Saturday we had three baptisms in one day. Each person had their own special testimony of Jesus Christ. Gunars was the oldest of the three, and he had such a peaceful and joyful expression on his face, you could tell this was a special day for him.
Gunars reminds us of Elder Davis's dad who passed away shortly before our mission.
The next baptism was of Santa...a 9 year old girl who had steadfastly refused to be baptized at 8 years of age when most Latter-day Saint children get baptized. With the help of a loving branch president and two faithful sister missionaries, she finally felt she was ready! Sister Nelson and Sister Gallacher taught her the pre-baptism lessons.
And the third person about to be baptized, was our special, red-head YSA, Elina. She has been attending both institute and FHE and has the sweetest personality. It was nice that her mom (behind her) came to give support to her daughter on her special day. We don't often see family members of our new converts come to baptisms.
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As our three in white got ready, Sister Davis snapped a photo of (L-R): Julia (an investigator), Iveta (wants to get baptized in Dec.), Elina and Diana (new converts). Pres. Kovalevskiys (Latvia's District President) is in the back with his wife Tatiana and Sergei in the stripped shirt. Pres. Kovalevskiys was asked by Gunars to perform his baptism.
Sweet and single...
A Latter-day Saint baptismal service is actually quite simple....as most of our church ordinances are. We sing a hymn, have a prayer, someone gives a talk on the importance of baptism, we walk to the baptismal font (hopefully, full of warm water), and watch while someone with priesthood authority says the baptismal prayer and immerses the new member in the water.
Elder Hansen and Elder Grant with a man who wanted to see what a Mormon baptism was like.
Everyone wants to get their picture taken with the newest members!
Santa has visited Sister Davis in her apartment before with her mother Zaiga. Santa is too young to know much English so we played charades to understand each other. Santa said to her mother in Latvian, "Masa Davis is very short...like a child." And in this picture, with us side by side, we find she isn't too far off.
President Kovalevskiys is always happy to get another new member into his District. The church in Latvia is small but membership is growing. The men will strengthen each other as they perform their priesthood duties of building testimonies, making families self reliant, missionary and family history work; all are done under the direction of local leaders.
Friends, Krista and Agneta both are learning a little about our church.
Agneta (on the right) is 18 years old, has been a christian for 3 years, and has been living on her own since she was 16. She has a personality that reminds Sister Davis of herself when she was younger. She is independent, feisty and has strong opinions that she is not afraid to share. She is a delight to us.
Young and old, all sizes and shapes, people with troubles and those who are content, all are welcome into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Baptism is the gateway to eternal life.
We would like to share a story that is dear to Elder Davis's heart. As many of you know, Elder Davis was a big fan of Mitt Romney in his bid for president of the United States.
Elder Davis was a little depressed after the election and wondered what was the purpose of it all, in the Lord's plan for His church?We may never know the complete answer, but we do know the Mormon church got a lot of press coverage because of Mitt's religious beliefs.
Well, one of our missionaries in Estonia shared this story. About a month ago, on a Sunday, a man and woman showed up at the small branch in Tartu, and the missionary didn't recognize them. He noticed the man and woman were both well dressed. The missionary assumed they were members of the church visiting from out of town. He welcomed them to church....and he noticed they hesitated about going into the chapel.
The missionary asked them, "Is this your first time here?" And they answered in the affirmative. He asked if they would like a tour of the church building...and they said, "yes".
While showing this couple around, he found out that they had watched Mitt Romney in his presidential campaign and were very impressed by him and his wife Ann. They were especially impressed with his family values. The went online to LDS.org and learned a little about his religion. They also looked online to find if their was a church building in Tartu...found out the times of the meetings and looked at pictures to see what "Mormons" wear to church. And they came to church and stayed for the three hours of meetings.
The next week the couple showed up again...this time the man was wearing a brand new suit. He had seen that most of our male members wear suits to church and he felt a sport coat wasn't sufficient, so he bought himself a new suit to come to church in.
Now, what you wear to church isn't as important as the spiritual feelings you get when you come to church but this couple showed they were willing to "go the extra mile" when learning about our religion. They came with a willingness to be obedient and with an open heart and mind.
So, we have one small example of how Mitt Romney and his beliefs has affected people in the Baltic area. We will keep you posted on the "rest of this story" as it develops.
