fun!

At Relief Society, Sister Whiteford and I taught the lesson on temples. It was funny to me how intimidating it was to be in front of the Relief Society! It surprised me, but I was glad to be teaching with Sister Whietford. It made it way less scary. The best/most spiritual part was when a young mom said a comment. She shared with us how her mom passed away when she was 19 and she didn't want her mom to be sad seeing her not having a mother anymore. Then this young mom was comforted that her mom was plenty busy on the other side doing missionary work. So, going to the temple is a way for this lady to feel like she is working with her mom. Her mom does the teaching and she does the saving ordinances for them. For some reason I never thought about this concept. I couldn't help but think about Grandpa and others who have passed on and how we are ALL working together to preach the gospel in this life and the next.

Well, I hope you all have great weeks!!

With love,

Sister Parker