Total Protection = Baptism

Date: February 01, 2010
Area: Goya
Companion: Hermana Diaz

 

 Dear Family,

This weekend was a beautiful one.  Ariel Dening got baptized and confirmed as a member of the Church.  Everything went smoothly.  I kept waiting for some trial or obstacle to overcome during this last week but nothing happened.  The whole process of getting him to his baptism was really easy.  It was a textbook perfect baptism.  He really was and is a gift from our Heavenly Father.  

The week before a baptism can be pretty intense.  We call it TOTAL PROTECTION week.  This week includes daily contact by us and members of the branch, lots of prayer, fasts, a second lesson about the importance of baptism and confirmation, as well as a special lesson in which we prepare the individual for the baptismal interview and resolve any last doubts or concerns.  We do everything possible to make sure the baptismal candidate is protected from Satan.

TOTAL PROTECTION…

Thursday we watched the Joseph Smith First Vision movie in the church with a member named Marcelo.  We decided to repass the story of Joseph Smith and to bare powerful testimony of him!  We also talked about our beloved living prophet Thomas S. Monson.  We gave him an article to read from a General Conference by Pres. Monson.  We also prepared him for his baptismal interview.  He was a bit nervous.  We weren´t nervous.  We had been preparing him all along.  I told him that Elder Guerra was really nice and that the interview wasn´t an exam.  He only needed to share what he knew.  We ended by giving him a check list of everything he needed to do before his baptism and of everything he needed to bring.

Friday was the night of his interview.  Ariel didn´t show up.  My companion and I remembered that we had promised Ariel that we would meet him at the corner where his mom works and that we would walk to the church together.  We completely forgot!  So we sprinted 10 blocks and found him waiting there wondering what happened to us.  We felt so bad.  When he and his mom saw us sprinting full speed in skirts without our backpacks they thought that someone had robbed us….hahaha.  

The interview went ery well.  It was a bit long but in the end Elder Guerra gave us the go ahead.  As we were waiting outside Marcelo, a member who was present for Ariels first lesson and for his last, showed up.  We asked him what he was doing at the church.  He told us that he came to support Ariel.  I thought that was the nicest thing I´dever seen an Argentine do!  After the interview Marcelo gave Ariel a hug and treated him to a movie.  I´ve decided to add that to the mission list of things to do for TOTAL PROTECTION week…

1.Daily Contac
2.Prayers
3.Fast
4.Lesson about Baptism and Confirmation
5.Preparation for Baptisimal Interview
6.Movie with member day before baptism

Marcelo is my hero.  I want to be that kind of member when I get home.  I like watching movies.  Why not invite an investigador that´s about to get baptized to keep them out of trouble? Genius!The tender part is that Marcelo isn´t from Goya.  He grew up here but is studying in another province.  He came to visit but didn´t know for how long he would be in Goya.He showed up the week we found Ariel and leaves this week.  We are so very grateful to our Heavenly Father for sending Marcelo to Goya.  I think he was sent especially for Ariel.

Saturday Ariel showed up one hour before his baptism.  We snapped a bunch of pictures.  His loving mother showed up.  He got baptized and on his way out of the faunt he slipped andwas completely immersed in the water for a second time.  We all giggled.  Ariel is a bit clutzy but we love him anyway.  So we know for a surety that he his completely clean from all sin.  

At the end of the baptism Ariel went up to share his ¨testimony¨.Since he really didn´t know how to share his testimony he just went up infront and read the following scripture found in 2 Nephi 31 and said ¨Amen!¨

¨And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?

And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son.

And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do…

Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.¨

Amen Ariel.  Amen.

-Hermana Mortensen


 

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