Another week, another dollar (or three baptisms)

Nikki and Savannah baptism... Merry christmas from Toledo!

Hey Fam,

Its been a minute (week) !

Q:  Did you know that the Catholics have started doing Baptisms for the Dead?
A: They installed a sprinkler system in their cemetery. 

Hmm.. maybe I should just retire from the whole joke business...

Well anyways, here is a Update from out here in Toledo!

Longhui and Angelina: Longhui got baptized!! So here is the story of how it all happened... Last Monday night we called and asked if their mom had said anything yet or if they had talked about a specific date yet.  He told us no, he was a little bit nervous to talk to her about it, to say the least. So we told him that we would be there on Wednesday to visit them and if he could talk to her before then it would be nice, or that we could talk with all 3 of them when we came whatever worked best. So needless to say our time was short because she was only here for one week. We couldn’t make any plans for the baptism for when it could happen until she had said yes  and we were booked for the rest for the rest of the week. So it was going to be a stretch to say the least. So we got there on Wednesday and realized that when they said she spoke a little bit of English they really meant a little bit of English haha. So we talked to Longhui and he talked with his mom in Mandarin so we had no idea what was going on for the next 10 minutes but finally they both came and sat down and their mom said "Saturday is good" and then Longhui told us how she had said yes and would like to do it Saturday, the day before she left.  So we said okay and we set up a time for it with them and got to planning the baptism. By a miracle we didn’t forget anything and it all went smoothly and we were able to coordinate it with both our ward and the singles branch and had support from both. Elder Cortez baptized him and I confirmed him right after because he was going to be gone the next day dropping his mom off at the airport. During the baptism at the middle part when they were changing, we figured out how to play finding faith in Christ in mandarin so that their mom could feel a little more involved. She loved the service and it seemed like she had a good time and she told Angelina later that she would make a decision about her being baptized in a month and Angleina sounded pretty hopeful about it. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to work with them.. It has been a really cool experience to watch them come from no religous background to praying and reading everyday to being baptized! 

Nikki and Savannah: They got Baptized!! So leading up to the baptism we met with them a few times this week just to make sure that they were ready and even though we have only known them for about a month, they and their family have taken us right in and we have all become pretty good friends and they love having us over... I love being able to be a part of these people’s lives and being a tool in God’s hands to help change people’s lives and watch them come unto Christ, whether it takes a long time or a short time. The other awesome part about the baptism was that most of the immediate and extended family came and they haven’t all been at church together in about 15 years. Shannon (the mother of Jonathan Bozman) texted us later that night and told us thank you for all the hard work we have put in and for helping the whole family come back together and be able to get started back on the right track again after such a long time. It’s moments like that when you can look back and see that you have been able to make a difference that makes it all worth it. Plus Nikki Savannah, Elder Cortez and I got some classic pre baptismal pics and have a nickname of the Mormon mafia hahah. They are pretty funny. The other cool part about it all was too see how as they kept the commitments that we left with them that their faith grew a lot in such a short time.... God prepares those who are ready. I definitely have a testimony of that. 

Mike, Lisa, Kenji: Sadly we were not able to go to the temple with them due to weather complications.  :(   But another cool thing happened this week with them. Mike right now is in the middle of finding jobs and so they do not have a lot of money, barely enough to get by let alone for Christmas. Despite all of that last week Lisa shared about how she wants to do what God has asked and put her faith in him and his promises by paying her tithing even though she knew they would not have enough for Christmas. Well I was thinking about how we could help them and praying about it and yesterday a member of the ward gave all four missionaries in the ward 50 dollar gift cards to a store. I knew as soon as I got it that it was an answer to my prayer about how we can help them out.  Elder Cortez looked at me right after that and said "We don’t need these we already have enough... we should give them Mike and Lisa" and then one of the other Elders looked at us and said I don’t need mine either, you can take it and give it to them. So that is exactly what we did. We dropped them off in little baggies and about 20 minutes later we received a text from Lisa saying how grateful she was and talked about how God always knows exactly what we all need and some other stuff and at that moment I Felt truly happy with everything that was going on around me because I had turned out ward and not inward with out even thinking about it when I saw the cards. I realized just how much I have changed in the last year and how before I would have totally thought about all the things I could get with one of those cards. God really is a God of miracles and he always keeps his promises. The other cool part about it all is that even before Lisa had shared that story about the tithing the ward had chosen them to be recipients of the giving tree and will be delivering the stuff this week. God is good, I can promise all of you that you will never be sad while you are serving others. Even though Christ did not live an easy life and if you were to look at it from the outside and from a worldly view his life was hard and he shouldn’t have been happy. But he always turned outward and served others and I truly believe that he was the happiest man to ever lived because he was always in the service of others. 

Well that is all from this week!  I am afraid that my time with Elder Cortez is coming to a close and that I will be leaving this area here pretty soon. I am pretty sad about that because he is such a great companion and we have become really good friends. I am also sad to leave all of the recent converts and investigators here that I have worked with. Plus, the ward is awesome and have been so good and even though it never got above 15 degrees this week and we had to bike for half the week. I loved every minute of it. 

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Oh and Elder Cortez and I went to Kirtland on Thursday with a guy named John Bolster who is a leader from the RLDS church but has become really good friends with us. He is like our grandpa and gives us food and whatever we need even though we don’t ask for it. He is such a great guy, but it was a really cool trip and it was pretty interesting to get to talk about the slight differences in the two churches. Plus, it is always super fun to go to Kirtland :)) 

Well it was a great week! 

Elder Cortez and I made Christmas cards so if you would like one and we haven’t run out then send me an email with your address! 

Merry Christmas!

Love you all! 

Elder Frandsen

Nikki and Savannah

Longhui