This past weekend was great because Alberto got baptized and confirmed! I explained the story of Alberto in our phone call on Christmas, but I thought maybe it would be good to tell it again by email so I can explain it a little better. I left out a few details on the phone call, because it nearly brings me to tears every time I talk about his story. Before Alberto's baptism, he lived on the streets. He was addicted to alcohol and drugs and didn't have a job, food, or many clothes. One Sunday, he was walking down the road of the church and was a little hungover. He said that he walked in front of the church and just stopped to look at it because it was so big and pretty. He then told us, "I was just looking at the church and how beautiful it was when all the sudden something inside of my chest just got really hot. My heart started beating really fast and I felt a peaceful feeling that I had never felt before. I knew I had to go inside. I had been drinking the night before and was wearing really dirty clothes, so I tried to fight the urge to go in...but then my feet just started walking towards the church. It was like I couldn't control it! And the next thing I knew I was sitting down in the church, dressed in a dirty pink shirt, shorts, and flip flops, waiting for the meeting to start. I know God put me there. He wants me to be in this church." After that first Sunday that he came to church, he felt the spirit really strongly and wanted to change his life. He immediately started receiving blessings after his first Sunday in church. He found a place to live, he found someone who offered to wash his clothes for him each week, and he found a job washing cars. The ward members were INCREDIBLE in the way that they supported him. All his life, he had been the neighborhood bum that always caused problems, but the whole ward made him feel like the child of God that he is. They loved him in a way that I had never seen up until now on my mission. After one week, he told us that he knew that God could help him change. Through lots of prayers, attending church, and the support of ward members, he quit smoking and drinking, two habits that he had had for more than 30 years, in the matter of week. He felt so grateful for all that God had done for him in only a week that he came to church his second Sunday with tithing money. We helped him fill out a tithing slip and give it to the bishop. It was very little money, a little over a dollar, but we knew it was more than 10% of what he had earned that week. We explained to him that tithing was 10% of what he received, and that he didn't have to pay so much. He told us that he knew he only had to pay 10%, but that he felt so grateful for all the God had done for him that week, that he wanted to give more. I feel like that was a much bigger sacrifice than the majority of church members make as they pay their tithing each week, because it really did come from his heart and love for his Heavenly Father. The Lord continued blessing him spiritually and temporally for the changes and sacrifices he was making to turn his life around. After 4 weeks in church, he was more than ready to be baptized. I feel so blessed to have been able to teach Alberto and help him in the little ways that I could to get baptized, but It was really the spirit and support of the ward members that made all the difference. We had the ward mission leader baptize Alberto because they have become really good friends. I am now one of little Alberto's biggest fans! He is a stud. It is incredible the power that the gospel of Jesus Christ has to change peoples lives entirely.
Right now, Elder Payne and I have found lots of investigators who are very positive. We are teaching a 16 year old girl named Dina who has a baptismal date for the 12th of January, a 50 year old woman named Maria de Jesus that has a baptismal date for the 19th, and a 20 year old guy named Carlos who has a baptismal date for the 26th. I am positive that they will all get baptized, because they all have really good support of the members and all of them have gone to church twice already.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I'm going to get transferred really soon because I'm pretty much done training Elder Payne as the new secretary! We'll see what happens this week...
I attached pictures of Alberto's baptism and some pictures from the ward activity we had Saturday after Alberto's baptism.
Love you all!
¡Feliz año nuevo!
Elder Parrish
