Baptism this Saturday!

Hi Everyone!
 
We're having a baptism on Saturday!!! I'm really really excited, it's Isauro (ee-sow-ro, with the "r" being soft like a "d"), who we've been working with for several months and has finally quit smoking, been taught all the lessons, and prepared physically and spiritually for this amazing step in his life!

It's going to be a crazy week leading up to the baptism, as always there's a bunch of paperwork, preparing, teaching and interviewing, but we're mostly organized and I'm getting more comfortable with the process.

We're planning daily contact with him up till the actual baptism, these days leading up are always full of opposition and struggle, but with some effort and care there shouldn't be any problems!

Baptizing people feels so great, as a missionary it's really one of the highlights of everything you do and makes up for the long days of tracting, visits, and activities we do as missionaries, the drudgery part of the work. But a really good baptism puts you on an incredible level spiritually, and helps you get the fire in your bones again and really work hard for these people to give them the Gospel!
 
Yesterday morning we woke up and it was snowing pretty hard, there was already 5-6 inches on the ground and the streets were slick, but we still had to drive in the low-visibility and slippery conditions for 15 miles to get to our church building, because we couldn't find a ride with members. It was a crazy experience, it felt like one of those racing video games where you're sliding and drifting all over the place, except with real cars and people and higher stakes! (It's like people that cross the middle of busy streets, who play Ultimate Frogger with 1 life and no repeats!)

Luckily my companion grew up in Utah and is very familiar with driving in the snow, so he coached me through it and I learned a lot of things that will keep me out of ditches for many years to come! Sometimes the Lord uses a mission to teach you things you never would have thought of, who knows why He's preparing me in that way but if nothing else it was a cool trip!

At one point we were going up a hill and the car in front of us got stuck on a slick part, and was spinning it's wheels, and a couple cars stopped to help and caused a big jam. We ended up stopped for so long that when we started again our car couldn't get traction (btw, Mazda3's were not built for snow driving), and in the nick of time someone just ran up and pushed our car till we got our footing, right before we started to slide!
 
Me and my companion have started running in the mornings, we found 2 pairs of spandex base-layer thermals rummaging through the stuff old missionaries have left in the apartment, and so we can actually go out into the cold and have some good runs! This apartment is nice too because it has some weights and a bench, so we're working out and getting in shape! It feels good, and helps me be more alert and capable during the day.
 
Things are going great here in the ward and area, I'm really glad to be a missionary and can testify that this is the Lord's work! I love serving the people here and love the chance to represent the Savior and teach His Gospel. The Church is true, and we really are engaged in a "marvelous work and a wonder". I hope all of you are well this winter, have a great week!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis