Chapter 40: I´m Dreamin´of a White Christmas

I still can´t figure out how it happened. As I look back over last week, it seemed to be just a blur. We had zone conference and preparation day for Monday and Tuesday, so we didn´t really get to work until Wednesday, and just because I know Wednesdays are normally hard days to work, I made sure we had good citas that I knew would not cancel for almost every single hour. They all cancelled. Usually this wouldn´t be too horribly surprising, but this week was different. We had a baptism to plan for, and our baptismal candidate was no where to be found Wednesday afternoon. She has never cancelled on us. Not once. And now, she was missing in action. Alright, so slightly dramatic, but we had 3 days to get her prepared for her baptism, and she had never even heard of tithing...so to say I was stressed was an understatement. So, we said a prayer that we would be able to find her, and if it be God´s will, that all would fall into place for her baptism. So, we decided to pass by her piso once again later that night. We went up to her door, knocked, and waited. And waited. And waited. My companion looked at me and said, “Well, now what do we do?” Me, being frustrated and having no idea what to do replied, “We are going to sit down on these stairs and give me five minutes to figure out what we are going to do.” So, we sat down. About three minutes later, my companion said, “Alright, let´s go. We´re wasting our time.” I normally am the one more like that, but I just didn´t feel ready to go, so I told her to give me two minutes. About a minute and a half later, Ana walked up the stairs. It was a miracle. (So, being lazy isn´t always bad.) haha She said how she had to run somewhere, and her phone was broken so it was such a good thing that we were there. We rescheduled for the next day, and everything went smoothly. We taught her everything else that she needed to know, and she accepted it all (even the law of tithing!).We asked her to say the closing prayer, and it was so cute! She just said, “Father, please open the hearts of my family so that they will receive the blessings of this gospel like I am.” She then had her interview Friday, and then Saturday afternoon, she was baptized.  Her husband, who has been absolutely closed to the idea, came to her baptism and started asking some questions afterwards (it was slightly bad because they had to baptize her about 5 times because her dress kept ballooning up in the water.) But, he genuinely sounded interested afterward. She gave her testimony after, and it was simply beautiful. I loved that she said she was excited that God was giving her, “a little angelito to put on her shoulder” as the Holy Ghost,  to help guide her family to heaven. It was interesting, when she was confirmed on Sunday, the Bishop blessed her that the Holy Ghost would help her maintain her future sealing to her husband, and that she would have an eternal family. Everyone’s heads kind of shot up a little bit, because I have never heard of a confirmation blessing like that! But, the miracle doesn´t end there, in fact, it was only the beginning. But I have to rewind a little bit. In the beginning of the week, we found this family knocking on doors. (Well technically, it was when I was still sick, so my companion found them). They asked about the ward choir, and started coming to practices. The dad is Spaniard, the mom is Romanian, and they have the most beautiful four year old daughter I think I have ever seen. However, you have to realize that this couple makes an impossible team. Spaniard=Catholic. Romanian= Orthodox. Both extremely stubborn religions. However, the ward just loved them in the choir, and they were all shocked that we brought this family. We had a lot of lessons planned on Friday night, so my companion and I were on splits again, and she got to go teach them. She said she just talked about their relationship with God and the Book of Mormon. Well, the dad started crying as he said the closing prayer, and the mother said, “You knocked on the right door. I know that you didn´t do that by coincidence.” They came to the baptism, and you´ll never believe it. The mom came up to me after me, and asked, “What do I need to do to be baptized?” I was so shocked I could hardly answer. The elders told me that they both had been talking in the back about this is something that they think they really want for their family. They love that they can choose for themselves to be baptized. They also came with us to Valencia for the Stake choir performance. I feel like they are more members this week than half the ward. I am really excited to actually get to teach them more. My goal my entire mission is to invite a family to be baptized. The Lord is really blessing us here in Castellón. As I thought of Ana in her white, baptism dress; her future family in white temple dresses; and the new family in their own white attire, I couldn´t help but think, “I´m dreamin´of a white Christmas.”

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins