Elder Drew Tekulve: Week 65 - Jacques' Baptism, Conferences, Meetings, Planning, Stuff, etc.

Interesting Fact 65 # So there is a belief/custom not to smile in pictures here. To smile means you are not wise, wise means you are respected. Therefore, you do not smile. That's why people think I am so strange.

Jacques got baptized!!!!!!! It took a lot of work, but it was awesome. The week leading to his baptism, I saw such a change in him, which I was so proud of. Nothing mattered to him. He wanted more than ANYTHING to be baptized. That is a true sign of conversion. That's a true sign of repentance. The service went very well. We had only members participate in the service, and had members baptize and confirm. That's how it should work. Brother Kirrill Ananich baptized Jacques, who played an awesome role in helping him find his own conversion through prayer. His confirmation was kind of stressful in the beginning. I told him we would meet him at the branch building 10 minutes before, but he understood the metro. So he raced on over to the branch and sat down just before the opening prayer. If he had been a minute late, we would have had to postpone the confirmation until next Sunday. But Yegor Sotnikov, a new member, and a recently ordained melchezideck priesthood holder, confirmed and we joined in. It was wonderful and the Spirit was so intense when he received it. That day he then received the Aaronic Priesthood. It was one of the best days on my mission.

We had a guest in the city this weekend, an Elder C. Scott Grow from the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. We had yet another mission tour. The second one in 2 months. So we had a special Zone Leader meeting on Saturday, of which we had to leave early for Jacques' baptism. Oh yeah. He presided at his baptism too. It's not everyday that a General Authority presides at a convert baptism, but he did for Jacques'. It was way awesome to have him there. It really strengthened Jacques' testimony about the truthfulness of the church. On Monday and Tuesday, we had 2 Mission Conferences with him as well that we had been planning and organizing all last week. I learned so much on how I can improve my effectiveness as a missionary. There is so much I can do with planning, setting goals, working with members, and so many things I can do to improve. I learned an incredibly amount. Needless to say, all that information wore me completely out on Monday. I have never been so drained of energy before just from sitting and listening. But it was great. Elder Grow really has been called by a prophet to help lead this Church.

This last week was probably one of the best weeks on my mission. There was just so much going on. We had a lot of new investigators, old investigators coming to us to meet, an exchange with the zone leaders, a devotional with Elder Grow, to which our investigators came, had awesome finding experiences by finding prepared people, fulfilling our standards of excellence, and just opening our mouths and talking to people. I absolutely love being a missionary. It's kind of funny looking back how I was coming into the field. It's more than a year here in Russia, but yet it feels like a few weeks. But I have learned so much, and I am continuing to grow and learn.

Well time for pictures!

1 - Jacques before his baptism with Brother Kirrill