Baptism!

Hey Mom, That's crazy that Lance is already coming back! I remember when he left, I thought it would be forever till he got home. Now he's almost home, and I'm sure my mission will fly too.

This has been a really exciting week! It was three of us this week with both Elder Smout, Elder Stephens, and then me here. We had a good time. Elder Stephens is from Westpoint, UT. He said it's a little small town somewhere up by Logan. He is really good at singing and at the piano. Well, this week we focused mainly on getting Nicole ready for her baptism. She had her interview on Friday, and it went really well. On Saturday we spent most of our time getting the font filled and things set up and ready for the baptism, which happened at 4 PM. Nicole's parents came to the baptism. We were excited to see them there. Her baptism was probably the most spiritual experience I've ever had. It was awesome to see Elder Smout walk down with Nicole into the font and baptize her. The Spirit was really strong. After the baptism Elder Stephens played a solo arrangement of I Stand All Amazed, which is my favorite hymn. It was really good. I could tell that Nicole's parents were feeling the Spirit. It was an awesome service, and after Nicole's dad asked me for a tour of the chapel, so he got to see everything.

On Sunday Nicole was confirmed, and her parents attended that too. She has some amazing support from her family. Nicole was planning on one of the members to confirm her, but he was sick and said his English wasn't good enough (he's Venezuelan), so I was able to confirm her. It was a pretty awesome experience. It was amazing to see her prepare for her baptism, and then get to see her enter the waters and then become a member of the church and receive the Holy Ghost. The gospel is amazing and changes people's lives.

Well, Elder Smout left early yesterday morning on the van to Alaska, and now he is serving in the area next to my old area in Wasilla. He's serving with a Tongan. It was weird and sad to see him leave. He did a great job here in Whitehorse, and he loved it here. Elder Stephens and I will do our best to keep the work moving here. There is some awesome potential in this area. Today we are going to go to Bro. McDonald's house to jam with him. He's a really good guitar player, and has an electric drumset and a keyboard, and lots of guitars. He just got back in town, and finally I get to go play the drums again. It should be fun. Whitehorse is an awesome place, and I come to love it more and more everyday. I love you all! Love Mat