Baptisms are Incredible!

We are having lots of baptisms in the mission and I want to feature a picture of all of them. I plan to put a lot of pictures later on, but this past weekend we were able to attend two very choice ones. We were doing interviews and were in Gijon on Friday night. The father in this picture, Juan Ignacio, is the one who was baptized. His wife is a member but was inactive. She was invited to the Branch Christmas party and even though she didn't know it was the "Mormon" church, she came with her family. When she walked in she realized it was the L.D.S. church. The missionaries at the time, Elder Moore and Araya, approached them and they agreed to have the missionaries over. Juan was not really a believer in anything, but when the missionaries gave him The Book of Mormon, he loved it. This was a very sweet and happy baptism. Elder Rowley on the left is the one who completed teaching him and baptized him and Elder Moore, on the right, was in Gijon with Elder Corbridge as our traveling trainers.

Saturday after completing our interviews we kept on driving down to Burgos. This dear sweet sister pictured is from Ecuador. Slyvia had worked in the mission president's home in Ecuador but never joined the church. She comes to Spain and finds the gospel. When she was ready to be baptized she asked if the Mission President could baptize her because she knew the Mission President in Ecuador was such a wonderful man, she wanted the Mission President in Spain to baptize her. Presidente said yes! He is going over the last minute instructions.

There were two baptisms this evening in Burgos. From l. to r. Elder Esteves-Garcia, Sylvia, Presidente Clegg, Cecillia and Elder Sayaz. When Cecilla found out Presidente was coming to baptize Sylvia she wanted the Presidente to baptize her too. What a privilege for El Presidente.

This is Cecillia with her beautiful family. Her 3 week old baby and her husband. She is from Venezuela and her husband is a Spaniard. He is having the lessons with the missionaries and we are sure with time he will accept the invitation to be baptized. In Cecillia's testimony she told us that her husband is a little hard headed, but she hoped he would come around. He is very respectful and helpful as a husband and we are sure he will.

Slyvia is from Ecuador and her sister came, but we didn't get a picture of her. The cute Ecuadorian couple are members of the Burgos Branch and are like family to Sylvia. We were all so excited for the baptisms to start. It was amazing. Both women were very emotional and the spirit was strong and sweet. It was a special night for both of these dear sisters and for Presidente y Hna Clegg, the feelings felt that night will always be cherished. This is the work of the Lord. We love it. In Leon, on this same night, they baptized an entire family of 5. Actually only 4 because one of the children are under the age of 8. We had 20 baptisms this month and many more dates are set for April. The faith of the missionaries and the members and the investigators is wonderful in Northern Spain.