They want the Apoto (white man) to do the baptism!

So I'm not gonna lie, it felt like yesterday that I wrote you so I don't know if I'll be able to think of all the details and great stories this week but I will sure try!!

So We have done a ton of teaching this week!! our goal was to maybe get 10 lessons because we were busy most days going to the bank or doing other weird missionary things that I am not use to yet! We taught like 24 lessons!!! What?! yes 24 lessons.. that seemed like a lot for me because throughout my entire life I have maybe taught 10 to friends... which im not very proud of haha!

Also the other big news about this last week. I had my first 2 baptisms, and I was the lucky one who got to do the baptisms! I really only taught the 2 girls like 4 times so it didn't really seem like I did much.. and I think i only did the baptizing because they probably wanted to say they were baptized by a white man or and Apoto. Another word for a white white clueless man... safe to say I get called that everyday of my life haha! But it was super awesome to see people coming to christ. There were 8 people baptized on the same day by other missionaries. I will try and send the pictures but I'm scared to plug my camera into the computers because these things are probably loaded with viruses and some missionaries pictures have gotten completely erased. So if you ever get pictures it means I have been praying really really hard and my courage is up at the moment because I'm risking losing all my pictures! Anyways, I probably repeated the baptismal prayer like 50 times in my head before because I did NOT want to mess up my first time! Well, my prayers were answered and I did it perfect for both of the girls. oh another funny thing, as a part of the baptismal program I was suppose to introduce the Girls. They are named Adiatu and Sita Conteh... they are sisters. So like I said, I was suppose to talk about their progression and some other good things about them... well they are out of this world shy so they have maybe said 10 words to me... So I basically just said they were very nice and sweet while all the other missionaries went on for like 5 minutes about their investigator.. but whateves... everyone knows the girls were great and to be honest everyone there knew more about them than I did haha!

So my favorite spiritual moments of the week have been while teaching the Restoration. For the past month I have been praying to have a stronger testimony of the Restoration and in Joseph Smith because if he isn't a real prophet then everything we believe falls apart. Well, my testimony has definitely grown in this area. I KNOW that joseph Smith was a prophet of god and I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the 1 true book on this earth that tells us EXACTLY what we need to be doing while on this earth!! So the first time I taught the restoration I taught it to a recent convert... In my mind I was like, well... He has already heard it so I guess I don't really need to go into much detail. Well I kinda went through the lesson as if the restoration was a cool story. I didn't teach with the spirit and I could tell. MY companion pointed out how important it is to teach with the spirit and to not go through the motions just because it is a member and they know the lesson already. So my goal this week was to teach the restoration with the spirit and to really express my testimony and feelings of its truthfulness. BOOM<--- I did it!!! I taught a lesson to a 19 year old named Ibraham who lives at the tippidy tip top of the mountain.. I really connect with him, he is soooo nice and just wants to follow Jesus Christ. He goes to another church but was willing to listen to our message. Well, I took the lead and everything was going great. It came to the part in the lesson about Joseph Smith and the first vision. I'm not perfect yet so I don't have it memorized... which is my goal by next week, but I read from the pamphlet. I could feel my spine tingle and a warm feeling in my heart as I talked about it. Man, I looked up into his eyes and I know that he was feeling the spirit and I know that he knew what I was testifying of was true. That is exactly when my testimony of Joseph smith grew 3 sizes. (just like the grinches heart! haha) Well he came to church this week along with 7 of our other investigators that I would love to tell you about but I don't have tons of time to tell you about everyone! One other person I want to talk about, Brother Abdu... He is such a stud. He can't read and he isn't very smart... but every lesson we have taught him the spirit is so powerful. Just writing this email and looking back, I can feel the spirit from the lesson we taught him! We have taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ 2 times, so that we know he has it down since he can't go back and read for himself. Even on the second repeated lesson, the spirit was strong. Such a great guy... he just needs to remember what time church is so that he can make it this next week!! We have 12 investigators with a baptismal date... their only problem is remembering to come to church... ahhhh!! Church is a riot here... I wish I could explain elders quorum. Half the time I don't know what anyone is saying but I just sit and laugh because of the elders quorum president. He reminds me of someone but I can't put a finger on it... maybe ed wycoff. because he has his plan, and he doesn't care what peoples questions are, he is going to get his point across!!! He was asking an elder if he did his home teaching and the elder started to respond in a humble manner that he had a lot of problems the past week and so he couldn't find the time. The Elders quorum president responded "Do you have faith in God?" the elder, "yes.".... "well then forget about your own dang problems and go solve the problems of the family you are suppose to hometeach!!" hahaha everyone was dying!! haha! Another funny thing.... There is an elementary school across from our apartment and they had some kind of party... well, in Salone they don't have children's music... they were just blasting loud hip hop and the kids were just going crazy!! Everyone in Salone can Dance!! there were like 5 year olds who were like 10x better at dancing than me! hahaha! the best part however, this guy with completely shattered and messed up broken arms was outside the school in the middle of the street dancing his head off!!! he was dodging cars while doing the whackiest dance moves I have ever seen! I can't explain how hard I was laughing because his twisted arms would just fly around in the most unnatural manner ever!!! ahhhh so great!! Sorry to leave with a weird image in your head but, that's all ive been able to think about since I saw it so I thought I'd let the weird traffic dancing man be on your mind for awhile too! If you have ever seen Rush Hour.... Picture that!!!! but in a very very dirty city were if the guy was hit by a car.... they wouldn't stop, they would just keep driving!! Funny funny stuff happens everyday... oh man hahaha! Shout out to President Crandall (Daddio), I loved your talk for ward conferences! I have prayed every day that I will picture "if the savior stood beside me" I have been much happier whenever I picture christ next to me leading me where I should go! Love you all!! Kushe for the Work!!! (Thanks for the work) don't know why they say it but they do!! haha! Love, Elder Cran Man! (Cody sent pictures, but they didn't work. Not sure how many pictures we are going to see while he is gone)