Dear family and friends,
This week has been wonderful. We ended our discussions with the Baptist preacher and there are no hard feelings. He told us that we are terrible sinners... BUT he doesn't believe that we are going to hell. Which was pretty nice of him. I'm glad that we aren't meeting with him, but at the same time I'm not. I enjoyed discussing the Bible and Religion with him, but I always had the underlying feeling that we were wasting our time trying to teach him. I look back and I can see that he will probably never convert. He's a nice guy, but he was too invested in trying to prove the Book of Mormon wrong. I pray that our short time with him has been enlightening, and that he won't be so judgmental with other Mormons he meets.
On a more serious topic, we had a Baptism last Saturday! It was pretty awesome. I had told the Elders, that were filling the font, to fill it up to 3 feet. I got there and the water looked a little low. So I told them to fill it up more. When I came back to get in the font to baptize Kylee, the water was barely above my knees! I didn't mind, cuz it meant that was less clothes I had to change. All in all, it was a great day. Kylee was happy, her family was happy, and we got to hang out in West Plains for part of the day.
Here's a story that my companion forced me to share. I really don't want to tell this story, I really think what happens in Mountain View should stay in Mountain View, but my companion says it's pretty funny... but I don't think it is.
I was taking out the trash one morning, and I saw a squirrel sitting on the fence that surrounded the dumpster. I ran towards the fence, waving my arms and making chattering noises. The squirrel jumped off the fence and ran up a nearby tree. I ran around behind the tree where the squirrel couldn't see me, and then jumped out when it started climbing back down. The squirrel scurried back up the tree and chattered/yelled at me from the branch it was sitting on. It started scurrying down the tree and then moved behind the tree where I couldn't see it.
I reached around the tree, trying to scare it back up the tree, and my hand closed on the squirrel! The squirrel made a weird screech and I dropped it. It hit the ground and ran behind the house.
I walked back to the front door and happened to glance at our neighbors window. Our neighbor was just sitting at the window watching me! I was so embarrassed(I left out a lot arm waving and weird noises, so this was super awkward for me...)! I couldn't think of anything to do except laugh. I could feel my neighbor's stare all the way to the front door. I feel so great! Our neighbor thinks I'm crazy! Well, I am Mormon after all... :P
Love Ya'll!
Have a fantastic week!
~Elder Hegsted