Dulce!

 Hey everybody!

  Apizaco has always had at least one baptism per month. It doesn't matter who the missionaries assigned here are, the Lord gives one baptism, usually the child of a less-active.

 A few weeks ago we found out that a young adult named Dulce, who has been attending church for like a month, has not been baptised. She came to know the church because her husband, Alan, is a member. When we showed up for our first lesson, we learned that she had actually been in teaching with the missionaries for a long time, but never got baptized because she always moved. So we set a baptismal date for the next week and got teaching! She already had a pretty good understanding of the doctrine, and a testimony of the Book of Mormon, so teaching went pretty smooth. 
 The only problem was, we heard from a few different members that she can't get baptized because they are living together, but aren't actually married. So we immediately addressed it in the second lesson, and they said they were, in fact, married! We went to church that Sunday and talked to the members about the baptism, and they said once again that we need to check if they're married, and actually see their marriage certificate. We returned to the next lesson and asked to see their marriage certificate. They gladly showed us, and we even got a photo of it! Then, because Alan is a return missionary, he helped us make the baptismal program and invitations. They invited Dulce's family to attend the baptism, and we invited all the members. I thought that shurely, everything was ready for the baptism. We just had to have a few more lessons in the days before her baptism. 
 Saturday, we were about to have the last lesson. A member was driving us to our lesson, but he couldn't join us. Having known Alan's history, he informed us that it was possible that  Alan was not divorced from his previous marriage, making his current marriage invalid. Because we went to the lesson with some other members, we didn't mention his divorce until we could talk to them privately. We talked with Alan, and understood from what he said that he was NOT divorced. So we went home and tried to figure things out. It was the day before the baptism, everything was prepared, we had already sent out the invitations, and our mission president informed us that we could not baptize her if  Alan was not divorced. We called Alan, and he informed us that he was just talking about the custody of his kid, and we misunderstood him to mean that he wasn't divorced, when he really is. But we had already told the president that he wasn't, so we needed a photo of the divorcement document. He couldn't find his bill of divorcement until a few hours later at almost 12:00 at night. We sent a photo of his divorce to President Montejo in the morning and got approval.
 In the end, Dulce had a beautiful baptism with her parents and siblings there to see it. Her husband sang a song on guitar that he wrote on his mission, and we gave some recent converts the opportunity to act as witnesses. She got confirmed yesterday, and says she looks forward to getting sealed in the temple.

 We also had transfers. Elder Ortiz already had 6 months in the area and would have to leave.  Before these transfers came, we got a lot of new references from members and new people in teaching. I knew that whoever was coming, the Lord prepared all those new people for him and me. I felt I needed a companion who could better support me and help me to continue learning. I have always understood that my companion is the Lord's decision, and that I have the responsibility to save souls no matter who my companion is, but I found myself praying for a companion who had more experience than me. Elder Ortiz got sent to a city just north of Puebla called Zacatelco, and I recieved Elder Suarez. Elder Suarez just came from the mission offices as secretary, and he knows how to work! I'm actually not as stressed. I'm only worried about sufficiently taking advantage of learning from him, working with him, and baptizing converts.

I know that God isn't always gonna make it easy for us, but he does love us, and wants to talk with us. I'm in a very exciting time in my mission, and I've learned how powerful humble and sincere repentance is. I realized that I had sins that I told myself weren't sins. It's when we repent of those things we don't want to let go of, that the Lord can give us his power.
This simple scripture has been on my mind:
"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." 
-Mathew 23:12


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Facebook Page: MisionMexicoPueblaNorte


Mission Office Mail Adress:
Calle 25 Sur N° 907
Col. La Paz
72160 Puebla, Puebla
Mexico


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