Another Baptism!!

Elder Booth was able to participate in another wonderful baptism. This time he was able to perform the baptism and had a great experience.

Here is the one getting baptized:

His name is Jonald Belanda. (He's the third one over from the right, on the back row.
The little girl in front is from the other area in the ward).

Here are some of the other members of the ward and the families.

This is the letter Elder Booth sent right after the baptism. He talks about it and explains the details of the event:

Date: April 26, 2009 8:27:10 PM PDT
Subject: Got a dunk again

Hey Everybody! I'm glad that everybody is still doing well. I am not a fan of getting bad news on P-days, so that is good. Just keep that up. Plus, I hope things like the economy are getting better, even though I doubt it. Oh well, just keep on going, I guess. There really is not anything else we can do.

Everything here is peachy. We get transfer announcements tomorrow, but my source in the mission office told me that I would be transferring. Not only transferring, but going to the smallest island in the mission. It is called Gimeras. There are only four small areas on the island, so Zone Meetings are going to be the same as District Meetings, since it the zone and the district are the same thing. I guess that is not sure though, because they change things a lot in the last second. I will know for sure tomorrow morning. I have already started doing the whole good bye thing, though. We have a ton of dinner appointments this week. Actually, we had one last night. That was cool. It is always fun to eat. My companion wanted to try and beat my last record of three dinner appointments in one night, but I told him I about died that time and beating it would just suck. I still remember the ward missionary with us saying that his worm was even telling him, no, he can't take anymore. I laughed really hard about that one. This is a really good ward and will be hard to leave. I hope I had a good enough impact where they remember me a little. It's always good to be remembered.

This was a very good week. We were able to make up for the last couple of weeks with the teachings. People actually decided to be there when they said they would be. The baptism was amazing. Well, I guess they always are, but I never get sick of them, that is for sure. The program was really good. We had two good speakers and then me, my companion, and two others gave a musical number. We were going to do it in Tagalog, but I forgot to bring my hymn book. I was bummed because I like singing in Tagalog. I miss it from the MTC. Most Filipinos are kind of tone deaf, but I think we sounded alright. Then I got to do the baptism, which is always a treat. It was really cool after the baptism. He walked into the bathroom, put his hands up, and said: "Cool. I'm a member now." He was really excited, which made me pretty darn happy. Then his testimony at the end was very strong. The next day at church was pretty crazy, though. He came like three minutes late so they decided not to do the confirmation. Then after the meeting the bishop said that he would be going to Murcia to do it. That is another area that just has some groups, but is still in our ward. They come to our church every first Sunday. So they made him go to two churches, one being pretty far away. I was pretty bummed because we were not there to watch. Oh, and plus we found out that they gave him the priesthood right after. So I don't know who made that decision, but it is kind of against the rules. Oh well. You just have to support your leaders, right? My comp was freaking out a little bit. That is never fun because he usually tries to take it out on me. It seems like I do quite a bit to not punch him in the face sometimes. I think the mission is just one big anger management class sometimes. Oh well, as long as it is for the Lord.

The rest of my investigators are well. We finally got some to come to church. I was so happy to see them. It is a part member family where the member is their uncle. One is ten and the other is twelve. The ten year old really wants to be baptized, but the 12 year old will be a little harder. They did have a good time at church, though. I love it when the investigator class is full. I am really going to miss the investigators here and I hope I will be able to check up on them and find out what happens to them all. I hope my comp will continue the work there for them all.

I did have one really funny experience. We were on our way to an investigators class when this old guy yelled good afternoon to us. So of course we went over to talk to him. He seemed really nice at first. Then my companion asked if he had talked to the missionaries before. He said that he had. Then my companion made the mistake of asking him how that went. This is when he started to freak out on us. He stood up and while looking right at me started shouting that Jesus was the son of God. That was cool and all, but he started saying how He resided in him or something. Just remember, he isn't just saying this, he is pretty much screaming it at me. I had the hardest time in the world keeping a strait face. I about lost it so many times. I'm pretty sure I at least had a smirk on my face. So we eventually just walked off and he started shouting after us that we were all friends. So ya, that is my funny experience. I don't know if that is that funny. Maybe it is one of those "you had to be there" things.

