The most common phrase in the mission to someone accepting the invitation to be baptized.. "that's what's up!" It's funny, there's definitely mission lingo out here. So what did I say to Felix after he came up out of the water? hahaha you betcha.
Felix's baptism was great! There was a huge turnout from the ward, and he was so excited for it! I got lucky enough to do the ordinance again. Felix is a pretty big guy, so I was a little worried because the baptismal fonts here don't fill up very high with water. But he went all the way under, and it was the best feeling! I've never been so stoked in my life. He came out of the water, and looked at everyone smiling at him, and he said "Que Voy Hacer Ahora?" or something like that hahaha. Basically "what am I going to do now?" referring to the repeated efforts of everyone to help him accept baptism and his stubborness in doing so. It's great though, because Felix knows this church is the true church. Someone as stubborn as him would not be baptized if he didn't know of a surety. He read much of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and as much info as we could get him about Joseph Smith before accepting. He was really delighted when we gave him thee additions books to read after his Baptism, "Principles of The Gospel" and "The blessings of the priesthood" parts 1 and 2.
So this week Elder Gomez and I found the coolest guy every. His name was Rodger, but most know him as "The Dolfan Maniac." He dresses up crazy for Dolphins games and is all over tv. We were knocking and I saw this decked out dolphins truck, and I was like ohhh mann, we gotta knock on this guys door. So we did, and this burly man came out and conversed with us. He told us his story of conversion to Christ, which consisted of a conversation with a demon, 3.5 grams of Cocaine, and being pulled out what he described as "penetrating darkness, surrounded by the wails and screams of the lost" by a bright light. He lived when he should not have lived, he got his family back, overcame a terrible drug addiction, and runs a church in the prison for the inmates. He was a man very firm and very strong in his beliefs. Although I have personal knowledge of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel and wanted to share it with him soooo badly, I didn't want this man to feel we were taking anything away from his amazing story, strength in Christ, or his own beliefs. We simply wanted to add more truth. I left him with a Book of Mormon, wrote our names and numbers in it, and simply committed him to read about it and pray, asking to know if it was true. If he does, I know he'll receive an answer. I've already seen it here in my mission. I truly believe we haven't seen the last of Rodger, especially if he's willing to simply ask the Savior that he knows so well if what he read was true.
Couple last things.. my bike seat got stolen by a 14 year old. It made my bike unrideable. I'm now riding a 1960's (idk if that's the real year, but its OLD) racing bike. I've affectionately named her Peggy Sue. The mission office is tracking down the right parts to fix my bike, but I might just sell it back to the mission office cause it's heavy and Peggy is light and quick and way less exhausting to ride.
We've met some cool people this week, but they all work a lot and it's hard to meet with them. We ride everywhere, back and forth, trying to see people when we can and track them down. It's exhausting. Also, it rains here like every other day now. When it rains here.. it poursssssss. I prefer it though, cause I can either be drenched in rain water or drenched in sweat from the humidity. I prefer the rain, because I can at least ride through the puddles.
Hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Elder Johns
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