Christmas + Baptism = 😊

This week was great. Christmas was fun, but the highlight of the week has to be Mark's baptism. We also had some other cool things happen that made this week amazing.

This Christmas was super low key. I woke up and made some pancakes, opened my package, then called my family. Then we went to dinner for a few hours and studied and that was pretty much our whole day. Dinner with the Bendoskis was really fun. There were eleven people there, including two investigators and a recent convert. We all had a good time and got some really good food. It's crazy that both Christmases on my mission are over. This year has gone so quick looking back.

Saturday was the best day of the week though. We have been asked to always have one person we're teaching with a baptismal date, that's the standard we are trying to reach. We have had one on date for the past month, but he got baptized Saturday so we weren't going to have one any more. But we had a really cool miracle on Saturday. We started teaching a lady named Natasha last week, and we had our second lesson with her on Saturday morning. We read 2 Nephi 31 with her and talked about baptism. She wants to be baptized! We set a date for her and she seems like she really wants to make sure it happens. She is pretty much all ready now even with only having had a few of the lessons. She loves the Book of Mormon and believes the things we teach. That was our miracle for the week.

Saturday evening was Mark's baptism. It went really well and it was super peaceful. We could all feel the spirit throughout the service. He even bore his testimony at the end and teared up a little. The brother who baptized him is recently coming back to church and this was his first time participating in a baptism. It was a great experience for everyone. And to celebrate we got philly cheese steak sandwiches which just made it even better. 

Last week I mentioned that I was going to make Mark a funny tie, and I did. He said specifically that he did not want a tie for Christmas because he doesn't do white shirts and ties. So I made him one. I got a really funny unicorn fabric from Joann's and made it into a tie. He got a kick out of it, and what made it even better is that he wore it to church on Sunday with a pink shirt. It was hilarious. I never thought I'd see him with a tie. I put a few pictures in the email so y'all can take a look. 

I hope all of you had a good Christmas. I'll talk to you all next week. I put in a lot of pictures this week, enjoy!