Dear family and friends,
Today's been another great week in the life of Elder Boothe! I know I've told you all about Ricky and I'm guessing that you're all wondering how it went. Well let me tell you, Ricky's baptism went GREAT! We had the best turn-out out of all the baptisms I've had so far. Here's a brief run-down of who came:
- 5 companionships in our zone plus their investigators. Since one of the missionary companionships is a trio that means we had 11 other missionaries there! This also includes our district leader and our zone leaders! Plus at least 3 of the 5 companionships brought investigators with baptismal dates of their own!
- All of Ricky's immediate family. His parents, both sets of grandparents (one of them is a little loopy) and his sister with her boyfriend. They've actually been very supportive of Ricky as he's been through his spiritual journey. None of them are members.
- The Stake President.
- 4/7 ward missionaries in our ward
- The Elders quorum President
Plus us, the bishop, our ward mission leader and his family and a couple of the ward missionaries from the Young Single Adult ward. Sister Crabtree presented Ricky with his own brand new triple combination and Bible, his name engraved on both. I led the music and gave the closing prayer. The Spirit was pretty powerful, especially during our presentation. I could feel the Spirit flowing through me as I bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty cool experience! Brother Crabtree, our ward mission leader, baptized Ricky. It was pretty cool that he did it because Brother Crabtree himself is a convert and this was the first time he performed a baptism. Ricky's received a really warm welcome from the ward, both before and after his baptism. Elder Ware performed the confirmation, which was a neat experience for him since he's never done one before. Then the Elders Quorum President asked Ricky to stand up and give his conversion story before the Elder's quorum. That was also very cool and gratifying to hear him talk about how he found us and came to know that this church is true. That conversion story basically screamed "This is why you're here Elder Boothe!" Bishop Boden talked to Ricky about the priesthood and he's planning on giving Ricky the Aaronic Priesthood this upcoming Sunday. We reviewed what the priesthood is and what each of the priesthood offices can do. He understood it very well.
So that was the highlight of our week. In case you're wondering why there are two pictures of me eating a giant hamburger I'll explain. Yesterday we had dinner at the Crabtrees. Ricky and the Crabtrees are well aware of my love of food and Ricky "triple dog dared" me to eat a burger with two patties. I took the dare but found that I couldn't eat it. The Crabtrees wouldn't let me take it home and everyone was giving me a really hard time about not being able to eat it. I mean a REALLY hard time. I had to get out of it by faking sickness. I went to their bathroom and simply made noises as if I were throwing up and then flushed the toilet. To keep the charade up I had to skip dessert. I still feel pretty awful about taking the stupid dare and that experience serves as a powerful reminder of why missionaries aren't supposed to goof off. I still feel pretty bad about that. At least I'm personable with the Crabtrees. According to Brother Crabtree Sister Crabtree's method of showing that she likes people is by giving them a hard time. Since she gives me a hard time pretty much every time we're together I'm assuming that means that I've built a pretty strong relationship with her and the rest of the Crabtrees. I know she's only teasing (sheesh she could fit in with the Boothe's really well. I know a couple of people who are reading this right now that would probably love to meet her.) and I'm proud of the fact that I'm actually building relationships with the members here.
So we got transfer news today and I'M STAYING! That's good because I've come to love the people here. Earlier this week we also set another baptismal date with a guy named Brennan whose brother is currently serving a mission in San Jose. We also taught in Young Women's yesterday about how to be a good member-missionary. On Thursday we took Ricky to see the baptism that our district leader was holding for one of his investigators.
Well I love you all and pray for you everyday.
Love,
Elder Boothe
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