So Danielle got baptized. *internal screaming*
It was wonderful. We were about to set up for the
baptism, when we realized that another baptism was starting at 6:30 in another
ward.
Apparently someone in our ward did not schedule the
building. So we were scrambling around for an hour trying to push the baptism
back to
7:30 for like an hour. It was 5 pm around this time, no
one was answering their phones, we couldn't get ahold of Danielle, and we were
starting to stress. Sister Wall had a minor breakdown and tore up a bunch of
paper and laid on the floor for a while. We finally called a neighbor of
Danielle and explained the whole situation to her, and she ran down to
Danielle's house and told her what was going on. Her name is Sister Sanders and
she saved our butts. We finally were able to tell the whole ward that the time
had been changed to 7:30 through divine intervention and texting. So that
happened. Anyway, the whole ward showed up and Danielle wasn't there yet. She
was so nervous she almost didn't come. She did finally come though which is
good, it's always nice to have the person getting baptized show up for their
own baptism. We helped her find a white jumpsuit to change into, and we stayed
in there for about 30 minutes because she did NOT want to go out of the
changing room. We had to coax her out. That was fun. She finally did go out and
after that it turned out great! We were able to teach the restoration while she
was changing clothes, and when I got to the part where I recited to first
vision the whole room went completely quiet. I started a crying a bit because I
could feel the spirit so strongly in that moment. This was my first convert
baptism where I taught someone and was apart of their baptism. It was pretty
cool. The entire Lake of the Pines ward showed up. Elder Shepherd was there
too, my first zone leader ever. It was neat for him to be there, he's been
around me pretty much my entire mission. He saw me start and now he saw me have
a baptism. I love that guy a lot.
That was pretty much the highlight for the whole week. We
also had zone meeting this past Wednesday, and since I'm still and STL I had to
teach. I tried to teach about repentance and I hope it went well. I think it
did. It's weird that I am a leader and a teacher, I have no idea what I'm doing
and I'm just 20. Ok. Something I learned from studying repentance is that
asking someone to repent is an expression of love. You want this person to
change and for the, to be better. You want them to feel the blessings of the
gospel. You love them because you understand that they are your spirit brother
or sister and you love them enough to ask them to change. I love so many people
here in California. This piece of it will always have my heart. I would never
live here but I will definitely visit multiple times in the future.
OH HERES A COOL THING: So Saturday night we were walking
about the Lake of the Pines neighborhood. It's a gated community so we aren't
allowed to knock doors, but we walk and talk to people on the streets.
There was this lady who was walking her dogs and we went
right passed her. Sister Wall kept turning around and said "we need to go
talk to her", so we turned around and headed back towards her. We started
talking to her and it turns out she was the boss of one of the people in lake
of the pines ward. She told us she has great respect for Mormons. We told her
what we do as missionaries and she thought it was awesome. She wasn't super
interested in hearing more about the church, but the fact that sister wall and
I were able to oym her and share our testimonies was huge. I suck at oyming and
I've done it like five times on my mission, so this just gave my confidence a
huge boost. It was awesome, we knew the spirit had prompted sister wall to turn
back and go talk to her. Her name is Daren, and hopefully we will see her again
walking her dogs soon.
Guys, I've changed a lot. I'm still the same Caroline,
but I'm different. Spiritually different. I like this change. I like becoming
closer to my savior. I know him as a person and a friend. I would not change
that for anything. I have social skills. I am not afraid to talk to random
strangers anymore. If I need something done, I'll go do it. I've learned so much
in the last year, I can't believe it. I still have a ways before I'm home, but
I'm gonna work hard til the very end.
I love you all! I know for a fact the only reason I am
still here is through the prayers given on my behalf.
You all are wonderful and amazing and beautiful.
With love,
Sister Ginn
1. Zone meeting
2. I am so short
3. Danielle got baptized!!!! Me and sister wall, and
that's sister ford who found her and taught her but got transferred. She came
out with me. The little boy is Danielles son Jeremy.
(Sorry, not a lot of pictures, we didn't really take any
this week) 4. This is what happiness looks like.
