Another Busy Week

Hello All,

What a week! This week was stressful because I can now say I have pulled off a less than a week baptism. The circumstances of this baptism were a little odd, so that's why it happened so fast, but boy did it add to the stress. The baptism was for a 13 year old whose records had been lost. This happens a lot among hispanic wards... I honestly have no clue why, but it does. When someones records are lost then two things have to happen, first, if there are three preisthood holders who were at the persons baptism they can come together and say they were all there, or the person can be baptized again. In the case of this 13 year old there weren't enough witnesses, and the brother who baptized her the first time announced fairly suddenly that he was moving back to Mexico. So, we had 6 days to pull everything together. Talk about stress. Luckily it all came together really beautifully, and we've decided that it may have been a miracle in disguise, becuase her father, who is a 10 year investigator, might be getting baptized soon. Watching his daughters baptism really moved him, so who knows, maybe her record needed to be lost so he could have a final push to be baptized.

Reyna and her family with the Bishop and the Hermano who baptized her.
Reyna, her family, and us (the missionaries).

Friday we had a Specialized Training. It was really really good. I have a love/hate relationship with all the meetings we go to. I get frusterated because it feels like we spend so much time in meetings some times and too little time being able to work, but then I have to remind myself that what we learn in the meetings should help us to work more effectively. That was certainly true of this last meeting. We talked about organization and then President had some really good comments on teaching the Plan of Salvation. I really enjoyed the whole training. I also got to play flute at the conference, which was interesting. I feel so incredibly out of shape. It probably doesn't help that the flutes I usually end up playing on are not such great instruments. It's always an adventure.

The hardest thing for me about playing is that it makes it really hard for me to focus on what I am here to do. I noticed it more this time than I did when I played at Christmas. I've really learned in the last months that I have to stay focused on the work here, I can't let myself worry about things I can't control. I can't control anything to do with flute here, and honestly, it's a lot easier for me to work and teach well when I'm not worried about it or thinking about it. The trick for me was when I played on Friday it opened up the flood gates again, and I had a hard time re-focusing for a little while. I was pretty surprised, but I think next time I play I'll be better prepared and be able to re-focus faster. The whole experience was a surprise for me, and actually made me greatful that I am serving somewhere where I don't have access to the flute or much classical music, because it really does make it easier to focus on what I am doing here and now. Who would have thought I would ever feel like that?!

This week was full of some amusing experiences that I thought you would all enjoy. I heard before being a missionary that you have to watch out sometimes for those who like to flirt with missionaries. Apparently yours truly does well with the 2 year old boys. We had dinner last Sunday with a family who have the cutest little two-year-old. At dinner he spent the entire time trying to share his food with me, and when we tried to leave he did his best to stop us. We all got a good laugh and his dad had a good time telling him to say by to his "novia" (girlfriend). We got a pretty good laugh about it too and didn't think much of it. Sunday I ended up sitting fairly near this family. About 10 minutes into sacrament meeting he made his way over and proceeded to share his puppets, books, and cookies with me for the rest of the hour. I found it pretty funny, and so did his family. Now I know who to go visit if I ever want a snack in church. :-)

I think that is about all this week. We've been working lots, and I am absolutely loving it. I hope all is well with everyone, and have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Okeson