Elder Amoni Ka'ili Mission Journey: A Week for Firsts: Baptisms and Thanksgiving!

This week was seriously the best week of my mission! To start I was able to baptize 2 kids from a family we have been working with since I have gotten here. I seriously have grown so close to this family over time I have been here in Mattawa and I can tell you all, I love this family with all my heart. The baptism was this past Saturday and it seriously felt like a dream. Filling up the font early in the morning, to seeing them all dressed in white made it the best day ever. This family has gone through so much with keeping commitments, to not keeping commitments, to setting dates for baptism and then not making them, so seeing them all ready for their baptism was seriously the best feeling ever! I was blessed to have two of the kids pick me to baptize them! Lenin and Roselyn! I love these 2 so much! Lenin reminds me so much of my cousin Vete! So baptizing him was a dream come true! The spirit was so strong during the program and we actually had a lot of people show up, so that was very good to see the support that everyone had for this family! I don't think there is a feeling that can describe the feeling of seeing the people that you have worked with and really got to know enter the waters of baptism. You can really feel the love that heavenly father has for each and everyone of us! As me and my comp have worked with this family we have seen the Holy Ghost really convert them and seeing the atonement working in their life is the best part! After the baptism me and my companion were driving home and we were talking about the baptism. We were saying that baptism is like a trophy when you win a championship: all the studying, all the slammed doors, all the days that suck, waking up early in the morning, not being with your family for 2 years, it's all worth it because of the love and the spirit that you feel as you see a family get closer to their Heavenly Father and really change their life around for the better. It really is a feeling that you can only feel as a missionary!

The next day, Sunday, they were able to receive the Holy Ghost during sacrament! Another awesome experience to be a part of! Funny story about Sacrament meeting: right after the English ward, we walked out of the chapel and and our Branch President of the Spanish branch came up to us and said, "Hey you guys know you guys are on the program, yeah?" Haha we were like, "What the heck no we did not know!" He was like, "Well Elder Carrasco I know you can wing it in Spanish but Elder Kaili go ahead and skip priesthood and write a little talk." I was like bruh are you serious.... haha so you already know I whipped up a bomb talk in Spanish in 40 mins! But yeah after the family that we baptized received the Holy Ghost they all gave their testimonies and man they were all so good! Roselyn gave her testimony right before I had to talk and man her testimony brought me to tears! She talked about the trials and the doubts that she went through as she was thinking about joining the church and now she knew that this was the right decision to be baptized! The spirit was seriously so strong! As I got up to talk (trying to hold the tears back) I started talking about the Garfias Family and how lucky I was to know them and then bang! It was like my farewell part 2... haha the waterworks started just flowing! Man I just couldn't hold it back because of how happy I was for this family! Man it was seriously the best Saturday and Sunday on the mission for sure! I am so happy for the decision they made and I am so grateful that I was blessed to meet them! Families like this that I meet make it certain to me that I am where I am suppose to be at the exact time I need to be here!

Thanksgiving was also bomb! Man we ate so much!!! I seriously feel like I gained 10lbs! So many Tortillas, Quesadillas, Floutas, Salsa, Carne, Pie, Cake and Soda! After we ate with 3 families I seriously couldn't eat anymore, but the food just kept coming. I ate so much I seriously thought I was going to throw up all night haha but it was worth it! Mexican food is just too good not to get 3-5 plates! But yeah first Thanksgiving on the mission was bomb! I expressed what I am thankful for and grateful for on my Facebook posts haha so if you want to see those things look on my Facebook lol!

The work and everything is going really good right now! I am loving being a missionary right now and I love everyone we are teaching! Meeting all these people and hearing their stories really make me think through my life and realize how blessed I am to have the gospel in my life. This gospel can seriously change lives. I have seen it change lives in my mission and it makes me want to share it with everyone and anyone! I love you all and encourage you all to find someone that you can share the gospel with or refer to the missionaries! It's almost December and you know what that means ITS TIME TO #LIGHTTHEWORLD. Hope everyone has a bomb week!

CON AMOR,

Elder Kaili