Nibaldo got Baptized!

"Love your mother, yeah she´s a good one. 

She´ll build you armor, keep you warm as a hen. 

The stars may fall and the rains may pour, but I will love you evermore." 

-Cloud Cult

I´ve been on my mission for 4 months and 4 days....I swear I´ve only been here 2 weeks.

AAAh. This week. Holy crap. Dad, every week I realize more and more how tiring being the bishop can be. Thank you for your example.

This week was definitely a trial of my faith. It was good though--I need it. I swear, every single one of our appointments fell through. We had the hardest time contacting and I felt like everyday was full of walking and Spanish I couldn´t understand. On Tuesday, we had a lesson with Ramon about his baptism date, preparations, etc. After we had been talking for a good 20 minutes about everything, I realized we hadn´t given him any chance to talk or share how he was feeling. I asked him, "How has your experience been with the gospel so far?" He looked up at my and we just stared at each other for a good 20 seconds. He finally said, "Sincerely, Hermana Pendleton. I don´t feel anything when I read The Book of Mormon. I don´t have the same experiences as Nibaldo. I want to and that´s why I read and pray everyday. But sincerely, I feel nothing.....and I don´t want to get baptized anymore....."

GAHHHHH, NOOOOOOO! My heart was crushed. I wanted to help him more than ANYTHING. I felt like a parent with a troubled teenager. I tried many different ways to explain things he could to help him feel the spirit, but he was set that he didn´t want the gospel anymore. It broke my heart. As we helped Nibaldo throughout the week prepare for his baptism, Ramon would come down and say hello to us, but nothing more. Nibaldo said he wasn´t reading with him anymore and didn´t know what to do. I prayed and prayed and fasted and fasted. Things continued to go really well with Nibaldo, which is good. (Preparing for his baptism was CRAZY. It´s difficult to figure these things out without a trainer that's done this before.)  But in the end, I just had to put my faith in the Lord and his timing. I had a dream about Ramon on Saturday. I don´t remember much, but I remember he was happy with his family. Sunday morning, Nibaldo, Nicolas AND Ramon all showed up for church :)

Later that day, THEIR ENTIRE FAMILY CAME TO NIABLDO`S BAPTISM!!! Complete with food, drinks and treats. It was SO incredible. Best Feeling EVER.....jk.....the best feeling ever was when Nibaldo´s Dad thanked us for everything after the baptism and

ASKED US WHEN WE COULD COME AND TEACH HIM!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHH. Seriously. Wow. We are having a Family Home Evening in their house Wednesday night. You should have seen Nibaldo´s face when we told him that his dad wants us to teach him. It was perfect. I got to speak at the baptism about the gift of the Holy Ghost and it was all just really special.

I KNOW that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. We just have to trust him. Even though this week was tough, we pushed through it with all the faith in the world and whaddyaknow, Sunday was beautiful. I LOVE this gospel. I know that this church is true and I am so glad I have the opportunity to be "Nibaldo´s Missionary" :)

We still don`t know about changes this week. We will find out either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I got your package this week! Finally!! Music and chocolate :) Thank you so much, Mama. It was perfect. Becca, your letter was hilarious. I died laughing. and I died laughing at your fish joke that you said during family prayers. Hahahaha. You are 2 good 2 B true.

Mom, I LOVED your email this week. It was so happy and exactly what I needed to hear. I have the best family in the whole entire world. I think that it´ll be good for you to not be teaching and be home this fall, Mama. You and dad are so good at balancing out everything for the family. When is the last day of school? I am proud of all you for your sports, AP tests, smiles, happy spirits, everything.

I hope you all have the best week ever! I´ll be letting you know about changes next week! Pray that I get to spend (at least) one more change here in paradise! 

All my love,

KATH