Bane jokes and Baptisms

Another wonderful week in Apple Valley, CA!  I think this week the desert got tired of me mocking it so it rained on us three days straight, haha.  I guess summer in Utah and fall in Apple Valley have made me soft.  When it rained for those three days I thought, "What on Earth is happening?"  I do like to make Bane jokes to the missionaries and people serving here, though.  "You think the rain is your friend?  You've merely adapted to the rain.  I was born in the rain, molded by it."  Heh, it never gets old.  Well, it never gets old to me.  I'm sure my companion is sick of it, but I can't help that I'm handsome and hilarious.

We had another great lesson with our investigator Ann.  She's a wondeful woman and is progressing quite nicely.  She's really grown fond of us and has a huge testimony in the fact that us as missionaries are sent of God.  She's had a few moments where, as she puts it, was about to do something stupid but right before she did we knocked on her door.  She says she feels really good when we teach her and she's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about her message.  She had a baptismal date for December 14th for her husband got sick so she wasn't able to make it church this Sunday and in this mission an investigator has to be to church at least three times before they can be baptized.  So Aneta's date will have to be pushed back but that's okay.  It'll be nice to help her grow her testimony more before baptism.

This Saturday we have a baptism for a young boy in the ward who put his baptism off until he was 9, making him our responsibility.  I felt a little bad that it'd be my first baptism, but as we taught him we realized that he didn't really have any knowledge about the gospel.  Like, at all.  But as we've taught him he's learned a lot and says that he likes to read the scriptures and is trying to pray every night.  He even said his first prayer out loud with us in our last lesson, without any help from anyone.  It's interesting, some of the things we've taught have really stuck with him.  He especially likes the idea that because God is our Father then we're all technically spirit brothers and sisters.  He said during our last lesson, "That means that we're all brothers!  So... YOU'RE my brothers."  Then he paused for a bit, looked up at us, and said, "My brothers are missionaries!" with a big smile on his face.  It was a really touching moment.  We're very excited for the good decision he's made to be baptized. 

The work continues to progress here and we're working hard everyday.  This week will be better than the last and the work will go forward boldly, nobly, and independent.  I'm grateful for all the support from my fellow missionaries, from my ward here, and from my ward back home.  I'll talk to you all next week.

Your friend,
Elder Carter David Morgan