Of Birthdays and Baptisms

 

Hello Everyone!

So thoughts on this week. I got to go to my first baptism out in the field (Though it wasn't ours it was still fantastic!) on my birthday! We had all three of our really solid investigators there and we were running just a titch late so we got there right before it started to see them talking to president and sister Clayton. Alex, Jim, and Tangier all really felt the spirit and it's been so great seeing that effect on them. Tangier passed his baptismal interview and will be baptized this Saturday! After the baptism on my birthday president Clayton was shaking everyone's hand and when he got to Tangier and said 'thanks for coming' tangier looked down sheepishly before explaining. "No I should be thanking you, I'm just so grateful your missionaries helped me find this church." I just about melted right then and there. That was definitely the highlight of my birthday was seeing all three of them really gaining strength from each other and from Allen's baptism.

For those curious about the rest of my birthday let me tell you sister Liao is such a fantastic companion and she made the day one of my best birthday's ever even though there was a mix up at the mission office so I won't be getting my birthday mail until sometime next week. As soon as we woke up she jumped out of bed and prepared a duo sa bao for me (one of my guiltily food pleasure) along with a really sweet note.

I thought that was it but it turns out after lunch she had arranged with our old roommates the Hermanas to bring over pizza and another present. She knew I needed a slightly smaller bag and so she got me one along with... well. I'll let you see the pictures for that one. needless to say that I was grinning like a lunatic.

The four of us had a great lunch together and then we headed out into -20 degree weather! it was only for a little bit but we had a great time knocking on doors until the baptism and then we even got dinner with our investigators afterwards. It was a very good day.

We had great success this week too. Jim accepted March 5th as his date and we're super excited for him. Alex still has some reservations but he's also progressing really well and has committed to live the word of wisdom. We also found three new investigators and six potentials (all of whom are female, in elder Kendell's words "The curse! It's broken! We have females again!") It's been a lot of fun getting excited about that. This was also my coldest week in Canada to date but we still had a great time. I am prone to get colds so I've been watching myself in the cold very carefully. No problems yet but the back of my throat likes to ache if I breath too much cold air.

We also had a great time with our fellow missionaries this week and will continue to do so. Sister Liao has told me that it's rare to see this many missionaries this often but I feel a close companionship with my district and zone because of it. And hey, who doesn't like to see missionaries?

We'll be starting ESL (English as a Second Language) This week and I'm looking forward to that and hopefully we'll be seeing new investigators come from this form of service!

Anyways I just want to say a great big thank you to all of you who wished me well on my birthday! I can feel your prayers and your support and I so look forward to reading the actual letters when I can get them!

God lives and he's moving his work forward there are people out there who need us and all it takes is one invitation to spark a fire.

Till next week!

Sister Skinner

Also we had a mishap with the glitter this week and making Tangier's progress record... Golden.

In order from tallest to shortest. Jim, Alex, Allen (The one just baptized), Sid (The member who performed the baptism), Tangier, and the girl is Cheryl who loves being our member present and working with the investigators. And the missionaries are me, Sister Liao, Elder Kendell and Elder Wuu.