5 months out!

As of next week, I will have been a missionary for 5 months! My oh my, how time does fly. Speaking of time, I don't have much today, but I'll try and fit everything in as quickly as I can!

This work is pretty tough at times, but at other times it's absolutely incredible. Yesterday was one of those awesome days. Three of our recent converts (Cotter Love, who I baptized, and David and Diego Estrada, the twin brothers) received the Aaronic Priesthood, and they will be going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead on Saturday! The primary in our ward has been working hard and bringing their scriptures to church each week. When they do, they get to put a penny in a jar. When the jar was full, the primary president bought a hardcover copy of the Book of Mormon to give to the missionaries - us! All the primary kids also wrote their testimonies on index cards for us as well to give, with the Book of Mormon, to an investigator. It warmed my heart and made me tear up. It was so sweet and precious. The adults in our ward are pretty awesome too - they are really starting to trust and love Elder Wayne and myself. It's so wonderful to see. I love this ward, and when I get transferred at some point, it's going to be SO HARD to leave. To round off the day yesterday, Florance and Damari were both baptized!!! So many people came, the service went very well, and then the "reception" afterwards was wonderful. We had all sorts of traditional African foods as well as other yummy treats. It was a really great time. The best part? They all insisted that the Elders get the leftovers. Alright, more food! Hahaha. At any rate, the baptism was really special. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost for it, and Elder Wayne baptized both of them.

At the retirement home we give service at each week, they had a "Volunteer Appreciation" party for everyone that volunteers there. We got certificates and prizes to thank us - it was completely unexpected. It was really nice of them to do that for us!

This weekend we got to go to the Khmae New Year festival in Lynn! This is the year of the dragon. It was on Saturday - we helped set up, and there was a ton of cool things going on. Games, food, shirts (I bought one!), performances...it was a great time. We weren't allowed to proselyte, but it was still really cool to volunteer and to use the language. It was great to see so many Cambodians all in one place! Now, if we could only figure out where they all hide for the rest of the year...

In addition helping our investigators, we're working with a few less-actives, including a couple prospective missionaries! We had a couple awesome lessons with those guys this week - hopefully we can get them back to church and have a desire to serve. This calling as a missionary is just so fulfilling. It's amazing to see the lives of others change as they accept, or in some cases return, to the blessings of the gospel.

Last night, Elder Swasey cut my hair. I'll admit, I was a little scared at first, but he did a really great job! It was a good step for me to take in learning to trust and love other people more, especially my companion and fellow missionaries.

"Onward, ever onward, as we glory in His name!"

Best wishes and much love,

Elder DeLong