We Had a Baptism!

I'm gonna try and write this while Elder Merrill and Sister Jardine are playing a game involving tennis balls and using hymnals as paddles. Today's been a very good P-Day. I have some good friends here!

Let me share a couple experiences, involving baptism, violins and roaches.

Baptism. We had a baptism! Faith got baptized, which was a miracle. In the middle of the week, she was approached by her uncle. He asked her if this was what she really wanted, and for her to seriously consider her decision. Faith still wanted to be baptized, but she felt that she didn't have the knowledge and faith to back up the church.

We asked her to pray about being baptized this weekend, and if not this weekend, which weekend? We followed up with her the next night. She got a promotion at work that morning and sees it as a huge blessing from God. Faith got baptized in gratitude to God for the many blessings she's been bestowed recently and along her path of life. She was so radiant on Saturday and Sunday She knew that what she was doing was right. She doesn't want the missionaries to leave her alone, though. And we won't!

Violins. This past week, we had a dinner appointment with a family, the Allreds. Sis. Allred is very musically talented. We had a fantastic meal with them. During the meal, Sis. Allred asked me with a big smile on her face, "Do you play the piano?"

I said, "No, but I played violin for four years in middle school and high school."

Later in our visit, Sis. Allred went into her bedroom and pulled out an old violin case. I put two and two together, and was not ready for her request.

"Play it," she said.

This violin was made in the 60s. It belonged to Sis. Allred's mother. I tuned it the best I could, even though the A string could not stay tight. The only sheet music I had at the time was the Arkansas Little Rock Mission Song in my missionary binder. I played it the best I could. Good enough for a 4th grade recital, anyway.

After I was finished, Sis. Allred got excited to see that the music had a piano accompaniment. She took the music into her piano room and had me play along with her. It was nice to know that I could still read music and play a few notes on my stringed instrument. Thinking back on it, I hadn't played a violin in nearly six years.

Well, word gets around fast in the Relief Society. Sis. Allred and the other sisters have already volunteered me for performing a musical number during my last sacrament meeting of my mission, with Sis. Allred as my accompaniment. My whole district wants to sit in and watch. I am SO nervous for it. I'm getting a different violin to practice on. I get to choose the song and everything. Heaven help me.

Roaches. Short funny story. Elder Merrill and I were sitting on the couch after a long day when he calmly said, "That's a big bug on the wall." I looked into the kitchen. THERE WAS A 2-INCH COCKROACH ON OUR WALL. We grabbed a glass bowl and tried catching the thing. Elder Merrill tried to knock it in, but the roach fell onto Merrill's chest instead! He screamed. I screamed. We both freaked out. The roach landed on the ground on its back and became immobilized. We caught it in the bowl. We proceeded to turn the bowl into slay the roach with fire. Fire and Repel mosquito repellant. I'll leave those things to the imagination, but that was the largest roach I had ever seen on my mission.

My last district meeting went pretty well. I've been working on asking my missionaries inspired questions instead of being boring. We had some good interactive lessons where we shared ideas. In essence, our district meeting was a form of Socratic Seminar. Hey, school taught me something!

Well, I'ma enjoy the rest of my P-Day. Hope y'all have a good week and enjoy school and feel the Spirit in church! CHURCH IS GOOD.

-Elder Staib