My Baptizing Experience

                                                                                          Feb 22, 2016

 Hello Everyone,

      I hope everyone had a good week. As the title states above my
week by far my most interesting week. First off I can honestly say
that Chicago is the Windy City. Last week hit 50 degrees (that is
super hot for Chicago) and at the same time the wind was almost 20
mph. I got smacked in the face many times by leftover salt, saw trash
bags fly over 5 story buildings, and me and my companion got stopped
in our tracks by a gust of strong wind for a good 10 seconds. It was
so much fun.

      So the crowning event of this week can only be described as
awkward for everyone. First off all, the person who was baptized was
name Jillian. Jillian is extremely timid and quiet. Also she is
uncomfortable with anyone who she doesn't know so despite not speaking
very much Spanish she goes to the Spanish Ward because her grandmother
goes there. Also she was being taught by the sister missionaries. So
all the people she knows in the Ward is her grandmother and the sister
missionaries. She does know of us elders but only because the
grandmother invites over to eat and Jillian  never talks to us just
avoids us. So when the time came for her to choose who would baptize
and confirm her a member of the church it was awkward because she
didn't really know any people who could baptize her. When asked who
she wanted to baptized her it went like this.
Sister missionaries-"How about the bishopric?" Jillian-"no" (For those
who don't know, the bishopric is the bishop and his two counselors who
watch over the Ward and their members)
Sister missionaries-"One of the elders?" Jillian (with hesitation)-"ehh"
It wasn't a no and since she was quite tall and she has seen me before
I was decided to baptize her. The day of the baptism was pretty
interesting too. I had borrow white pants from the church and it was
way too tight around the waist but I fitted somehow.

     However all the awkwardness was worth it when we went in the
water. Surprisingly the easiest thing was to memorize the baptismal
prayer in Spanish and then she went into the water. Unfortunately not
her forehead so we had to do it again and this time all of her
submerged beneath the water. Next day we had to confirm too.
(Confirmation is when we place our hands upon a person head and give
them what is almost like a priesthood blessing but you bless them with
the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the constant companionship of the
Holy Ghost). Usually you have quite a few people confirming but it was
only me and my companion, he confirmed. And despite doing all these
things with her, Jillian still avoids us like the plague.

     I never expected my first baptism to be like this, I thought it
would be someone I taught. Despite this Jillian does now have a place
in my life as the first people I baptized and maybe I hold a place in
her life or she will forget me when I leave this area, that will
probably be the case.

     However Jillian made the choice for herself to be baptized
and though she probably felt awkward during the whole process of
becoming a member, she is now, and she along with her grandmother can
be an example to the rest of her family, her mom is inactive and the
rest are nonmembers, about how the gospel can change lives and be a
blessing to her. I love this work and can't wait until I see someone
who I dearly loved and helped get into the waters of baptism.

     I hope you found this experience  amusing, I will probably smile about
it for years. I hope you all have a great week.

                                                                   Best wishes, Elder Agre