Surprises

Well this was a week full of surprises.

 

     Elder Armenta's investigator named Bobby was getting baptized this week. I am very close with all of the Elders in my District and even the people that they teach. I know them all by name and have got the opportunity to meet most of them. Bobby is a great guy. He is pretty shy but a very humble man. I have had the opportunity to teach him with Elder Armenta and to give him his baptismal interview. We seemed to really click. After I gave him his baptismal interview we drove back to our area and had a lesson with Beth. Our lesson went very well and at the end I invited her to come to Bobby's baptism. She said that she would love to come and asked if I could have Elder Armenta give her a call because she wanted to catch up with him. So I did. What she was really doing was planning a surprise for me. She and Elder Armenta were planning her baptism to surprise me when I went to Bobby's baptism. She wanted to be baptized with Bobby and have me baptize her. The next day Elder Armenta called me and told me to bring my baptismal clothes to the baptism because Bobby wanted me to baptize him. I was very surprised and honored that Bobby wanted me to baptize him, but confused as to why he didn't want Elder Armenta to do it. The real reason Elder Armenta told my I was baptizing Bobby was just so I would bring my baptismal clothes so I could baptize Beth and he could maintain the surprise. The next morning I am ready to go to the baptism about to walk out the door and we get a call from Elder Armenta. The first words that he said were, "Elder Romero, I am so sorry. You weren't supposed to baptize Bobby. Beth wanted to surprise you and be baptized today and she wanted you to baptize her, but she just texted us and said that she doesn't want to be baptized anymore." I can't begin to explain the disappointment that I felt. I don't know why Beth cancelled. It was a surprise indeed. I don't know what to do with Beth anymore besides pray for her and hope that things work out.

 

     That was probably the climax to my week but Elder Greene and I did meet a couple interesting people. One of those people is named Bro Al. Brother Al is a really smart real estate agent that knows a lot about a lot of things. He is definitely one of the most eloquent talkers I've ever met. Brother Al wouldn't tell us anything about himself. He wouldn't tell us what he did, or really what he believed, but at the end we figured it all out. To get down to it Brother Al does not believe in Christianity. Brother Al is a black fellow and believes that Christianity was made up to keep black people in bondage by making black people believe that their God is white. He made a very good case, and all I did was just listen. He knew quite a bit about Joseph Smith but didn't have anything good to say. I really didn't feel like there was much that I could say to Brother Al to make him think differently. We never once argued or "bashed" during our conversation. Honestly, I enjoyed our conversation and I feel like I learned a lot from Brother Al. At the end of our conversation I just felt so low, and so spiritually drained. Just during that whole conversation I can't recall feeling the spirit about anything that he said. When he'd speak about black's and the priesthood, slavery and God, Jesus and Paul. Every case that he had just didn't click with me and I could feel that something was missing.
      Luckily this night we were having dinner with Brother Asper and we had a chance to talk with him. We told him about our conversation with Brother Al and about all the different things that he brought up. During our conversation we got into a discussion about Joseph Smith. Immediately the spirit was so strong that it almost brought me to tears. During that conversation I just knew that Joseph had to be a prophet. It was the complete opposite of how I felt with Brother Al. Immediately after dinner and we got in the car and turned to Elder Greene and said, "Did you feel that?" and he said, "Yeah." and I yelled, "Dude, Joseph Smith is a prophet!"
    
      That event was probably the best part of my week and I keep reflecting back to how I felt during that dinner. It was amazing. This was a contrasting week. I don't know how else to put it. The mission is tough, but it has its rewards.

I love you all.

-Elder Ryan Romero