A Sick Baptism!

This week (or rest of the week) has been one of the best parts of my mission that I will never forget.

Syg

When I say that it was a “sick baptism,” sadly I don’t mean sick as in what the cool kids say. I mean sick as in I had a fever ever since I talked to you guys on Wednesday. Nothing too terrible, just a headache, sore throat, stuffy sinus, all that great stuff. While this didn’t change the outcome of the baptism, it did make it much harder to focus on feeling the spirit during this exciting, first time in my mission. Which, I believe, made it a much more spiritual experience for me as I had to focus on feeling the Spirit. Before the baptism, I was praying a bunch that I would be able to feel the Spirit even though my head felt like it was going to explode. Taking away from this experience, I’ve found that being brought to our knees, and praying, is our trial/test. I could’ve gone through the entire baptism just feeling like trash the whole time, or I could do something about it. In this case, praying to the Lord did not get rid of my sickness, however, I know, without a doubt, that the Spirit was so strong at that meeting, past all the nasty stuff inside my head, I could recognize and feel the peace and comfort that the spirit brings.

Splits med Kresge

But before I get to the well-anticipated part, I must talk about the few days before. On Thursday, I went on splits with Kresge. It was a nice, relaxed day, mainly because I was still not feeling so great still. He used to be our old Zone Leader in Jylland, but now he’s just a normal missionary on Sjælland. I learned a lot from him, he’s a very wise, hilarious, and just overall fun person to be with. The entire time we were with each other, when we weren’t out finding, he was knitting. There’s a trend in our mission right now to knit… and I’m tempted to do it. Anyways, I try to learn something from every person I’m on splits with. Kresge taught me a couple of things: prayers are direct communication with God, pray for guidance, pray for whatever we need right now. The second thing he taught me was that missionary work does not have to be “hardcore” finding everyone 24/7, but should always be done with the Spirit in mind. How I learned that from the 6-7 hours (some of which I was sleeping) we were with each other, I’m not sure, he’s just a really cool guy. Also, the Jehovah’s Witnesses came to our door (why they know where we live, or why they come and visit us… I don’t know), and they were trying to share a video with us. I told them that we were busy right now, and went back into the apartment to sleep. I sadly understand why not everyone let’s us into their house when we go knocking.

Dåb

Ahhh the part you’ve been waiting for. The person we baptized was Martin (only mentioned once I believe in my emails). I’ve only taught this guy twice, he was on date when I got here, but boy were we scared to death that he wouldn’t be baptized because he kept saying he was sick or in another city when we wanted to meet. We were praying a bunch for him, our zone was praying for him, and it all worked out, we called him everyday and taught him over the phone (so I guess more than just twice), but not a ton of contact with him. Now, I’m sick, our mission leader was not answering his phone at all, our bishop told us to talk to the mission leader when we asked him for help, and then our mission leader referred us back to the bishop. It was insane. We made a program for the baptism 3 hours before the baptism, figured out how to fill up the font 2 hours before. Having two missionaries, that have no clue what they are doing, especially for a baptism, together, with no guidance from a mission leader… not the best idea hahah. However, we made it work. We got some of Martin’s close friends that he’s made in the ward to do the baptism, had someone with a dinner appointment after (with Martin and us), it was great. I was stressed… if you couldn’t tell by the way I wrote that. It was probably the most stressful thing I’ve done on the mission, especially because I didn’t know what I was doing and nor did my (even younger) companion. And honestly, we didn’t know completely if he would show up to the baptism at all. When he arrived, I felt this peace that I can’t explain. The members were super nice and helpful… well I mean they did harass me a little by saying that the person who was supposed to give a talk didn’t know about it (luckily she was joking). But after harassing me, they were super helpful, gave amazing talks, and the Spirit was so strong. In Martins words (translated), “I loved it, it was fantastic.” The Spirit was the strongest for me when we sang “Nærmere, Gud til dig” (Nearer My God to thee). Because this was the step for him, the step that will make him ultimately neared to God. A lot of people when talk about missions, they always say “how many baptisms did you get?” I think that’s a stupid question to be quite honest. I didn’t get that baptism. That wasn’t mine, my companions, the people that originally found him, taught him, etc… It was Martin’s baptism. His baptism was a day that will change the rest of his life if he lets it change him. I’m so grateful that the church has been in my life forever, and that I had the opportunity at age 8 to do the same thing that Martin did. His love for God can be seen miles away, and being able to share such a life changing experience with him was fantastic. But all in all, it was God’s hand in all of this. Having the Spirit there, having it go so smoothly, having everything fall into place, having him have a fantastic time, that was all the Lord helping his imperfect servants bring another of his children back to his fold. I am so grateful for my calling here in Denmark. I am so grateful I can wake up everyday and choose to serve the Lord and be a tool in his hand.

Helligåndsgaven

After the fantastic baptism, Martin came to church the next day, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I thought a lot about how to help him understand the difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. A very smart missionary (Ældste Hogge) gave me a fantastic metaphor. Think of the Holy Ghost as a ring. You can look at the ring, hold it in your hands, and be focused on it. But as soon as you want to go and play some games on the computer, or watch TV or whatever, you have to stop focusing on the ring. However, if you put on the ring, you will always have that focus with you, while you do other tasks. I thought that this was a fantastic way to explain it. We can always have the Spirit with us when we have the gift of the holy ghost to help alert us when we are in danger, or need to promptly do something.

Mormons Bog

Another one of my goals this year is to read the Book of Mormon completely in Danish with Come, Follow Me. We had an amazing lesson in YSA Sunday School (with our recent convert, Martin). It got me excited about the Book of Mormon, and I’ve already read it 3 times! :) But that goes to show how exciting the book is. I hope the excitement translated for him too, of how important and spiritually uplifting this book is. I encourage everyone to read it again with this new come follow me program. I have already done the first chapter, and I’m working on the next Nephi 1-7. It is powerful how much more I get out of it (and kind of crazy how much I can understand with just 7 months of my mission done). What I read today was again related to Lewis Garner’s sacrifice log. Lehi gave up absolutely everything he had, his house, his life in the city, his gold, to follow God’s commandments. As soon as he got out into the desert, he praised the Lord and offered a sacrifice to him. After all this traveling… the first thing he does is offer a sacrifice to the Lord and thanks him? It doesn’t even talk about him taking off his shoes, relaxing on the nice rock sofa they had, turning on his favorite show “The Simp… Sadducees” with a nice cold water and popcorn. No, he goes straight out, makes a fire, and gives thanks to the Lord after walking who knows how long. I find this just incredible. He didn’t have just one sacrifice a day, his entire life was devoted to his Lord. 1 Nephi 2:15 “And my father dwelt in a tent” A simple yet powerful scripture, showing the humility and sacrifice this man has committed himself to. It’s amazing how great of an example scriptures can be to us and how every scripture can be of worth, no matter how small. 

This week has been one of a lot of growing, learning and experiencing. I will always look back and remember the strength of the Spirit at that meeting and how I have the amazing opportunity to help people, through Jesus Christ, enter the gate of eternal life. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Scripture: Helaman 3:28 - Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

Challenge: Begin doing Come, Follow Me, or begin reading/listening to the Book of Mormon.

Word of the Week: hemmelighed - secret

Pictures: Ældste Jaursch, Roberto, Martin, Me - Roberto, Martin, Me, Mor

Med kærlig hilsen,

Ældste Salisbury