A great baptism and I got my stitches out!

Hey guys!

This has been a packed week. Saturday saw our first baptism in Desert Breeze ward with Natalia Faircloth! We've been teaching her for some time and she was finally able to be baptized by her Grandpa this past weekend. She was so excited and bore her testimony at the end; it was the most heartfelt and sincere testimony I've ever heard a nine-year-old bear. Her grandparents drove from California to come, and they don't speak a lot of English (the family is Chilean), so we had to make sure he said the baptismal prayer correctly...in Spanish. Luckily we were able to run to the family history center and find D&C 20:73 in Spanish and print out three copies; one for the Grandpa and two for Herlin and I, so we could make sure it was right. I'm glad we did that, because he omitted some parts of the prayer at first and if we hadn't printed it out, we wouldn't have caught it, but it's all good. He really dunked her...wouldn't be surprised if she had a goose-egg on the back of her head from the bottom of the font. It was a great service, though, and a lot of people were able to make it out. She was confirmed in sacrament the next day and it was a great experience for all involved.

I talked about a non-member dad who came to church last week in my last email - so, we got to meet with him and he's amazing (and ready). He had some concerns, but after talking with the stake president and with us I think he's on board! He loves what the church is teaching his daughter and he says he's like a sponge, just wanted to soak up all the knowledge and learn as much as he can. He was at church yesterday and we have a lesson with him later tonight; we're going to try and set him for baptism in late October. 

I don't know what it is, maybe it's where I am in the Book of Mormon lately, but I have constantly thinking about our country lately. I've been becoming more and more aware of how blessed we are to live in a country that allows us to worship how we worship, to say what we feel, and to live how we'd like to live. I'm so grateful for America and the freedoms we enjoy, and I've been praying especially for those who put their lives on the line for those freedoms. My mind goes back to Grandpa a lot, and the sacrifices he made for millions of people, and I'm so blessed to come from such brave and valiant families. We have to do everything we possibly can to ensure those sacrifices were not made in vain.

On a lighter note - stitches came out thirty minutes ago. I think it's looking good, or at least better than last Saturday. Only time will tell how much will scar. The break isn't too bad, just a more prominent bump on my nose now haha. I can breathe just fine - doc said to get it xrayed when I get home if it's bothering me, but it most likely won't. Things are good out here, thanks for your love and support!

Love,

Jesse