The "Evenic" Covenant

Oh boy what a week it has been here in the Capital. It has gotta be up there on one of the best weeks of the mission. We have been all over the place so it has been super fun. I am pumped to tell you guys all about it.This email is going to be a novel so let’s get to it.

First, I will talk about the subject title, you guys are going to die. Like I mentioned last week, we had to push back E and R's baptismal interviews to Tuesday. They both went just great, they passed with flying colors. E is super funny so as I listened to her in the other room getting interviewed by one of our DLs, I heard her answer for most of the questions, "Don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs"... etc. Have I ever mentioned how much I love African people? After her interview, we were sitting down and talking about some of the logistics for the baptism and she was thanking us and all that stuff then she looked at us both and said, "I bless you with lots of kids, Elder Milligan I bless you with twenty and Elder Obray I bless you with thirty. Oh, and lots of money!" Haha we were dying. We thought to call it the "Evenic Covenant" Is that sacrilegious? Mom, Dad, I hope you are looking forward to all kinds of little Chandler's running around in the future, my wife and I are going to need help from the whole family. 

If I didn't have a testimony of the church by now, preparing for a baptism is always a reminder for me that the church is so true, and the work of salvation is always being attacked by the adversary. While preparing for the baptism this weekend all kinds of things came up, but luckily, we are one step ahead. On Wednesday, we got a baptismal suit for my guy R but it was too big so we went back the next day to get another one, when the door to the suits was suddenly locked. We were ticked because we didn't want to have to call the stake to get the suits unlocked again, so I pulled out my inner MacGyver and picked the lock. It was pretty incredible not gonna lie. I don't know if I should repent for trespassing to help a baptism go through.

The next adventure happened the day before the baptism. We went to the building to check stuff out. When we got there, we both had to go to the bathroom so of course we did. When we both went to flush, there was no water... We tried the sinks, nothing and then we tried the font... NOTHING. Of course, we had a small panic attack, but we called the church's maintenance guy and he came to save the day. Apparently, the city shut the church's water off for no reason. Man, Satan is inspiring the city of Des Moines. Crazy stuff. Luckily, we got the water turned back on just in time. The guy said that if we wouldn't have called on Friday, they would have had to wait until Monday which would have meant no baptism. Oh boy! 

The Baptism was so great. I have really grown to love that family. It makes me so happy to see them every time we visit them. After the baptism, I have never seen E so happy in my life. She kept jumping around and singing "I am so blessed". It was humbling to see how excited she was to make her first covenant with our Heavenly Father. What a blessing. R asked me a few weeks ago if I would baptize him so I baptized R and Elder Milligan baptized E. It was a special experience for sure. We had a great showing from the ward.

The next day in sacrament meeting Elder Milligan confirmed R and I confirmed E. It was awesome. After I finished E's confirmation, her kids in the back stood up and started clapping and cheering. It was adorable. It really is something to cheer for though. Baptism is entrance into the Celestial Kingdom if we endure to the end, I can't think of anything more worthy of shouts and cheers! The ward thought it was funny too. 

Another miracle that went down this week was when we were trying by an investigator, we set up an appointment for another day. We were walking back to the van when I felt a prompting to try by U (super solid African investigator with the baby momma. He disappeared a few weeks ago and we haven't heard from him). When we knocked on his door he answered with a big smile and said "My brothers! I thought you forgot about me!" I almost cried when I saw that man's face. I was so excited to see him. Man, I, along with E am soo blessed. 

I see that this email is super long so I will put it to a close here. One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon is Mosiah 5:12-13. In verse 12 it says that we must retain the name written on our hearts and then in verse 13 it says, "Who knows a master whom he has not served?" I have grown to love these verses because it states that when we retain the name written on our hearts (sacramental covenant by always remembering Him) we will learn to serve our Heavenly Father. We also learn in Mosiah 2 that we serve God by serving His children. The way that we honor our covenants and learn to know our Heavenly Father is through charity. I have loved the doctrine of charity on my mission. It truly is the key to happiness and is the pure love of Christ. What better way to make ourselves happy than by serving others?

Well I appreciate you guys making it through this email. I love you guys and miss you! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Future father of thirty,

Elder Obray

Chanman