Man o Man, It Was a Wonderful Week!

Man, oh, man, it was a wonderful week! I already wrote about how Louie came to church and said he felt like he needed to be baptized. So we're baptizing him on Saturday at noon. But then another guy came into our lives our of nowhere named Brandon Ballejos. He was living in Phoenix and got taught by the missionaries and was ready to be baptized when he got in a fight with his wife about joining the church and ended up having a drink just a few days before his baptism. His baptism was postponed indefinitely. Well, fast forward six months, and he shows up in Elders Adams and Rayas's ward saying he wants to be baptized. It turned out that Brandon actually was living in mine and Elder Knight's area, so we've reviewed the lessons with him, and he is so solid it is unreal. So Brandon will be baptized this Saturday as well at 10:00 AM. #Miracles

So we finally have baptisms coming up in St. Johns, and all is well! It wasn't for a lot of the week though actually. Elder Knight got sick. Like really sick. So he had to stay in the house all day Tuesday and Wednesday and most of Thursday. I got to leave the house a few times with one of the other elders, but for the most part, I was stuck with Elder Knight. Oh well. 

But even with Elder Knight's illness, New Year's Eve isn't much of a New Year's Eve when you have to be in bed by 10:30. Oh well. We bought a couple Martinelli's and opened them up, but it was a pretty bland night. On New Year's Day, Elder Rayas volunteered to stay with Elder Knight while Elder Adams and I went to the tri-zone New Year's Day activity in Eager. For some reason, Eager- a town no bigger than Nephi- has a humongous sports dome at their high school. The story is that when a power company wanted to put their power plant there, the town was very reluctant. So the power company offered to build them a dome, which the city accepted. 15 years or so later, the city is now realizing they don't have the money to do the needed maintenance on the dome, so it's future is in question, but it's a really impressive structure. In there right now, they have a couple full size basketball courts and a practice football field. Sports aren't my scene, of course, so I went into the room where they were watching It's a Wonderful Life on a loop and stayed there. 

On the drive back from Eager, one of our tires blew out which was bizarre. But a nice man in a cowboy hat helped Elder Adam's and I put on the spare in like 5 minutes. So on Friday, Elder Knight and I had to got to Show Low to get a new tire, and they ended up giving us 2 new tires for some safety reason or whatever. That's Big O Tires for ya. 

I spent Saturday in Concho on exchanges! I met some interesting people (everyone's interesting in Concho) and learned how to play Phase 10, so it was a good day. 

And on Sunday, I taught Gospel Principles in Louie and Brandon's ward and they both really enjoyed it. It was about Heavenly Father and what He's like. There were more people there than at your Gospel Essentials class, Mom and Dad.

By the way, Matt and Gloria didn't quit smoking. Blargenslargen. 

I really enjoyed your story about the hot chocolate at Sam's Club, Mom! I hope Brandon has a good birthday! I really, really like Dallin's Christmas present from Brigham.

I love you all soooooooooooooooooo much!

 

<3 Sam