My first opportunity to baptize was in my first area, Vista Hermosa. We taught and baptized a young teenager, Amilcar, who appeared that he really wanted to be baptized and do what was right, so we prepared him. The baptismal service was a bit of a tragedy. It was myself, my companion, Elder Pivaral, a newly returned missionary who was the ward mission leader and maybe one other person. A poor turn out with another problem. While we tried to plan ahead and turn on the water to the font, it came out so little at a time that it had only filled the font about a foot. To top it off, the water was freezing!

Well, we didn't want to postpone the baptism, so we went ahead and did it. I knelt in the foot deep water, I had Amilcar sit on the bottom of the font with his legs out straight, said the prayer and leaned him back into the water, immersing him.

Unfortunately, without alot of support at home, Amilcar did not stay very active. I was disappointed as it had been my first teaching and baptizing experience and I thought about it a lot. Well, as it goes, I got transferred and then again and so on, until I had been out from more than a year. I run into Hermana Ordonez at a conference and I find out that she is in Vista Hermosa. I ask her how things are going and she tells me that they had just recently finished teaching Amilcar’s whole family and they had all gotten baptized! They had gone to do a visit with Amilcar and ended up teaching the parents and sister. This family was so enthusiastic that they were helping the sisters bring inactives and investigators to church, getting up early to help gather them.

I know that there were some things I could have done better with the original teaching experience, but I was so grateful that the Hermanas were diligent in their work and that the Lord had prepared this family to be baptized, even if it was from a rather rocky beginning.