HELLO FRIENDS.
Let's see what happened this week....
Well, we did go to the temple with Mi on Saturday! That was a wonderful experience. It was also, very hot and humid, even inside the temple, but we lived :) M loved it, I think. We joined with a ward from NJ at the temple. They were so nice and friendly towards us. And guess what, the sister missionaries in the ward know Sister Robinson!!!! My wardie from centerville. That was a fun connection.
Anyhow, in the ward there was a recent convert going to the temple for the first time. I don't know his name, but what he did in the baptistry that day, I will never forget. His story is that he was a professional football player, like he played in the Super Bowl and everything. So keep in mind he's a pretttyyyy big guy. About 7 years ago he had a major stroke and lost all movement on one side of the body. Not much of he movement has come back since then.... :( a few months ago he found the church and was baptized. He did family history and brought his own uncles name to the temple to do his baptism for him. But what's amazing is that HE was baptized for him. No one had ever seen this guy walk, or even stand up for that matter. But he was determined. The Manhattan Temple baptistry isn't quite wheelchair accessible. It has staircases that lead up to it, so 5 men assisted him up the staircase. His foot started bleeding from so much movement! But he was so happy he was doing it! It took a while and a lot of effort for him to get up the staircase, and even more effort for them to get him down the stairs into the baptismal font. It looked SO painful hahah. When he finally made it into the font, everything stopped for a second. The spirit was SO strong. We were all kind of in awe at what had just happened. I don't know if anyone there will ever think of baptisms for the dead the same after seeing the trek and pain this man went through to get in the water. The priesthood holder raised his hand, but couldn't talk because he was crying. I was crying, most of us were crying! The best part of all was seeing one of the Elders pull him down under the water and come back up with the biggest smile on his face. He stayed in the water to do 5 more baptisms.
I guess it just reminded me how special and sacred baptisms for the dead really are. Sometimes they become a rote, repeated thing, as does family history, but this experience reminded me that it is worth any sacrifice to make covenants with God for our brothers and sisters. To do something for them that they cannot do for themselves is an amazing opportunity! I love the temple :) I've been lucky to go every week for the past 3 weeks!
Really, there's nothing else I want to write about.... It's starting to get huuuumiiid here. Here we go, summer! Fun fact about Long Island, there's ice cream trucks EVERYWHERE. I swear you can't go 5 minutes without hearing one.
Ok, everyone have a splendid week! The church is true. I know it! I still love being a missionary. I will ALWAYS love it. Yes, it's exhausting, and sometimes frustrating, but it's so worth it.
Oh wait. I have one more thing to tell you. The METS game last pray was WONDERFUL. I had theee time of my life. All of my favorite missionaries were there, AND some of my favorite friends from the Union Square (ASL) branch had seats by the missionaries! I was on cloud 9! There wasn't even time to watch the game, too many wonderful people to socialize with! We also ate some good, overpriced food. Oh, and C W, from the ASL branch gave me his mets hat! I almost cried it meant so much.
Kkkkkkk bye guys!
-Sister Layton
1. President & Sister Calderwood.
2. METS game
3. Temple with my gurl :)
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