Baptisms

During these last couple of weeks we've attended some baptisms which we really enjoy.  I believe I mentioned that we joined some sister missionaries in teaching a mother and 16 year old daughter over in the Pichu Pichu Zone.  The mother was baptized on Easter while we were in Chivay, so we wanted to be sure to attend the daughter's baptism.  Peruvians are notoriously late, so the missionaries put a time on the invitation a half hour before the baptism was supposed to start.  With our history with taxis, this was a good thing for us as well.  We arrived early and the missionaries arrived soon after.  They checked the font to be sure it was filled - and it was!

When they saw the water they called the daughter and asked her if she would like to move the baptism to another church.  We have no idea why the water was so brown.  The missionaries said they had never seen it like that before.  Anyway, the daughter said she would go ahead with it.  Not sure I would have.  

Of course, the baptism got started late, but it was very nice.  Now, it is important that the entire body (including clothes) is immersed in the water when baptized.  It took about 5 tries in that dirty water.  Her dress kept floating to the top and her elbow didn't go under.  Tim and I were cringing.  But in the end she was happy and everything worked out.

We are in the back left and Angheli is dressed in white two over.  Her arm is around her mom.  The missionaries who taught her are seated in front, left to right.  Sister Barnard (new), Sister Litardo, Sister Callahan and Sister Nally

This is Angheli on the left being welcomed to the ward

The next day we went to church to a ward we hadn't been to before.  We learned that they had a baptism scheduled for after church.  She was also a teen girl.  So we stayed after to attend this baptism as well.  This font was located off a hallway in the church with sliding curtain doors.  So the members set up chairs in the hallway and they rolled out a piano and we all sat in the hallway.

Elder Ogill is a really good pianist, even in the church hallway

Thank goodness, this time the water was very clear and clean.  Long story short, she was also baptized 4 or 5 times because her dress kept floating up.  Tim pulled out the handbook to see if the dress really needed to be fully immersed and it said that it does.  Pictures were taken of all that attended, but we didn't get a copy unfortunately.

The next day Presidente Chipman picked us up so we could help him set up for the leadership meeting the next day.  We let him know what we had seen over the weekend, so he asked us to demonstrate to all the missionaries how to baptize so this doesn't keep happening.  The mission has a Monday night devotional each week over Zoom, so during the devotional, Tim pretended to baptize me.  Ideally, the women would wear a white jumpsuit, because they don't float.  However, in Peru, the church members make white dresses for the baptisms, because they can't get the baptism clothes here.  We actually need to look into that, because that can't be right.  Anyway, we instructed the missionaries to be sure the women tuck their dress in between their knees and to have everyone sit in the water instead of leaning back like a stiff board.  It was a little comical, but I think we got the point across.  We suggested they practice with those getting baptized the day before.

The following Sunday, we attended the baptism for two sisters (related, not missionaries).  We had attended a lesson for them where we met them at the temple earlier in the month.  This baptism went really well.  The program was really nice and each sister was only baptized once.  And, low and behold, they wore jumpsuits.  So I guess they can get them here, so we need to find out how.

Elder Palmer, Sara and Isabela (in jumpsuits!), Elder Nielsen, Tim, Jalene

For fun that week, we met the Chipmans and Newmans for dinner.  The Newmans live across that street from the Chipmans in Highlands Ranch and they were here to visit before joining a tour to see the sights of Peru.  We also know the Newmans, so they invited us to join them for dinner before they all headed up to Chivay.  We didn't think to get a photo, but I took this picture of the cathedral after dinner.  There was a full moon that night.