This email is super long to make up for last week's shorty.
By far the best thing that happened this week was that Atheer got baptized!!! (cue confetti and streamers) He was so happy the whole time and everything went super smoothly. Okay, well, there was this little snag where Atheer was accidentally locked outside the building for like half an hour. But other than that it was perfect! Pro tip: always have members give the talks because they do a stellar job. One of the Bishopric members who spoke talked about how whenever people say Atheer's name, they can't help but smile, which is totally true! We've been so blessed with amazing members who totally embraced Atheer and we're really excited for him moving forward!
There have been a lot of questions about the fact that Atheer is Muslim and whether that caused a problem while teaching him. Atheer was born in Baghdad and he was raised Muslim, but when we met him he had a pretty good understanding of who Jesus Christ was and wasn't actively practicing. He'd heard about the church before from a coworker and wanted to be involved, and so things went really smoothly from there!
On Sunday, Sister Davidson and I were panicking because we couldn't find Atheer, so we were asking the Elders what would happen if he didn't show up for his confirmation, and they were like "Um, he's right there on the back row, chill." We didn't notice him because he was wearing a white shirt for the first time and was just sitting with his friends. He even went to dinner at a member's house for Easter and we didn't even know about it until later. Stuff like that just makes you so happy as a missionary.
Otherwise, it's been a pretty typical week on the mission! Miscellaneous happenings:
Had a great lesson with Sister Kollie. Not sure how much we've talked about her, but her husband is a member and they and their 2-year-old son come to church all the time. We're helping her to read the BoM to gain a testimony of it. But we read Alma 32 with her and she promised to read every day, so hopefully she experiences some swelling motions in the next couple of weeks :)
Thierry is on-date for the end of May, so that's exciting! It's been really cool to teach him with members who speak French. He's a great person and he has amazing faith, so I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store for him.
Things are a little less exciting with Rugi. We've been having a hard time getting in with her and she hasn't been coming to church, so we're going to have to indefinitely postpone her baptismal date. I feel bad because we've totally been distracted with Atheer, but this week we hope renew out efforts to meet with her and help her progress.
Spent a lot of time with the ward this weekend, which is always a good time. We had a talent show because we've got some pretty cool folks here in Fargo. Also got to deep-clean the building, which was a lot of fun. Wiped about a million brown folding chairs and found out that the high priests eat a lot of crackers.
That's about it for me! Hope you all had a great Easter. I'm totally late to this party, but if you somehow missed the Easter initiative, go to Mormon.org and check it out. It's got a lot of good stuff this year and it definitely still applies to you, even if Easter's over. #PrinceOfPeace
I realized that I still haven't taken pictures of the new apartment. Sorry. Maybe next week?
Also, for clarification, my address is:
5345 30th Ave S #309
Fargo, ND 58103
Fargo, ND 58103
Seems that I sent something silly last time.
Love you all! Have an amazing week!
Pictures:
1. I didn't realize what a tiny human Atheer is until we took this picture. 2. Atheer and Elder Bone, who was kind enough to baptize him
3. Sometimes you and your companion match so hard that you have to document it
4. The sneaky sisters broke into our apartment and left us a tiny Easter Egg hunt!
