Why don't we start with James' baptism? WHICH HAPPENED. Woot woot James got baptized this Saturday and it was totally awesome! But boy was it a roller coaster just getting there, sheesh. What a stressful trip! So check it out. As this week rolls around we are very aware of the fact that James is supposed to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, but the stress starts to hit when we realize we have like 2 more lessons to teach as well as getting the baptismal interview out of the way AND THEN making a million calls to the ward to get the program set up. So we go over to his house this Tuesday to get the lessons wrapped up, and his grandma waddles out and explains that James has not come home from school yet (mind you, this was at like 6 pm). Apparently he does this all the time - he gets a ride from one of his buddies after school and just kind of doesn't come home for like a whole weekend. I was just like aw no, James, you gotta get back home so you can get baptized!! His grandma continues, stating that James has a bunch of mental issues which prevent him from taking things seriously (including ADHD, bipolar disorder, and some deal that naturally makes him oppose authority figures). Aw crap, man, you can't be serious. So we do the best thing we can think of - say a prayer and move on for the day, hoping to run into him tomorrow.
We pass by the following day (Wednesday) to find James just sitting on the couch watching TV! Come to find out he'd just gone to a football game with his buddy that evening and come home right after. We were like JAMES YOU SUCK YOU SCARED US and he just laughed. Whatever dude. So we got started teaching him about the commandments, and here's the crazy part: he ate it all right up and didn't get distracted or anything! It was a totally smooth lesson, which is very uncharacteristic of James. But it went very nicely, and we set up and appointment for the next day to have his baptismal interview.
Guess what. He didn't show. OH MY GOSH I'MMA KILL SOMEONE. I called his grandma, who was supposed to drive him there, and she was like OH NO I TOTALLY FORGOT and I was like great job, grandma. So we set it up for the following day (which was a flipping DAY before the baptism) and she said that's chill. We showed up to have his interview the next day and, THANK GOODNESS, he showed up and passed with flying colors! It was then our responsibility to set up a whole baptismal program, speakers and all, in one day, which in and of itself was a very stressful experience. I think there were angels asking people to give talks and stuff, 'cause I do not think we had it all figured out ourselves. Anyway, it all worked out in the end and it ended up being one of the most spiritual, special baptismal services I've ever witnessed! James was so ready to take this step, and I'm super thankful to have been a part of all of it. In fact, I was even able to baptize him myself, which is always a good deal!
And now I'm like out of time even though there is SO MUCH MORE that happened this week that I wanna talk about. Dang it. I'll see if I can't shove some of that in next week, I suppose. But until then, everyone have a wonderful week and keep your chins up! Muah!
Elder Slavens
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