What a great day....General Conference AND a Baptism!!!

 

Saturday was a great day, not only did Luke get to watch Conference, but he got to baptize his friend Lino Sanchez after the second session of Conference! 

This is the 9th baptism that Luke has had in this area and most of them are because of the awesome referrals from the members.  What great examples they are to me taking an active part in the gathering of Israel!  

Now Luke and Elder Reyes are going to be back to finding people to teach.  One couple they are working with is Inez and Adolfo.  And come to find out Inez is the sister to Ramona, who the elders have been working with for quite a while!  They were walking down her street and saw Adolfo outside and stopped to talk to him.  Then found out they were related!  What a small world!  And the good news is that Adolfo and Inez are married!  So they don't have to wait for them like they are waiting for Ramona and Ernesto!  They even went and watched General Conference with Inez and Adolfo!

Luke is learning that to be a leader can be difficult at times.  Each district reports back to Luke and Elder Reyes and give screenshots of their cell phone usage.  They show which apps they spend time on etc.  Well he and his companion realized that they weren't getting reports from one companionship.  They texted them and asked them for their time usage screenshot and the Elder responded that he would call them.  He sent his screenshot and then called Luke.  His time showed that he was spending 4 hours a day on FB Messenger!  Yikes!  Come to find out the Elder was struggling with his companion, in this hard area, in the difficulties of opening a new area, and with depression.  He admitted that he has been messaging friends at home.  Luke and his companion urged him to call President.  Later in the day Luke talked to President and asked if the Elder had called him.  He had not so President gave him a call.    Luke said this was a wake up call for him, it can be so easy to get addicted to phones and other things in life and let them take over and lead us to disobedience.  He was so grateful for the honesty of the missionary so now he can get help and be more accountable.  As Luke was talking it reminded me of the awesome talk in General Conference this weekend by Sister J Annette Dennis where she talked about this dog named Cassie that could do awesome tricks.  When the owner tried to get Cassie to do tricks in front of people she would not and just stayed close by the owners side.  The owner was very frustrated with the dog.  Later when they got home the owner realized that Cassie had wounds on her body and was bleeding.  The owner felt bad about being so frustrated with Cassie.  Sometimes there are things going on with people that we cannot see.  We can't judge.  If we fully understood what people were going through we would be more patinet and loving.  I love that Luke also thought of this talk in this situation.  He is learning so much as a leader and I'm so grateful for his mission and the Savior Jesus Christ that are teaching him!!!

Oh and one funny thing from this week...Luke was without power for 3 days in his apartment!!!!  3 DAYS!  I wouldn't manage well.  Luke said he just wore his head lamp around the apartment and they got by :)  Crazy!  

Today Elder Camacho and his companion are staying with Luke and so the Elders get to have an asado again :)  (Asado is when they grill up meat - so a barbecue!)  Can't wait to see his epic pictures of meat :)  Like father like son :)