Baptism!!!!!

Hello Family,                                      (This is from Monday, July 11th, 2016)

So.....I am three fourths done now!!!! On Thursday I completed 18 months!!!! Time has just flown by. The crazy thing is my companion is going home in five weeks!!! Time is flying by so fast. Before we know it, I'm going to have to leave this wonderful place, but I'll be coming home to you guys. I love you all!!! In order to give my all these last couple months, I have set some really high goals that I know with the help of the Lord, I will be able to accomplish. All with the final goal of coming home a different person. More consecrated and dedicated.

Anyways...this week was another amazing week. We had a baptism!!!!! It was unexpected and really a miracle. So, remember Leidi and her family...well, on Wednesday we went to visit them, and had a nice lesson with them. Afterwards, as we were leaving, Yajaira came running out and told us that she finally felt ready to be baptized, but her mom had told her that she needed to wait until she was older (she's 12). She asked us if we could come by the next day and talk to her mom about it. Of course we said yes. I prayed so hard that night. Leidi is a great mom, but she is very strict and sticks to a decision when she makes it. On Thursday, we were very nervous for the lesson with her. We taught a very cool lesson about baptism and how it cleans aways our sins. We used food coloring and bleach to as a visual aid. It was really cool. When we finished, Laidi looked at us, and all she said was ''No. I talked to Yajaira and I told her she needs to wait.'' Then she just looked at us. I didn't know what to say, so I just started praying in my head. Then she smiled, and told us that she was kidding. She told us that the night before, she was thinking about her daughter, and about the choice that she had made. She decided to pray (first time in a while) and ask if it was okay. ''I felt so sure that it was something very important for my daughter to do. So, I say yes.''!!!!! We were all so excited!!! Yajaira was crying, which made her mom cry, so I started crying. It felt so amazing. When we finally calmed down, Laidi looked at us very seriously and said ''how much money do you need for her baptism?''. We started laughing and told her that she didn't have to pay anything....she just had to come to the baptism. She agreed, and Yajaira was baptized on Saturday!!! She was so happy!!! After her baptism, Suari (her sister) told us that she wants to be baptized too, just not sure when. We are going to work with her this week, to see if she'll get baptized this weekend. Pray for them...please.

On Friday the zone leaders did divisions with us. I got to be with Elder Engaman!!! I was his zone leader in Cuatza a couple months ago. It was nice to see him again before he leaves (he goes home in August). We had an awesome day. We went to visit Roque because he hasn't come to church in a couple weeks. While we were there, one of his friends came over...so he invited him in. Guadalupe sat and listened to us. We taught him lesson 1 and he accepted baptism. He also told us that he wants us to visit his family as well. We have an appointment with them this week.

On Wednesday we had zone class, and it was all on learning to love our investigators. There are a lot of Elders that look at the people they are teaching as numbers, or just people that they need to teach. Really though, we need to love them, and show that we care about them. As we do that, they will be able to feel the Spirit when we are there. It really does work!!!! I love the people here. We also talked about working with obedience and diligence Jacob 5:72-74. As we do this, we bring forth good fruit in the vineyard of the Lord.

So, because I completed 18 months on Thursday, we did the traditional burn pants!!! I don't have the pictures today, but I'll send them next week. (6 months is a tie, one year is a shirt, and 18 months is a pair of pants).

That's about all the time that I have this week. We are really busy putting together the last details of our ward talent show on Wednesday. My companion and I are in charge of the activity, and we are going crazy trying to get everything ready, but it's going to be great. I'm going to sing, but I don't know what yet. We'll see what I can get ready.

Anyways, I Love you all soooo much. I hope you have an amazing week, and look for an opportunity out of the ordinary to serve someone. It will make their day!!!

Love you all,

Elder Cavenee