New ward and baptism

24 August 2015

This week was a little bit more sedate...just a little. :) We had zone conference on Tuesday. We talked about working with members a lot, how to help them know what to say,  how to ask them for what we need, investigator-wise. It was good. Writing about it, it sounds a little weird, because I realize I'm writing to members..but anyway. Afterward, we went to the mission office and I saw all the departure information on the desk of one of the senior sisters, so I know it's coming, I just don't know when.

Saturday, we had a ward sports activity. It was really fun. We played volleyball for an hour and a half, and then they played soccer for another hour (hna. Tate and I just watched.) It was so exhausting, but fun. That morning, we had done a hard-core workout video, and then we played volleyball...Yesterday, I was sore all over, from my neck to my feet. I really got to get into shape!  :) But it was fun. One game we did was the youth against the missionaries, all 8 of us. So two of us rotated out as we went, and the youth were supposed to rotate out, too, but I think they didn't know that, because there were 11 people on their side..but it was so much fun. One of the companionships of elders has really great companionship unity-one elder would set it and the other would spike it. They did it about 5 times in a row. It was really cool to watch. :)

Also last night we had a baptism! Yay! The lady we baptized had been investigating the church for almost a year, and because she works every single Sunday, she can never come to church. Even if she asks for it off, the one manager will put her back on. She's tried to get it off multiple times, the missionaries have gone and asked for it off for her, some of the members of the ward have gone and asked, and nothing. She still has to work Sundays. So, with special permission, she got baptized and confirmed last night, with the promise that if she continues faithful as much as she can, reading and so on, then she will be able to come to church one day. It was a great baptism, a very beautiful experience. 

During/after we have stake conference next week, the Tysons ward will be organized, and the Bella Vista ward will meet in a different building! Whoo! This also means that there will be missionaries called to the Tysons ward, so that will be exciting, but it's not really going to affect the Spanish program. 

Today, we had decided to go to D.C. Before we left, we stopped at the library to download our emails. A man there starts talking to us, we engage in a good conversation, and it turns out he's a less-active! He told us his story of how he joined the church, and he said, "Now you're making me excited! I would love the Elders to come by and give me another Book of Mormon, because I lost the other one I had."  OK! For sure! We'll send them over as soon as possible! :) It was awesome.

So, we went to D.C.  and saw the holocaust museum and the air and space museum. It's really cool. All about rockets and navigation, etc. I learned something really cool about longitude how it deals with time. Something like, if you sail for 24 hours west, you move 15 degrees from where you where. Because the earth rotates once in a day--or 360 degrees in 24 hours. 360 divided by 24 is 15. I don't quite get it, but that's what the video sailor captain said, and I figure he knows what he's talking about, so I guess I'll believe him. :) It's given me more drive, though, to learn more about sailing and astronomy and things like that.