September 27, 2010.

Happy Conference Week!

I am so excited for General Conference coming up this week. Hearing the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and his apostles is one of my greatest joys and I look forward to it all year. It was so wonderful to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday night (not to mention the yummy soup dinner we had with the Relief Society bofore the broadcast :D). I love how the prophet spoke about charity and not judging others. I look forward to printing off his talk and reading it again.

This week was great! Sister Evanson and I were very busy with District Meeting on Friday, the baptism on Saturday, the Relief Society Broadcast, and all of the dinner appointments we had (yum!). We found a new investigator named Faith (how fitting!) and will teach her for the second time tonight. Now for the baptism...

Saturday was a very adventurous day. Sister Evanson and I woke up, exercised, and got ready for the day. The morning was already off at a bad start, but it wasn't horrible because I prayed a lot. Sister Evanson spilled milk (milk comes in bags here...weird!) all over my skirt (which is really her skirt), but I just laughed. I remember Erica's baptism two years ago and how everything went wrong that day. Okay, so after we were all ready to go, we headed to the church to meet Jenn and the Zone Leaders because her interview was at 10:00 am. Sister Evanson and I arrived at the church a few minutes early and the fire alarm was going off. I called Sister Jenner to ask what I should do or how to turn the alarm off because as far as we could see, there was no fire. She said to call the fire department. I dialed 9-11 and told the fire department what was going on. Pretty soon the church parking lot was full of three huge fire trucks and a smaller truck. Three firemen came walking up to the church with all of their gear on (I was laughing really hard at this point). We opened every door of the church and tried to find a key to the panel that we could open to reset the alarm. The bishop was out of town and he had the key. So we eventually just ripped the wooden frame off the wall around the panel, unscrewed it, and reset the alarm. The best part about all of this is that I asked if we could get a picture with the firemen HAHA, I know...I would. They are really nice and laughed with us.

I had forgotten how long the font took to fill up, so we just started filling it at 11:30 am (after Elder Staker, one of our zone leaders, killed all of the spiders in it!). Sister Evanson and I brought some soup and cooked it in the church kitchen. While we were eating, I was rambling on about who knows what when mid-sentence, I gasped and said "the font is still filling!" It was only 12:30 pm, but we rushed into the font room and found that it was almost overflowing!!!! I got my camera and took a picture because we were laughing so hard. Sister Evanson then proceeded to pull up her skirt and go a few steps into the water. She pulled the chain to unplug the drain and the chain BROKE! Now we were stuck with a completely full font and no way to drain some of the water. I told Sister Evanson to just swim in an unplug it, but we figured there was another way ;D. I went into the janitor's closet and got out a broom. I unscrewed the broom part and we used the stick to unplug the drain.
Even through all of the adventures of the morning, the baptism was wonderful. Jenn laughed because she had to go under the water twice (the first time her elbow poked up). She was so happy. She was glowing. It was so incredible to see her in the water with her boyfriend Jonan, who goes on his mission in November to Peru, engaging in this sacred ordinance that will change her eternal life. She is a beautiful daughter of God and I learned so much from her. She was confirmed a member of the Church and received the Holy Ghost yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. I will see her in two weeks for Canadian Thanksgiving, so I didn't have to say my official goodbye.

This is a great work. It is the Lord's work. I am so grateful to be a part of it. Continue to find joy in your journey and to love and serve others. Thank you for your examples and your love. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Barton :)