Elder Caiden Brown New York New York North Mission: A Baptism and a change!

I'm sorry, I say this every time I write home, and I'm sure you're getting tired of me saying this, but I love my mission! Oh my goodness, there was just so many times this past week where I thought to myself that we are so blessed to be able to serve the Lord 100 percent of our time! So, so blessed!

The Baptism this weekend went amazing! She was so nervous and it was hilarious! It was so tender when she stood up to give her testimony after her baptism. She explained how hard it was for her to get to that point and be baptized and it was such a spiritual experience. She talked for about an hour, haha! So I can't really go into everything she said, but it was so cool to hear her explain everything in detail about her getting to her baptism. She had a lot of opposition from friends and had bailed on 2 baptismal dates before this one just because things were too hard on her, but she explained that one night after we had a lesson with her when we gave her a priesthood blessing that she felt the need to press forward and to take the necessary step and be baptized. Being able to teach Noemi has changed my perspective on how people can turn their lives around, but more importantly how when we seek the guidance and help from the Lord we can endure hard things. Before something great is about to happen, we will always pass through trails. That's something I have learned from President Smith, and how true was that with Noemi! She is so amazing! Her sons were able to come to the Baptism and feel the Spirit as well! We pray and are hoping that they too take the step and are baptized! The members threw a massive party after the Baptism with way too much food!! Haha, I really enjoyed it! :)

Noemi's baptism. What an awesome day!

So, we have this less active lady in our area that hasn't been the nicest to us. We have always tried to visit with her and she will visit with us, but she has never been one to open up and tell us all about her life. Well, we hadn't visited her in a while and we felt the need to go over. We stopped by and she had just recently had surgery on her mouth. She couldn't talk a lot because of the surgery, but with the voice she had she really opened up about her story of coming into the church and why she stopped. We gained a really good relationship with her and now she is our little Abuelita(Grandma)!! The people here are amazing!

A lot of the time this week was spent planning and preparing Noemi for baptism, but it was such a good and rewarding week! Weeks like this make the Lord's mission LEGENDARY!

Love you all so much!

Con amor, Elder Brown