Week 12 - 1st Baptism!

¡Buenos Días!

It has been been a great week. First off some good facts and what not from Medellin. We still walk a ton every day and its the best thing ever. Elder Wilson and I are going to have some sweet tans from walking everywhere. We take taxis every now and then and the taxi rides are super crazy and super fun. Its kind of like a ride from Disneyland. So I don't have to worry about not going there for two years. And then sometimes we take buses and they go through the speed bumps really fast and you catch some air in the bus, so its exactly like tower of terror. So I am really good on the whole theme park thing. The food is still good, we got some more rice and some more beans, and some plantain. Its super good. I really love plantain now. But yeah the foods great as usual. I also bought a guitar, a guitar case, capo and straps for only 42 dollars! It's so nice to be able to play and sing again.

Our shopping spree!

My new guitar!

The view from our apartment.

Okay the really really good stuff now. We had a baptism this week! It was super awesome. His name is Gabriel Rangel Ordoñes and he is 61 years old. A long time ago we he received a book of Mormon when he was like 26 years old. We came when he was 61 years old and he had another chance. To me, this shows that god never forgets his children and he loves all of them enough to send the missionaries twice to a man in order for him to be baptized and become a member of the church. It is amazing how humble Gabriel is and how much he loves the church in just 5 weeks. We met him, taught him, set a baptismal date with him and then just had the baptism last Saturday. In 5 weeks he grew a testimony and learned to love this church. He did have one hiccup with the lessons and what not. He drank coffee. So we taught him and told him the importance of not drinking coffee. One day he made a cup of coffee and put it on his television to cool down. He went away and came back and when he went to go grab it it flew off the TV and spilled all over his bed and white sheets. He has no idea how this happened and then he realized that he wasn't supposed to drink it. Gabriel has now stopped drinking coffee for about 20 days and it will have been the last time he drank it for the rest of his life. He knows the importance of obedience to the commandments. 

Baptism Pics

Such a good day.

Anyways we showed up on Saturday to the chapel and invited a ton of people to come and we even bought some brownies and cookies for it. We put a table up and made it like a nice american baptism and everything turned out so good. I was able to baptize Gabriel which was my first baptism ever! In Spanish. I was super nervous and thought I was going to mess up. But I made it through the whole prayer and said amen and baptized him and it was an awesome moment! He got out of the water and was so happy. Elder Wilson and I were so happy as well. It was just awesome! The next day he came to church and Elder Wilson confirmed him into the church. Gabriel Rangel Ordoñes is now an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. And his testimony will bless the lives of people he talks to. He is an amazing man and has taught me so much from our lessons. I love this work and love all the people we are able to teach. 

A place in Campo Valdez Colombia

Us and the rain!

Well, other than that its been a great week. The best part of this week was being able to baptize and confirm Gabriel. We had about 11 new investigators this week and we are very excited to be teaching all of them. We plan to set about 7 baptismal dates this week if we can and keep teaching as many people as we can as well. 

This has been my report from Prado 1! Everything is all well here. All is well, all is well. Love you all and all the support I get from everyone. 

Thank you all! 

-Elder Goudie 

Pics from Monrique during an exchange.

I couldn't remember the word for Exchange in English and just had to ask!