The One Where Joselina is Baptized

Well. I started this email a lot later than I should have and don't have enough time to write all of Joselina's conversion story.

What a wild week.

I struggle to even remember the details that describe everything, so I'll focus on bits and pieces.

Elder Schneider and I both had a transfer that we both remarked as one that would be something that we would highlight about our missions. It was truely a special transfer.

As I have said before, our mission is very finding-focused. Because of the nature of the place we serve, we spend a lot of time finding people who are interested. Honestly, it was hard for me at first because I am someone who really appreciates focusing on specific people.

Last transfer was different. Thanks to the work put in and the preparation from the Lord, Elder Schneider and I were about to do exactly that; focus on individuals and needs. It was one of the most wonderful things to see the change in someone's heart as they came towards their Savior.

No one embodies this change more than Joselina this last transfer.

If you recall from 6 emails or so ago, we had the adventure of meeting a family where the father is Persian and his wife from the Philippines. They've been living here for 24 years.

Joselina liked to speak with us but she wasn't very content with the idea of changing her religion. She wanted to learn from the scriptures so we would read when we met.

Eventually they got too busy and we had to set them as "too busy" in our Area Book. Honestly, it was extremely difficult for me to stop trying to visit them, but I look in retrospect with a better understanding now why that needed to happen.

4 weeks later, Elder Bonney and I are out finding and knocking on doors. He expressed some understandable frustration with our success with it-- more like the lack of it.

At that moment Joselina and her husband popped into my mind like a light.

"You wanna go find two people right now?" I said to him.

"Sure?"

I walked us to what was to to him a random building, random floor, and random door.

"Hansen!!" I remember Joselina shouting as her husband invited us in.

We discovered that they had just been wondering where we were and were missing us coming over. One day later is when Elder Bonney and I show up.

I'll sum up an absolute adventure of a story. By the end of the transfer and into the next, Elder Schneider and I have the idea to read the Book of Mormon over the phone every night for two weeks just to see if that would work.

Man, did it work! She began to progress so fast. Months ago she began her journey to Christ with, "Don't rush us! We don't want to be pressured into this."

Now with Elder Bonney and I she would say, "You know, maybe in time... People change their religion all the time! They can make that choice."

Flash forward to her attending Joel's Baptism. Keep in mind, we had read much of the Book of Mormon just by reading one chapter almost every night.

I finished getting changed out of my wet clothes, and walk into the sacrament room, where everyone is sitting.

I see her, and she waves me over.

"Hansen-- my turn next week?"

I already mentioned this in my last email, but I wanted to demonstrate the complete change of heart.

Without getting into it, there was some complications with her interview, and it resulted in her sobbing over the phone, feeling she was not worthy to be baptized. "I just... want to make sure the day I am baptized, I am accepted into the church..." she wept to me.

After speaking with the mission president and sorting out an interview where I and my district leader could be there to help her feel more comfortable and answer the questions more easily.

After we had a meal appointment with the Li family, which I will get to in a second, and began our drive to Larnaca, Elder Bartsch called her with my phone.

He asked her a couple more questions, until finally he says, "Can you give us a moment?"

Right that second, I pull over the vehicle and he looks at me and asks, "Do I ask her if she wanted to get baptized tomorrow?"

"...Sure? If it feels right!" I say.

He unmutes the phone. "Joselina, I feel that you are ready, and do you want to get baptized tomorrow?"

"WHAT? Really!!??" an exclamation enough to make me want to cry, but she did that for me in that moment.

Needless to say, this was the fastest I've ever planned a baptism. Not 24 hours later, she was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. She wept throughout the entire meeting. 10 hours later, I was on my way to the airport to Athens. 24 hours later, we were on the road to Thessaloniki (my new transfer). Not a lot of breathing room, to say simply.

It was one of the most special moments of my mission. To see her become the newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ in that branch from the person I meet 3 transfers ago.

"I still have many worries. We still have problems. But I'm not worried anymore. I know it is with God. I trust God now."

The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Oh, how I will miss their family.

I felt a taste of God's love visiting the Li family last Sunday. My various companions and I have been teaching the sons English twice a week for a while. I've been doing it for 3 transfers. I didn't realize how close I'd grown to this family, until Dongling realized I was leaving and said, "Please come this Sunday!"

Impossible to decline.

We had to eat quickly with them, but we talked about their plans and how they've been a support in the this Branch and everyone is better for having them.

Everytime we have done lessons, Dongling prays first, and John Wayne second. Even at meal appointments, we would have exactly that.

We said our goodbyes, and I suggested we should have a prayer together before we left.

"You pray," John Wayne says, pointing at me.

"Okay," I reply and begin to pray. An overwhelming sense of love for this family catches my tongue. It's weird how the spirit has a way of doing that.

Why is it possible to come so close to a family without speaking their own language?

I feel bad for Elder Bartsch who had to watch me try to drive down to Larnaca, weeping and sobbing. I hate to cry in front of people, but I don't think I had a choice in that moment. I will miss them very much.

I have so much more to write, but I think that's all I got time for.

I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week.

Elder Dylan Hansen