Wednesday, March 8, 2017

ELDER MATT LEBARON - 3/6 - Drunk running, transfers, and Jackies baptism

What's up,

Today has been a pretty fun pday. We didn't do anything crazy this week for Pday, which was nice, sometimes its just nice to relax. Me and Mitchell hung out at the mall for a little bit. I seriously love going to the mall, there is so much fun stuff there, mainly its just fun to window shop, and see what's happening with the people of west Covina. sometimes its nice to soak in some of those SoCal vibes. 

So transfers were today, its a little sad to see some of the missionaries go that I have come close to, but thats the thing about mission life, its constantly changing, and so you have to always adapt. I kind of like it though, it keeps me on my toes. knowing that everything is so unpredictable can make things fun, I like the chaos. Our district leader left to be a zone leader in East L.A. There has been a lot of tension in the pad, because of some differences of personalities, but the new guy that came in is super cool, and I am really looking forward to this up coming transfer. We are going to have a lot of fun, not too much fun, but just the right amount, haha. I really enjoy being with my companion Elder Mitchell, he's a pretty cool guy, and I think our personalities match really well. He's probably the one Ive gotten along with the easiest.  We had two people leave this transfer in our district, Platt got transferred and sister Ferguson went home to South Jordan UT. we had a lot of fun as a district so its kind of sad to see people go, but I think that we are going to still have a blast. Man I love this area, its the best. Ive really really been starting to enjoy my mission. I have seen so many miracles and blessings in this area, the ward and the Lord have really been providing for us. 

This past week we haven't been able to get in contact with James, one of our baptismal dates. He has been avoiding us, and no matter how many times we call or knock on his door he doesn't answer. A couple of days ago his wife called us and told us that he had gone crazy, and that we needed to hunt him down and find him. So we knocked on his door like 5 times, and then it hit me... I looked at Mitchell and said "he's at the liquor store!" The liquor store is pretty close to his house, and it makes it pretty hard for him to stop drinking. So we went down some of the alley ways connected to the apartments, and there he was! We started walking towards him, he was hanging out with a bunch of his friends, he was obviously wasted. When we got within about 30 feet, he starred and squinted at us through his blood shot eyes, then a look of fear overcame him. He turned and started to walk away. We picked up our pace and shouted after him, "James! Come back!" His drunken walk turned into a drunken jog, with beer in hand he stumbled around the corner, bumping the wall slightly, he spilt some of his beer on the concert. our fast walk turned into a slight jog, as well, but in the helpless state he was in, he was no match for us. We quickly caught up to him, exasperated he gave up and stopped in his tracks. "Fine, fine! You boys caught me, Ive been drinking okay?" He exclaimed as the strong smell of beer filled our nostrils. We talked to him for about an hour trying to help him understand the the atonement is infinite and that it is impossible for him to go beyond it no matter how many times he fell back. The spirit was strong, it was a really cool experience. Im not sure how much he picked up on considering how drunk he was, but I will definitely remember that the rest of my life... man missions are wild.

On Sunday we had a Baptism or Jackie, she is the Golden investigator. She is the type of investigator that missionaries work all their mission to be able to meet, to teach, and to baptize. It has been so incredible to be able to teach her, the spirit has confirmed so many times to me while we have taught her the 5 lessons. I feel like my testimony has gotten a lot stronger through some experiences me and my companion have had with her. She is such an amazing girl, and I have been so blessed to be one of the missionaries to be apart of her conversion, these are the highlights that missions are made of. She was the first person that I had the opportunity to baptize, it was such a weird experience to perform the actual baptismal ordinance. The spirit was so strong, her mom cried, and Jackie couldn't stop smiling the whole time after. I love my mission. I love the people here, and I love the Lord.


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