Querida Hermana Cheever: Mercedes Week 9! Días de Independencia y Bautismos!

Hola Amigos,
Well, sorry I didn't email last week, but not much happened. It was my birthday and that was pretty great. Santos is progressing, slowly but surely.

Now for the great miracle!!! BELÉN AND MARÍA LUZ were baptized!!! We had to move their baptismal date because Ezequiel is in a band and was going to be traveling to Buenos Aires that weekend, so we moved it to Wednesday, the 13th of July (which, in case you haven't noticed hasn't happened yet, but be patient and I'll explain the story of their baptism). After church last Sunday Belén pulled us aside and asked if we could move the date of her baptism and I thought "Ah, great something happened with Ezequiel's schedule and she wants to postpone." But no! She said there was a conflict with her schedule and asked if she could move it up a week to that Wednesday!!! We of course said yes and ran (but not really ran because that's irreverent) to find Elder Sales to see if we could do the baptismal interview on Tuesday. Anyway, Wednesday came around and we spent the day in the chapel filling the font and cleaning and preparing everything so it would be just perfect (partly because it was a miracle baptism and we wanted everything to be perfect and partly because we invited President Robertson and wanted everything to go smoothly) and when 8 o'clock came around they were baptized! It was absolutely perfect!

The brother in-law of Belén baptized the three (oh yeah Magalí, the other daughter who's 8 so she wasn't our investigator because her dad's a member) and it was so beautiful! Magalí was afraid of putting her head under the water so we coached her through it and when the moment came Hno Porcel (who was the person baptizing) was able to immerse her completely and when she left the font she had a smile on her face, but she said "Tío, I'm going to kill you!" because she felt good in the moment but when she came out of the water again it entered her head that she had been completely underwater and the fear came back. That moment though, was so special. Hno Porcel said that it wasn't even him that was able to baptize her, that it was the Spirit completely. He was thinking (as were we all) that she wasn't going to be baptized that day because when she entered the font she just kept saying "I'm afraid, I'm afraid!" and we thought she would change her mind, but one of the witnesses told her that all she needed to do was sit down and then her uncle would help put her head in the water for a second so she was okay. Then just before the baptism her dad whispered to her "Maga, no tengas miedo" which means don't be afraid. Oh my goodness it was so beautiful!!!!

We also planned a special surprise for the family during the baptismal service. Ezequiel is a man that, although he plays in a band, doesn't like to speak in public very much, but he agreed to bear his testimony and oh man was it powerful. He's also kind of a large person and he appears all tough, but the moment he starts talking about the gospel he starts crying. I don't think there was a dry eye in the congregation.Oh my goodness there was so much excitement this week! Then yesterday was the confirmation of Belén and María Luz and Magalí and ah I just love seeing people enter into the fold of the Good Shepherd. Ooh and what's even more exciting is that in 1 year I'll probably be able to go to the temple with them to see them sealed right before I go home!

Well, that was the week of Hermana Cheever! Oh! One more thing, we have another golden investigator, Valentina and she's amazing! I don´t have much more time, but basically she's the niece of Hno Porcel (I swear he has more family than I do and they all live in Mercedes) and she's 12 years old and is passing some difficulties at home and could really use your prayers. I love you all! The gospel's true, God loves you!
-Hermana Cheever