Dear Family,
Thanks for all the mail, I have received the cookies from Cami (which were great and not dry or smashed), and the card from Mom and Dad and the card from Scott and Tiffany. I am looking forward to the rest of the mail. My birthday was very exciting here. But before that, Transfer calls came in on Saturday. I am being transferred again!!! I am going to the Canyon Lakes and Wildomar Wards in the Menifee Zone which was my first Zone. I am a little disappointed since I have had such a great time in Redlands, but I know President Ewer is inspired by the Lord. My new companion is from Tonga and had to learn English in the MTC, so that should be an exciting experience. I will also be in a brand new 2005 Toyota Malibu (thank goodness).
Anyways, yesterday was very exciting. Lots of little problems came up with the baptismal arrangements, but we figured them out. Our 1st Ward meetings went off without a hitch, and 3rd Ward was going pretty smoothly too. Then at the end of Sacrament Meeting, the fire alarm went off! Someone had pulled the fire alarm, so the speaker had to talk over the fire alarm, and the prayer was hard to hear also. We were asked to speak in primary about the Holy Ghost in sharing time. To start off I asked the Children what the Holy Ghost was, the response in junior primary was "The Spirit". Then I asked what the Holy Ghost feels like, to which a little boy in the front answered "Nothing!" which of course, all the primary teachers were trying not to laugh at. Anyways, when we did the same thing in senior primary, but before I could start our neighbor, Sister Bascom, told the primary president it was my birthday, so I was sung to by the primary and received a present from the primary presidency. After Church was over we headed over to the Stake Center to fill the font and get ready for the baptism. I made the mistake of forgetting to close the drain until it had been filling for 10 minutes, so we had to have the water on during part of the service. The service was great and very spiritual, and I was able to baptize Sister Baeza and her son Lynn and Elder Brough baptized Garrett and Julian. I only had to baptize Sister Baeza twice! She didn't go all the way under. It is such an amazing experience to bring a family into the Church, I can't believe the blessings we recieve for such a small part that we play. After the baptismal service we ate at our neighbors, the Bascoms, who fed us poppyseed chicken (I gave her the recipe when she asked what I wanted) and a cool cake that was actually just two layers of brownies with ice cream inbetween and on top. It was kind of sad to begin packing on my birthday though, but overall I had a great birthday. Not very many missionaries can say they baptized a family on their first birthday in the field. Thanks for everything and I love you!
Love,
Timothy