Week 12: ALEJANDRO SE BAUTIZÓ

Alejandro and his family

Hola Familia!!

This week was so awesome! Alejandro was baptized! I really didn't think it was going to happen this week but he gained the courage to be baptized! Last Tuesday he told us he wasn't ready but he would call us if he decided to be baptized on Saturday (his baptismal date we set a month ago.) We knew from the first lesson, he was ready for this date. On Tuesday, we tried so hard to tell him all the blessings that come from baptism and how ready he is. He still was just really scared to take that step. But on Wednesday, we called him and kept trying to encourage him and still, he said he wasn't sure. Twenty minutes after we called him, we were in a lesson with a recent convert and he called us! Hermana Wurdel answered the phone and Alejandro said "What time on Saturday?" We were so so so happy and we both got a little teary because we knew Heavenly Father had finally given Alejandro the courage he needed! We cried and bore our testimonies to him over the phone and he told us how grateful he was for us. Awwww. He had his interview and the district leader said it was the best interview he has ever had. Alejandro is literally a modern, Chilean, Joseph Smith haha. He has been searching. He was baptized on Saturday and his family came! Hermana Wurdel and I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Portugues, English, and Spanish. It was really special! He is seriously so amazing and has such a strong testimony! It inspires me. The next day he came to the broadcast of the Temple dedication!

It was soo cool to be able to watch a Temple Dedication! It was broadcasted in the stake center. It was for the Concepcion temple and I really felt the Spirit listening to the prophet speak the dedicatory prayer. (Alejandro was a little thrown off by the Hosanna white handkerchief thing and honestly so was I. haha. It was the first dedication for both of us and for most of the people there) But anyways it was so so cool. I know the church is true and that the temple is the house of God.

Also, transfers are happening this Wednesday but I am staying here in Villa Alemana with Hermana Wurdel! I'm so happy because I literally never want to leave my sector Pena Blanca. The members are the best and we have so many people to teach! Also, Hermana Wurdel and I have gotten to be really good friends. We still have really different personalities, but I think our personalities balance each other out perfectly haha.

My Spanish is getting a lot better! Last night we were teaching a family and I understood about 95% of what they were saying! Gift of Tongues is real!

I absolutely love the mission! Seeing a baptism of someone who has been prepared by Heavenly Father definitely showed me why I am here! I am here to help bring others to Christ and even though this is the hardest work ever, it is so worth it!

Con mucho amor

Hermana Snyder