Well, that is all I have to say about that. I hope every thing stays good at home. I love you all. Keep up the hard work and remember the church is true.

Love Elder Booth

The place where we eat every Sunday

Elder Booth and his companion, Elder Lucas, eat at the same house every Sunday. They have a great time and the family is very nice. Here is a picture of the family with Elder Booth and his companion, along with some other elders.

Here is Elder Lucas with Angel, the daughter of the family that feeds the elders every Sunday. Yes, those are elders in the background on the computer - one of the reasons Elder Booth couldn't email for a while :(

The next pictures are Elder Booth, Elder Lucas, and one of the family members having fun with the camera...

Elder Booth

Elder Lucas

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Here is a letter from Elder Booth around the same time these pictures were taken.


Date: March 23, 2009 1:17:56 AM PDT
Subject: Maayong Gabi!!

Well, hello everybody. Sorry if this one is just a little bit shorter than the other ones. Today has been a little crazy and really unorganized. I'm loving it. You know how much I love unorganized. Nothing has changed around me. Me nor my companion transferred this time. Oh, and none of the elders transferred that I am living with either, so that is all the same. We were actually the only two companionships in the zone not to change. We got a new district leader. That is about the only thing that changed and affects me. He is pretty cool. Well, he might be a little too cool. He is really fun but does not care about the rules as much as our last district leader. He is a hard worker, though, and still sees fruit from his labor.

All of my investigators have not changed a whole lot. I think the high light of the week though was at church when we had one investigator come to church. It was actually Amy. Ironically, she was the lady that took a picture of me, or maybe it was her sister. Well, I take that back. They both took a picture in the end. She ended up being awesome, though. I about jumped for joy when I saw her walking up the steps. We have been working really really hard in order to get her to come to church. She had a lot of things to overcome in order to come, but she overcame them. The best part is she really had a good time, I think. One of our ward missionaries that we bring with us to visit her every time showed her around and pretty much did not leaver her side. Plus, we found out that the second counselor in the Stake Presidency and the Bishopric are her uncles. They are a really strong family. Her grandma is amazing. So she actually ended up knowing more people than I did at church. I was very happy. I can't wait to ask her about it next time we visit.

The next cool thing that happened with our investigators is John John. This week we taught him about the word of wisdom. He was a riot. When we asked him if we should smoke, he quickly shook his head and said, "No, that will give you bad breath." Well, we couldn't argue with the kid because that is very true. People who smoke do have some pretty bad breath. Things would be so much better if nobody smoked (cough, cough Fred). Anyway, then we asked him about drinking. He said that we should not do that because we would get drunk and become wild. At this point I was thinking he really knew his stuff. I was having a hard time not laughing too hard. Then, lastly, he said we would turn crazy if we do drugs. So I think he knows that lesson pretty well. Just as long as he keeps thinking that. As long as he comes to church the next three weeks, he can be baptized. It might be postponed though, because we want him to be with his brother and sister and they still have to fix a couple of things. We will just have to see how it goes.

Sister Mary Ann, the one going to have a baby, is getting very close to having her baby. Actually, she will probably have had it by the time I write again next week. So they should get married after that, but I just don't know how that will all go. I really hope they get married before the next transfer so I can see it.

I haven't eaten anything too weird this week. I am getting a lot better at cooking, though. I don't know how much it will help me when I get back since I don't have a rice cooker. I might have to buy one of those when I get back. I just hope I can get a good recipe book before I come back (and sorry for forgetting how to spell that right).

The funniest thing to happen to me this week was when we were just walking down the street. Some kids threw me the ball to shoot it. So of course, I just threw it up there, and of course made it. No joke. This was not good enough for them, though. So they threw it again. So I put my bag down and went up for the dunk. The entire back board ended up breaking. Now one side is about a foot lower than the other. I guess I was just lucky it did not come down completely. Surprisingly, they did not get mad. They just got really excited and laughed really hard. I guess it will just take another plank of wood to fix.

Well, I better get going. I love you all. Keep strong and remember what is really important in these trying times.

Elder Booth