The Baptism of Carla Ruiz and (Taehoon) Kim

Hola todos!

This past week was... interesting. Haha. We ended another transfer
and it looks like I'm going to be here for another while longer. This
is good because we are trying to achieve 30 baptisms in the ward for
the year and we're at 24. We're doing our best to prepare our
investigators that we have now and to do everything we can so the Lord
can provide a miracle here. It would be a miracle because the ward
goal for the year was 10 because the previous past 2 years combined of
baptisms added up to less than 10... So this year has been an amazing
year for the ward.

Events of the week---

1. We moved!
This past week on Monday night we found out that we were going to move
the next morning. Haha. It was interesting. The whole ward was in
fiasco and president got involved and who knows what else to get us
out of where we were to where we are now. So we don't live in the
plaza anymore and we're actually living in the area of La Boca. There
are a lot of Jews and it is really laid back and peaceful. A lot
different. Haha. Anyways, the move totally affected the whole week
and we were almost disabled by it. It was lame. It took us all day
Tuesday and then we had to organize Wednesday because we had just
dropped everything wherever on Tuesday... and then we went out and
worked and came back and organized more and then it carried into
Thursday. It was laaaaame. But the week was saved by event number 2.

2. The Baptism of Carla Ruiz and (Taehoon) Kim
On Saturday, just before the leadership training for the Stake (we had
stake conference) we had the baptisms of Carla and Kim. It was one of
the most special services yet, the Spirit was really strong. Carla
chose me to baptize her and Elder Ramey to confirm her. So anyways, I
guess I'll go from the beginning of last week. Ok. Carla came to
church 9 days ago and it was her 3rd time to church (you have to go 3x
before being baptized) and she loved it and made friends with our
amazing relief society president (Hna. Pareja) so the bishop announced
a baptism in Sacrament with Kim not being sure and Carla not knowing
(she was impossible to find sometimes) and so Hna. Pareja asked Carla
if she was going to be baptized while we were right there and she said
no and so we asked her why not? and she thought about it and agreed.
We talked a little more and set up an appointment during the week.
Then with Kim- we had talked to him just before Sacrament meeting and
he said he wasn't sure. After Sacrament meeting he came up to us and
asked us what time he needed to be there on Saturday. Such a Capo
(stud or if you don't like that word... boss??). Anyways, so we go to
the appointment with Carla on Tuesday and ring her doorbell (cuz she
lives in our old building and so we used to be able to just go by...)
and nobody answers. So we went by wednesday and thursday with no
answer.... Until her husband walked up (he wasn't baptized because he
can't go to church because he works) and he said, ¨I don't know if my
wife is here but our doorbell is broken.¨ ---No way!!!! Haha. So
lame. So we went up with him and she was confused why we hadn't come
by and we had to explain that we had moved so we could only ring the
doorbell. It appeared Satan was trying quite hard. So we had to
teach her a lot of things, but she accepted everything and we reviewed
the baptismal interview questions and she said she was ready. We told
her we would come by the next night to accompany her to the interview.
So the next night we go by and we arrived about 10 minutes late and
she was sitting on the step outside her building. She got up and told
us that she didn't feel ready to be baptized.......!!!!!! So we had
to talk to her for about 20 minutes outside the building and she
finally agreed to go grab her son and then we took a taxi to the
interview. So she entered her interview (it was with Elder Denton who
is from South Jordan as well- he is one of my zone leaders) and he
came out (because she had to do a part with Pres. Gulbrandsen over the
phone) and he told us she came in and said, ¨I don't want to be
baptized, I'm not ready for this week. Maybe in a couple more weeks.
I didn't tell them this but all of my friends are telling me the Book
of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith and then I started to doubt and
then I just got really nervous last night and couldn't sleep- I'm not
going to be baptized this week.¨ ---Crazy right?--- But Elder Denton
told us that he read a couple scriptures with her and that everything
ended up being fine and she accepted to be baptized the next day.
Then in the meantime, our other Zone leader (Elder Smith) interviewed
Kim and said he was probably the most prepared person he has ever
interviewed (Elder Smith is about to finish the mission). It made us
quite proud of him. Then on Saturday, both of them showed up super
early (before us) and were excited. So finally all the members
arrived and we started the service. Then when it was time for the
baptisms I entered first with Carla, and she was already crying. I
then baptized her and when she came up she was just crying and it was
just a special moment where we felt the Spirit really strong. Then
Kim was baptized by Hno. Chavez (kim is a family friend). When we all
were changed and back we gave them the opportunity to share their
testimonies and Carla said she felt something inside and that all the
pain that she had held onto in her life had left her. Her testimony
was so strong. Then Kim went up and shared his testimony and he
shared a story about faith (something about a barber saying God
doesn't exist and the moral ended up being how only those that search
God find him.) and his testimony and my favorite part was when he said
¨I've been searching for God for a long time, I'm happy to say that my
search has finally ended.¨ It was an amazing service. And of course
the cakes were delicious afterwards.

Anyways, the suuuuper long story was for Josh (he complained there
weren't enough stories), but I hope you all enjoyed it. Haha. Yup.
That's what happened this week. Unfortunately we don't have any
baptisms planned this week and our investigators that had a date for
next week didn't come to church so we'll see what happens. Anyways, I
hope you all are doing well. I enjoyed reading your updates. I hope
at least one of you took my challenge to read the Book of Mormon
before Christmas!! Anyways, I love you all. Keep it real and
hopefully I'll be able to send the pics of the baptism in a separate

email in a sec, and if not then I'll send them next week.