Email from Elder Lofthouse 4/7/14 First Family Baptism!

Hello everyone!

The Q family got baptized yesterday! And it was the least stressful baptism I've had my entire mission. Everything just went so smoothly. The ward was excited, they were excited, and the Spirit was a wonderful one. What a great way to end the weekend!  And they each wanted different people to baptize them.  I baptized I, Brother Chavez baptized M, Elder Boswell baptized O, and Elder Villanueva baptized O2.  The men's dressing room was packed!

General conference was great. I wrote four specific questions before the conference started and it was amazing how often I received direct answers to those questions throughout the conference. President Uchtdorf's talk in the Priesthood session seemed to be just for me. My motives throughout my life have generally been fairly selfish. The theme for conference for me seemed to be, "Become a disciple of Jesus Christs by loving God with all your heart, might, mind and strength, and loving your fellowmen as yourself."

Our next baptismal prospect is R. C. He accepted a date for this Saturday, but depending on how this week goes we may push it back a week or two. He needs to quit smoking (but shouldn't have too much trouble with that), and we want to talk to the bishop to see if he would like him to get married before he gets baptized. His ex-wife is a member and the reason that he's investigating, but they aren't living together. However, we want to counsel with the bishop to see what he thinks the order of things should be. Rafael is very receptive and very desirous to change his life. He lives with his parents and his sister. His brother-in-law is catholic and a very difficult man. We're going to start teaching Rafael across the street in his aunt's house, because his brother-in-law really doesn't like us coming over. We had a little discussion with him last night which was really frustrating for me. I thought we were supposed to be able to confound our enemies, but I sure wasn't doing any confounding. I suppose before I can do that I have to be "humble and full of love."

I love being a missionary.  I love General Conference.  I love personal revelation.  I love repentance.  I love Jesus Christ!  Aren't we so blessed?  We can change!  We can overcome our struggles, weaknesses, and trials.  We can become more than who we are.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Lofthouse