There's a First Time for Everything

May 03, 2022

There's a First Time for Everything

Hello all,
A lot happened this week. Okay not that much happened but what did happened was pretty big. That being our baptisms. Some other stuff happened but it wasn't a lot so I won't be writing about it. Faz sentido (make sense)?

Preparations for the baptisms were very difficult and slow. We spent about every morning at the church making sure things were going to be ready on time. We had a lot of challenges to solve. Among other things, we had problems with: not having enough clothes, our font being dirty, our font not having water, our font having a leak, not having people to give talks and leaders not showing up on time. All of these things worked out, but most of it was done the night before or the morning of. Which of course wasn't fun for us. The simple, direct lifestyle here is not very conducive to a culture of planning ahead and organization.

But after all these hurdles and a 30 minute delay, things were underway. And they went pretty well. It certainly was very different than my past baptism experiences. Probably the biggest difference was our font being outside. It was also built right below a coconut tree which isn't really a problem but it does give me fears about getting hit by a coconut while baptizing someone. Fortunately that didn't happen and our five friends were baptized safely. It was a great experience.

These baptisms are the first baptisms happening in Mozambique since Covid started. Most of the people we baptized have been taught for close to a year. The work here going forward is going to be very different.

This week I found new meaning to "opposition in all things." Saturday night after our baptisms and English class we had returned home to make some calls. We got a text from a person we had met a few days earlier. Apparently we had scheduled to meet him that night and we had somehow forgotten. All we could do was give him a call. So we called and got a phone lesson under way. Pretty quickly he started spouting out weird scriptures and false doctrine. Yeah, it was a bash. Elder Alberto pushed back explaining our point and used a few scriptures too. But of course this only made him more fervent. I knew this wasn't going anywhere but Elder Alberto tried his best. But for some reason he scheduled another visit with this guy. Then we wrapped it up and made the rest of our calls. Bashes are honestly pretty lame over the phone but it was my first coherent argument since getting here.

Sunday was also pretty special this week. Since baptisms have opened it also means that we can do the sacrament at church. It was pretty cool having the opportunity to take the sacrament again. There were some small hiccups but for the first time in two years it went well. I found out afterwards that the other ward had actually had some problems doing some things incorrectly. So I am certainly grateful we didn't have those problems.

And now transitioning back to baptisms (solid transition, I know). Baptisms are honestly just really cool and special. It is powerful way to commit yourself to Christ's example, promising to follow his example and his commandments. And when you do this, which certainly isn't always easy, you only get better; receiving the wonderful blessings that God has prepared for us. It is a beautiful process and gift that anyone with enough humility and determination can receive. It is a perfect process to help imperfect people become better.

So, until next time,
Elder McDonald