Fruits of Our Labors

Oh, how sweet it is! This is our first baptism. John Booth was baptized by Elder Zabriskie on November 3, 2007.

John and Qedrin walked into the Quincy ward eight days after we arrived in Quincy. We invited them to dinner the next night, and we have met every Monday night except one since then. We taught John along with the Elder's Quorum president, Brother Mike Johnson and others who joined our FHE group. It has been a great joy. John was formerly a Baptist. He is going to be a great member of the Church.


The baptism was held at 5 PM Saturday. Qedrin spoke on baptism and Sister Z spoke on the Holy Ghost. The baptism itself was a bit out of the ordinary. When Elder Z and John entered the font, John started shivering, and he and Elder Z started murmuring about how cold the water was. The bishop said, "No, its warm." Elder Z said, "It must be 47.2 degrees!" John exclaimed again, "It's really cold!"

The other problem was that the font was not filled very full of water, coming up to about hip level. John weighs about 250 pounds and wears a 17 1/2 shirt. Some of us could see a problem developing. Elder Z almost drowned our first baptism! When he baptized John, both Elder Z's and John's feet went out from under them, causing both to go to the bottom of the font. John started thrashing about trying to find something to grab hold of and Elder Z struggled to stand up again. When John came up out of the water he exclaimed, "Did I stay under?! Did I stay under?!" The two young elders serving as witnesses assured Elder Z and John all was well. Later, Elder John, a 6 foot 7 young man with very long arms said he was just about ready to reach down and rescue the two of them. The bishop said, "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you how slippery the bottom was and to be sure and stand on the no-skid strips."

Well, all of this went off without a giggle from anyone. Don't ask us how, but we all just stayed reverent and focussed on the seriousness of what was happening. But, believe me, after it was all over. we have laughed ourselves silly about the event.

After the baptism, we all went to Pizza Hut and enjoyed our first pizza since we arrived here. Yummy, even if it was Pizza Hut. Sunday Elder Z confirmed John and ordained him to the office of Priest. It was a beautiful sacrament service and many tears flowed. John bore a sweet testimony. His father-in-law, who has been less-active, also bore his testimony. Another less-active member whom we visited last week also came to church for the first time in many years and bore her testimony.

We have another baptism next Wednesday and Elder Z says he may have to get a little help to avoid a repeat performance. Travorish Arnette, age 15, is 6 feet 5 inches tall! Tarvorish is having brain surgery next Saturday. Pray for him.

We love this work! Nothing compares to the joy we feel teaching the gospel and seeing people accept the message of the restoration. Willa May and her daughter will be baptized as soon as Willa May recovers from some surgery. Last week was her youngest daughter's birthday who turned 7. We had a little birthday party on the tailgate of the truck. It was very special. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us. Willa May hasn't missed church since we first met her. She is an amazing woman, in spite of her limitations. Last week the SS teacher asked a question, and as we both struggled to come up with the right answer, out popped this thoughtful perfect answer from Willa May. Not once, but twice. She brings me a pack of chewing gum every week. We are so happy that we were able to get some free dental help for her husband as well as some pro-bono legal help for a swindle contract for a $7,000 water softener.

We are also teaching a wonderful Haitian woman, Edith Victor, who just showed up at church saying God sent her to our church. She is so humble and teachable. She claps her hands in joy for every thing we do for her. She speaks a little English, so we loaded her up with everything we could find in French and the Holy Ghost made up the difference. It is truly amazing how much can be communicated through the gifts of the Spirit. The second time we visited, her friend Wills joined us, and we will teach both of them tomorrow with the help of a returned missionary who served in Haiti. Our good friend, Dominique Lambson, helped us out on our cell phone on our last visit.

Two other investigators are Sal Torres and Guillarmo Gongales. Sal is a social worker and Guillarmo teaches English to Hispanics. Another "coincidence" is that Guillarmo is teaching English to both Edith and Wills. Small world, or just another of Heavenly Father's little interventions? Sal set a baptism date of December 8 when we taught him tonight.

We are progessing well with a less-active member who has so much to offer the Lord. She and Sister Z really "clicked" from the beginning. She says she is enjoying reading Sister Z's book on line and is making copies for her family and friends. We are working on forgiveness issues together.

Elder Z and I are finding our groove and are working really hard. The Lord always gives us what we need when we need it. It is truly awesome how much the Lord cares about every single person and leads us to those who are ready to hear the gospel message. We feel so unqualified sometimes to do what we are doing, but somehow things just work out. Always.

Thank you all for your prayers and continued support. We love you very much, our dear friends and family.

Love,

Elder and Sister Zabriskie