Baptism in the ocean!

Nate, Jair, Elder Gooch and Ima

I already sent the pictures of our baptism in the ocean, so I guess I better write a little about it. So our baptism this week, the ocean one, was Jair. And if you have been keeping up on my weekly things, you probably have heard me complain about him in just about every single letter. Jair was the biggest fubecka in the history of fubeckas. We worked with this guy for my first twelve weeks, like three months. This guy had been to church one time before last week, and that was when we found him drunk as a skunk and we drug him to church. This guy didn’t go to his own daughters baptism. And he had a super drinking problem. Anyway, last week he decided to go to church, and it was pretty sweet. Then is was like the biggest change in the history of anything. God just came into his life. I went and visited him with a member, just us two. And he told me that one day he looked in the mirror and was like "Jair, your 28, you have three kids, you don’t have a job, what are you doing with your life"? It was so incredible. So he stopped drinking, smoking, and everything. Then the day leading up to his interview he did a 24 hour fast to get ready for his interview. Then we asked him why he was fasting, and he said that he wanted to find a job, so he could pay tithing. This guy wouldn’t go to his own daughters baptism, and now he's wanting to pay tithing?! It was incredible, coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. And when I visited him, I was with a recent covert Kubi, who was baptized in the ocean. And Kubi put the idea into his mind to get baptized in the ocean. So he did. And we were looking for a spot, then a member said he knew a sweet spot.

So we show up to the beach, and start walking down these steps. And its absolutely gorgeous, like unreal how pretty it is. And I’m walking down these steps, and I realize I’m walking exactly where they filmed the Cape Verde Video. Then we got down, and took pics and stuff, and I was one of the witnesses with Elder Gooch. So we get in the water, and Ima, an awesome member, does the baptism while we witness. And it took forever to do it because the waves were so big. So we were all covered in water, even before he was baptized. It was so much fun being in the ocean:) Anyway, he got the baptism on the second try, and it was incredible. Easily one of the best feelings in my life.

I wont lie, I feel like I kinda went through a lot of crap my first transfer. But I can't explain the feeling I got when we were in the water with him. Like I kinda just saw the big picture of life and things. And he changed his life, and we helped him do it. Like, idk, words cant really describe how it felt. Every time I think about it, it just gets me. Like, Jair was baptized in the ocean. I wouldn’t trade my first transfer for anything in the world. And watching him get baptized made everything worth it. It was just a reminder that everything is true.

(Sorry my grammar and what not was awful up to this point. I was just getting excited and typing things really fast.)

Wilkar (the 18 year old that plays basketball)

But yeah, we had Jair, Junior, and Wilkar as our baptisms for the week. Junior is 11, his entire family is members, he just lived with his grandma, who is also a member. So he was sweet. And Wilkar is 18, plays basketball, and it just a boss. We've been working with him for a couple weeks, probably a little over a month. It was super good to see him get in that font as well.

Junior

We also had the Christmas Party on Tuesday. That was super fun. We wore our light up Santa hats, sang carols, ate food, and had an amazing talk by President Oliviera. It was incredible, he talked on giving, not getting. It was amazing. He will be an apostle pretty soon here. It was so much fun. I hung out with Elder Christensen the whole time, it was great! He will go home and be a major league baseball pitcher. Look him up!  He also slept over at our house, and we stayed up all night and talked baseball. It was incredible, he is the coolest guy. Elder Rice stayed the night too, he's a boss.  Those two are the only and first missionaries ever on the island of Maio, how cool is that. I talked to them, they do everything at church. Like EVERYTHING.

Also, we didn’t have water for three days this week, that was a little tough, but it's happened enough we deal with it. I’ve gotta go, I love all you guys, Merry Christmas, Please keep writing!

Com Muito Amor, Elder Jarvis