The week of a Baptism is always a Hard Week

So this week was pretty hectic. On tuesday we had zone conference and President pretty much just went on and on about what happened in my with all the missionaries doing dumb stuff. He then put in a ton of new rules that are really annoying. We have a standard of excellence now, which some of it is easy but some of it is going to be insanely difficult. The easy ones are like, dont miss church, proselyte for 40 hours a week, service for 10 hours, and stuff like that. The hard stuff with be finding 7 new investigators per week, and having ALL member present lessons.  We have averaged finding 2 per week. Its not very awesome! So after zone conference we all had interviews with president wilson. For me it was terrible, he basically just chewed me out about being too casual.  Later in the week on thursday, I got a stomach virus, I was up all night throwing up. I would rather break my collar bone again than throw up, it is the most painful and uncomfortable thing I have ever experienced. So that was my night on thursday, and then all day friday and saturday morning my whole body just hurt. I was too weak to get out of bed. It was honestly terrible I didnt enjoy it very much. I had to get better though, because I had to baptize someone later that day. 

That was the good part of the week was I got to baptize B.A.!. 

He is a total boss! We have been teaching him for about 5 weeks now. He was definitely prepared by the Lord, I dont honestly feel like I did a whole lot for him. He read the book of Mormon constantly and was always watching bible videos and mormon messages on his tablet. It was just really good to find someone who was ready to hear the gospel. It was super hilarious, the day of his baptism he called me, and his was freaking out. I asked him what was up and he is just screaming "I think I broke the law of chastity!!!" Im just like shoot bobby what did you do? Apparently his fiance gave him a hicky while they were making out. I just laughed, it hurt a lot but I laughed. He swore to me that he didnt touch her inappropriately and I reassured him that he was ok. Then I made fun of him because the hicky was TOTALLY visible while at the baptism. It was really funny! Baptizing him was harder than baptizing Billie, she was very heavy, but I was so physically weak from being sick that I didnt feel like I could do it. Miracles happen though, I was able to do it, I didnt feel like i was struggling at all during it. Afterwards I thought I was going to pass out but i did it without any problems! I was really happy and grateful that he trusted me to be worthy and hold the priesthood. Im also grateful that I was worthy and held the priesthood haha Im sure it would have been a horrible discussion if I had to tell him no.

After the baptism we went home and slept cause we were so tired. Its been 4 and a half days and Im not better. I feel fine, but my whole body is just so weak its unreal. I ate for the first time this morning, saltines. It was pretty much heaven, but also felt like disarming a bomb at the same time cause I didnt know how I would react. Im sure by like wednesday I will be back to normal. For some reason it didnt hit Elder Patterson until Friday night, so he is still really sick, Im not sure what we will be able to do this week but I will keep you posted. 

Transfer Calls are this saturday! I find out if I am staying or leaving. I will let you know next week what is happening with that, mail usually takes 2 days to get here. So just be sure to send any mail before Friday and I will for sure get it. Love you Mom, I hope your week was better than most of mine but Saturday made it all worth it! I hope you stay safe, your the best!

Elder Carper