December 20, 2010

Well, it´s been an interesting week. The baptism all went well. I finally got to see Elder Robinson baptize which was an opportunity I thought I wouldn´t get. Estuardo has 10 years and his story is kind of sad. His mom has left him behind and gone to the states and so he gets moved around a lot between his grandparents, who are evangelicos, and his other relatives who are members of our church. For this reason, it wouldn´t be surprising to see how rebellious and quiet he is. I felt extremely disconnected when we tried to teach him. He didn´t respond hardly ever and if we asked him to do something, like pray, or just a simple question to make sure he was learning, he would say no or nothing at all. We had already put the baptismal date for Friday, because of the pressure from the branch president. To be completely honest, I felt this was all being done despite whatever he was thinking or what he wanted. So we taught him everything he needed to know... but there was a lot missing. We came to the lesson the day before the baptism and determined that he had to at least show a little desire or interest by praying if we were going to go through with the baptism. We had a 10 minute argument (sort of) trying to get him to agree to pray at least once during the lesson. We had everyone there give a prayer so he wouldn´t be the only one and he still didn´t. I think the pressure was good though because we finally got down to the reality of it all. He finally told us he did not want to get baptized. We asked him why he said he did before. He mentioned the Branch President and the family pressuring him and a lot of other stuff. Finally, the mother figure stepped in to the room and we began to be able to resolve the problem. When he said "I don´t want to be baptized" I thought, "I knew it.", Elder Robinson had this look of horror on his face, and Elder Guevara began to interrogate him. It wasn´t until the "mom" (I really have no idea what relation they have, to be honest) entered the room and they had a long discussion in Quiché. Finally, the mom explained a few things, including the fact that he thought we were going to beat him with the walking stick I was carrying around, if he didn´t obey. After things calmed down and the mom and grandma spoke to him. I pulled out the scripture in 2 Nephi talking about how Jesus Christ was baptized and why, how when we baptize ourselves, we show our willingness to obey God from that point forward. We all bore our testimonies and with that extra point of view, the mother bore her testimony of the truthfulness of that scripture. After ALL of that he decided that he did want to be baptized, and when we asked him to choose who would give the closing prayer, he said firmly that he wanted to do it. (In Quiché of course which is preferable here) After all was said and done, he did end up getting baptized and got confirmed yesterday. It was really good. There was almost everyone from the entire branch there (which usually doesn´t happen). It was a good ending to this crazy change.

Here are the rules for Christmas.
1. We can only talk for 30 minutes as mandated by the area presidency.
2. We are only to talk to Mom and Dad and possibly brothers and sisters, but definitely not any girlfriends.

So, I will call. It ends up being cheaper for us, I´ve found out. I will call somewhere beteween 1 and 3. I am OK if Nikki wants to be there to listen in on the conversation, but the rules have been set in stone. I know it might be hard to only talk for 30 minutes, but I can only obey or disobey. (and I´ve had just about enough with seeing blatant disobedience and disregard for any rules given by anyone)

I´m only spending 1 hour today, like we´re supposed to, and so now I need to go but I look forward to talking to you on Christmas. I´m sorry the rules are so strict. In my opinion, it´s worse to only give 30 minutes than to not give us the opportunity at all but... oh well.

Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo