Sunday, Oct 19

Sunday again and all is well. Some days Sunday whizzes by and other times it just goes so very slow. We were supposed to go out and see two men out in Blooming Grove. Yesterday we drove out there to see one of them and he was not home. We stopped by the other one and he was not home either. One of them is a less active whose mother called us and asked us to go see him. We did and he agreed to meet us yesterday but was not home. The other was a media referral who said that he would be home. We told him we would call him before we came because it is about a 25 minute drive out there. So we called and called and neither one of the them were home today either. We were planning on going out to visit them and were looking forward to it. We'll just keep trying another day.

Today was Kylie Bottom's baptism. She is 9 years old and has been waiting for her father to baptize her. He was baptized in March, I believe. He was pretty worried, but he baptized her and did great. She was so thrilled. Her baptism program was very spiritual, the spirit was strong. I was supposed to play the piano, but the other organist wanted to play, so I let her. When I got the baptism program I saw that we were scheduled to give the prayers, so I was happy that I wasn't doing everything. It is good for the ward to participate as much as possible and not the missionaries.

Ricky Murray and his wife, Becca, were the speakers. They did an excellent job and they are such loving and kind people. They are only a young couple themselves, but they have so much to give. They were both crying when they gave their talks. Becca had Kylie come up and wrapped her in a cover and said, "that is how it feels when you make good choices and the Holy Ghost wraps itself all around you like a warm blanket. Then when we make mistakes or sin, the blanket comes off and we don't feel it. It was very sweet.

I played for the Primary today while they practiced for their program. There is only about 14 children when they all come, but they work together and help everyone. In many ways this is nice because there is so much one on one. The children all feel loved and cared for. There are only about 5-6 leaders and teachers and they all have to give talks and sing. Their program is not as personal as I would like to see, but they cover what needs to be covered. it is so different in the mission field.

Primary let out and I went to Relief Society for about 10 minutes. They were just ending the lesson, so I got to hear the last part. Sister Sears was giving the lesson. Sister Sears is quite an outspoken sister, but usually spot on as far as the Gospel. She is very loving and kind, but doesn't budge on the principles of the Gospel. Many of the members of the branch are just babies in the Gospel and it is hard to swallow. Later before the baptism she hands me a copy of her reference material and says, "If you hear anything this week about this lesson, this was my reference material, it was right out of the institute manual." I ask if there had been a problem and she just raised her eyebrows.

Then I heard another member of the branch raising her voice to her just as the baptism was starting. I believe she was talking to Sister Sears. The baptism went fine, but later the Relief Society president was crying. I'm not sure what was going on, but I hope they all resolved it. I think it may have been over the doctrine. People here are really funny and bull headed. They think if they don't like a point of doctrine, the church should just change it, so they can be happy. It is totally weird. They are just not totally committed, even though they are baptized. Then they argue about what is what!!! It is just their inexperience in the church.

We had the largest Sacrament attendance I have ever seen in this branch. The chapel was nearly full. I think they all just decided to come on the same Sunday.