"I like to look for rainbows!" 🎵🌈

Sweater weather!

Dear Everyone,

What a week. Definitely the busiest (and best) week of my mission so far. Our wonderful Filipina Investigator was baptized by her husband yesterday!!! It was honestly the happiest moment of my mission! Let me explain the details.

So, on Wednesday, she had her baptismal interview. I was pretty nervous the whole time she was in the interview, but she came out and I saw the thumbs up saying she passed. That was a really relieving moment, but I knew she would pass, so I don't know why I was so nervous haha! So, after that, came the craziness of the week. Thursday we put together the baptismal service with our Ward mission leader. Then on Saturday, we met with the Branch President and blew up the baptismal font. Yup, blew up the font with a foot pump! Gotta love the small branches! The font is actually approved by the navy and is used as a bath tub (except we use it as a baptismal font.) Pictures are included. :) Then Sunday morning before church was the service. In between all this, I had to prepare for District Meeting on Friday, Follow-Up with my district members, call a bunch of people to invite them to the baptism and, figure out a talk that I was to give at the service. Busy, busy, busy! I would basically be on the phone at night from 9:30 all the way until 10:15 and then bed time at 10:30. So, you could say I am exhausted. 

Pump, pump, pump.

It's up!

Filling it up

The finished product! :)

But all of that was so worth it because the baptism was perfect. It was just so special to see this family dressed in white with a font filled with water. I can't really describe the feelings I felt. Our investigator was smiling and crying throughout the whole service. I probably said this before, but her husband is Japanese and he was baptized in January. Their only daughter got baptized in March, as soon as she turned 8, and now her mom is finally getting baptized in October, so the whole family, especially the daughter, was just so happy. I gave a talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost and I felt like it went really well. It felt good because I just went up there with maybe a note or two and scriptures. When i had a scripture to read, I read it in Tagalog for our investigator. Everyone was pretty impressed by it, but I know my pronunciation was horrible... But, she understood so that's all that matters. I was actually tearing up during that talk, which I never do, (except for my farewell, when I cried like a baby... Still sorry about that..) After my talk, their 8 year old daughter gave a nice little talk about baptism, how happy she was that her mom was finally going to make that step. After that, Elder McArthur and I sang "I like to look for rainbows" in Japanese and English. Then the baptism happened, and it went perfectly, even though the water was freezing cold. The whole program flowed perfectly and there was a beautiful spirit that was felt by everyone present.

Also, another busy and nerve wracking thing was on Saturday, our Branch President called and asked if I would confirm her during Sacrament. I was taken aback, but I said I would do it. Then he said this, "could you do it in Tagalog? It would be great for her to hear it in her native language." I kinda laughed at that, thinking he was joking, but he was completely serious. I thought about it and came up with a conclusion that I would try to do the "important words" in Tagalog and the rest of the blessing in English, and he said that will work. So, the whole day, I was trying to memorize how to confirm her in Tagalog. I could not mess up, because if I did, then the ordinance wouldn't work. So, I tried my hardest to do it and say it correctly. I give this one up to the Spirit and the gift of tongues because somehow during the confirmation, I was able to remember the words and confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Tagalog. Man, do I wish I actually tried to speak Tagalog when I was younger. But, nonetheless, it worked out and the Spirit was there to guide my words during that blessing. It was insane, to say the least.

The feelings that I felt yesterday were so special and I hope I don't forget that. I was smiling the whole day and it just felt good. I am so happy that this family can now be unified and next year, become sealed in the temple for time and for all eternity. I am so excited for them. This family is so special and they just looked so happy. Happy is he only word that can describe this experience. That night, they invited us over to their house and they fed us more Filipino food (Lumpia and fried chicken) and we were able to fill out the baptismal record to make her an official member of "Ang Simbahan ni Jesucristo ng mga Banal sa mga Huling Araw". Such a beautiful day. 

Trying to get a good picture... I love this family so, so much!

Another reason that this was a really busy week was that even with all of this baptism prep going on, we were still able to teach 21 lessons this week!! We finally made the goal! The members helped a lot. We were able to teach most of the active members a lesson as well as a few less active members. It was a stretch and in the coming weeks, I feel like it will be even harder to hit the 20 lesson mark. I learned that in order to do that, we need to work hard every hour of the day and plan what we are going to do.

So, it was a great week. I am so exhausted, but I think it was worth it. To see this person come closer to Christ by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost was something that I will never forget. I am so blessed to be able to work with them and to see the changes come across this incredible family. Whenever I come into their house, I can just feel their love. I was so blessed to be able to witness this. This was my week in a nutshell. I hope you take a look at the pictures that I will send. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Remember to keep smiling and give 'em Heaven folks!

Love,
Elder Lamoreaux ラムロー長老
Japan Kobe Mission 日本神戸伝道部