10 Seconds

Maddy's Baptism!

Maddy's Angel

Squad!

I'm just going to jump right into the details because what an awesome week it has been! First huge miracle is my girl Maddison! Maddy's dad, Nick, was baptized back in July and the family became reactivated in the church. Maddy though, being 8, did not get baptized. She has this crazy fear of water and especially going underwater... so put two and two together and that makes getting her baptized a very, very tough challenge. She wanted to but could just never get past her fear of the water and has been in the font all ready to go but has backed out last second. Every monday, we've had dinner with Maddy and the fam. We always try to bring something up having to do with baptism, but the result is Maddy slumping into the couch and putting her hands to her face. So sad. It was breaking my heart to see it. This past monday, we just sent it. We shared all of our stories when we were baptized, trying to help Maddy get the courage to decide to go through with it. We found out that along with her fear of water, having a lot of people there watching her did not help at all. So we told her, "what if all who was there was your family, us, and a member of the bishopric? That's all you really need." She started thinking about it and then I threw out the greatest quote ever and I told her, "Maddy, sometimes all you need is just 10 seconds of insane courage." The Spirit went to work on this cute little girl and she decided right then and there to get baptized that week! Why wait right? On Thursday night, with tears right from the start because of how nervous she was, Maddy had 10 seconds of insane courage and walked into the font with her dad and was baptized!! It was maybe the most tender moment I have seen on my mission. She jumped into her dad's arms after she came out of the water and both of them just embraced. Right after, I was able to confirm Maddy and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was mighty strong. There has only been few moments on the mission where tears have been almost shed. One, eating that devilish Carolina Reaper and the other, sitting in rooms just filled with cigarette smoke... thanks Iowa. But the top of that list was seeing my girl Maddy face her fears, take the plunge, and seeing the joy and relief on her face afterwards. So worth it.

If that's not enough, Jose and Susy are maybe the most solid individuals I have ever taught. Right up there with Kelly and Emily. We had a church tour with them on Tuesday and Susy legit asked us, what is the process of being baptized and how can we do it? We handed her the baptismal interview questions and they both basically realized that they are pretty much ready. Later in the week, we met with them again. They started saying how baptism was the end goal and we stopped them right there and told them that baptism is mine and Elder Matthews end goal for them. But their real end goal is getting sealed together in the temple. We explained temples to them and they just loved it all. They are so so soooooo down. Eternal families for the 'W'. Jose is in the process of getting work off on Sunday's or adjusting his work schedule to open up the 2 hours for church, but meanwhile they are both reading in the BoM every day and are almost done with 2 Nephi. Keep in mind that, one, they got their books less than 2 weeks ago. And two, they got through Isaiah. If that's not a miracle, I dont know what is.

Things are solid here on the South Side. I would bore you all to death if I got into it all. But loving life and loving Des Moines. The work is true.

S/O TO PVD. GO FREAKING UTES. GO FREAKING LEOPARDS. CATCH MY GUY WITH ICE IN HIS VEINS. YAAAAAAAAA.

HARD IS GOOD. Just ask Maddy ;)

Elder Christensen

Get you a man that can cook! 

M Dawg is my fav!