BAPTISM!!!!

December 6, 2010

I got to be in Chi for the baptism!!! I was so excited!! president called and said i could stay for it. i couldn't believe it! I was so excited. the baptism was AMAZING!! I will send pics soon, I forgot to bring my hookup for my camera. I've been living out of my suitcase all week so i don't know where anything is right now. the baptism was amazing. I was so honored to be there. Jo asked me to sing how great thou art and i also gave a talk on the holy ghost. I was so happy to be there. Jo was really excited. the spirit was so strong the whole time.

 getting ready for it was wild!! we got to the church and a pump for the water in the font is broken and the new one hasn't arrived yet so the water was FREEZING! so, naturally, we started boiling pots of water and dumping them into the font to warm up the water. the water in the kitchen was warm so we were also filling up buckets and empty garbage cans full of hot water and dumping it into the font. it was so funny. just imagin sister boleska and I, elder and sister waters (the senior couple serving in Chi) and two other elders running around with buckets full of hot water for an hour. it was hilarious. we even had a huge hot chocolate machine that we filled w water and right before the baptism we dumped it into the font. sadly however it didn't help much. the water was freezing. good thing jo's faith is so strong!! I couldn't have gotten in that water. her face when she came back up was priceless. she was in shock a little but she was so happy. her family was there and her daughters were so excited for her. her husband isn't too enthusiastic about it but he supports her and he's warming up to the missionaries and the ward. everyone is really good at welcoming him when he is around. it is an amazing feeling to see someone get baptized. it brings you such happiness, I can't even describe it. she is an amazing woman and I am so happy for her. what a miracle that I got to be here for it!

 after the baptism we left straight to High Wycombe but then president called again and told us that I was now staying in Chichester till monday morning so i could do the missionary christmas concert at the chichester ward on sunday night. we were so excited that I got to stay for this!! It was fun to go to church and say bye to everyone at the ward and then do the show for them too. remember how I said i'm the piano girl for that ward? I have now played in every meeting except probably preisthood. last minute on sunday they asked me to play the organ for sacrament meeting. heck no. i had them pull a piano in the room cause me plus organs do not equal the spirit. I even got a chance to play in primary. hopefully the new missionary can play piano cause I don't know what they'll do now haha. I also gave a piano lesson to a member after relief society. her name is beauty, she's from africa-zimbabwe maybe- and all i taught her was middle C and it took half an hour cause she didn't really understand. it's been so fun playing cause I've missed not having a piano around.

 anyway, I arrived in high Wycombe this morning. we didn't hang around the flat for too long. we went to meet my district leader and his comp and then they took us to see a castle. it was huge!! everything here is gorgeous. I love it here. Its way colder than Chichester though. my comp seems pretty cool. Sister Allred. she is from layton utah and she's only been here 3 months. I'm pretty nervous to see how everything will go since we're both so new at this but I think it will go well. she had a really hard time with her last comp so she's excited about me being here. she seems great though! she's 24 and it took her a year to get her papers so you know she's here for the right reasons! Everyone keeps saying that High Wycombe is "posh" and yeah, it is. everything here is way nicer than chi.

 I miss chichester and the people as well but I'm excited about being here.

 Laura was really sad that I was leaving and she's prepping for baptism on the 8 of january so I'm going to ask president if i can go but I don't know if he'll let me. its worth a try though! Bishop gave laura a set of scriptures last night and she was SO excited about it! she was scared to open them. her face lit up when she would look at them. she asked me to sign them for her before I left. man, I hope I can be at her baptism.

 sorry this email is so scattered. its been the wierdest week ever! but it's been amazing. the baptism was incredible. i'll send pics soon. Love you so much!!!

  love, sister gregson