Baptisms- March 4, 2017

Dear everybody,

I think that the title there is pretty much my favorite word at the moment. On Saturday Dolin, Claudia and Arthina were finally able to get baptized. They are Clovis and Jaqueline's kids by the way. The baptismal service went way well too, other than the 45-minute wait for the white baptismal clothes. Even that was ok though, it gave more time for people to show up. We had a combined baptism with a bunch of other missionaries and so there were 12 total baptisms. Clovis and Jaqueline were also able to attend! After the service, the 1st counselor of the district presidency came up to them and asked them why they weren't baptized with the kids. It turns out, he has a son who lives in Toliear where all the papers are and he is going to get all of the things we need! We are hoping that it will all be done in time for them to be baptized on April 1st, but they might even catch March 18th!

On to my next story of the day, and that would be my friend Jean Yves. He is a 20-year-old kid and is just a total stud. Elder Leo and I tracked in to his house on like my first week here in Tamatave and he has been learning ever since. It was a really cool experience teaching them for the first time. When we started the first lesson, I asked if he had ever seen our church before. Yeah it's right here he said as he pulled out his Book of Mormon. He had never learned from the missionaries before, his dad just brought him the book one day, a few months ago and he has been reading it ever since. He has now prepared and is hopefully going to be able to be baptized on March 18, hopefully with Clovis and Jaqueline. I love that guy.

So I read a scripture the other day in 2nd Nephi 9 about purity, and it hit me pretty hard. You see, to be clean and to be pure is not the same thing. If something is pure, that means that it is completely clean through and through, there is no bad left. When we are baptized, I think we are made clean. All of our sins are washed away. Us being human however, we're still going to sin. Our goal here on earth is to become pure, which happens through repentance and renewing that baptismal covenant. We have to change and become better and better until we are completely pure, like our heavenly father is. It's sure a long way away, but through the Atonement of Christ it is made possible. Anyways, that's my thought for the week.

Love you everybody,

Elder Jensen

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 9:14