Chapter 11: They Call Me the Baptism Singer

Chapter 11: They Call Me the Baptism Singer

Yes, I have heard of the Wedding Singer, but my new nickname around the district is the Baptism Singer. For every event that the missionaries plan, I am now asked to sing at it. haha We had a wonderful baptism of the Elders´ last week, and they asked me and Elder Thompson (the senior missionary) to sing I need Thee Every Hour--now that I have my voice back it wasn’t quite so daunting. Well, I thought it wasn’t going to be so daunting. Our investigator, Francisco, showed up to the Baptism, and it made me so nervous to sing! Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do. It has been a slightly traumatic week for our teaching of our platinum investigator. Let me just play this out for you: We had an appointment with our dear Francisco on Monday night after preparation day last week. We have to have a woman, member with us for every lesson. So, we invited Hermana Popo...oh my goodness. NEVER will we invite our spicy Colombian friend to an important cita again. haha We love her SO much, don’t get me wrong. But, you can’t try to teach investigators false doctrine. They spent the first 15 minutes bantering back and forth about if John the Baptist was born before Nephi. Unfortunately, it was our investigator that knew what he was talking about. Hermana Popo tried to convince our investigator that John the Baptist gave Nephi the priesthood. Madre mia.  Luckily, we had another member there with us, Jorge, who is best friends with Francisco now. He straightened it out with Hermana Popo and showed her the dates on the bottom of the pages. My companion and I, for the record, did try to say something when she brought it up the first time, but like I said, Hermana Popo is fiery! haha She’s so funny. But, Francisco reads the Book of Mormon so diligently that I am not too worried about that anymore. Did I mention last week that he volunteered to clean the church last Saturday?? We called him to see if we could get an appointment with him on Saturday after the Baptism, and he replied, "Sorry Hermanas, I can’t. I signed up to clean the church after the Baptism, but I can meet with you an hour before the baptism if that works."  He is more active than most of the members here. haha The only problem has been for him to accept a date for Baptism. He says that it is so sacred to him that he wants to make sure he is ready. I assure you, he is ready. Well, after the Baptism the Bishop wanted to meet him, and he told the Bishop he indeed had a date and was getting Baptized in a couple weeks!! I leaned over to my companion and asked, "Can we just take a minute and jump up and down??" We were SO excited!! And President Pace and his wife were there and they were SHOCKED of how great he is. President Pace came up to us after and said, "How have you taught this man??" I assure you, it is not us teaching him. Well, at least it is not me, because I can’t say much. haha Then on Sunday, he was asked to give the prayer during Sunday School, and he gets up and before he says the closing prayer he says,” I would just like to thank all of you for giving me this opportunity to pray to our Father in Heaven today" Then he began the prayer. Wow. The Pace’s were there in church as well, and Hermana Pace said she looked over at me and my companion and said we looked like proud mothers. I bet it is a similar feeling! 

 Speaking of the language, sometimes I think I am finally getting it, and sometimes I think I am getting worse. It’s weird, when it comes to listening to American’s speak Spanish, I can understand almost everything. When the natives speak Spanish (or Castiano as it is referred to here), it might as well be Russian!! I can’t wait for that moment when I can feel like I can really connect with people and listen to their concerns. As for now, I was to work with the few translations I get from my companion during our lessons. Speaking in a different language to an investigator is like performing for a million people. Well, at least that is how I imagine it would feel like. It is like having stage fright and forgetting the words to one of my songs. For example, I have great conversations in my head in Spanish, but as soon as it comes to actually speaking it...well...Let’s just say it’s less than impressive. But I am working hard, and I know it will come. I just hope it comes before my last week before I go home! 

Mucho Amor!!

Hermana Hopkins