What is Baptism?

Hi Family!I am in Asahikawa again today because we are having a Zone Activity and tomorrow we have interviews with President Daniels. This past week has been great for me.

Last Wednesday I had a blast visiting Nicole (a member in the Asahikawa ward) with Elders Willis, Hilton, and Crompton. On Wednesday night we came back to Iwamizawa, and since then, Elder Willis has been feeling pretty good.

On Friday we had a great lesson with a lady named Sano san. The day before, we had been contemplating how we could teach her about baptism and help her progress towards baptism. Well, she helped us out a little. We went to her house, chit-chatted a bit, and then she said that she had a question for us. She ran and got her Book of Mormon, came back, and asked us, "What is baptism?" It was way cool. She had read it in 1 Nephi 11:27 (I think), which is the second reference to baptism in the entire Book of Mormon (according to my reckoning). So we had a great lesson with her where we taught her about baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Unfortunately, we were unable to set a date with her, but she will certainly get baptized some day. Hopefully I we can continue to help her out so that she can get baptized sooner rather than later.

After that lesson, we went to a big building to sit down (Elder Willis needed to take a break). When we got there, up ran Sister Iwane! It was her day off, and she had just been killing time there. So we were able to have a nice conversation with her as we sat. She is just soaking up the gospel. I asked her what her hobbies are, and she said that she liked rereading the scriptures that were used at church the previous week. She is going to be a great leader some day soon.

Sunday, March 14 was White Day, a Japanese holiday, but I totally blanked it. On Valetine's Day, girls give chocolate/candy/etc to guys, and on White Day guys give stuff to those girls. I think it is just a commercial scam to lengthen out the Valentine's candy sales.

Monday and Tuesday were both great days of finding. Both days we were able to have lessons with people right when we met them and they became new investigators. One of them is a girl going to nursing school that has decent English. I am pretty sure that she is in love with Elder Willis, but I guess that is just extra motivation to meet with us. I think that we will be able to get her progressing quickly, especially if she can come to church this week. We have been finding a lot of young people recently, and it is making us really happy. We are being led by the Spirit and finding those people that we need to find. I feel revitalized here in Iwamizawa. If only I could see some of those people accept the gospel and get baptized. But I will probably get transferred out before that happens.

Anyways, I love being a missionary. I love you all. Thank you for your letters and emails and prayers and everything you do for me. Have a great week.   Elder Christensen