March 30, 2015 - I wanted to add a short piece about an assignment we received last week.  The mission president asked us to go to another city 150 miles distant to do some baptismal interviews.  Normally the district leader does those, however these were investigators being taught by the district leader.  In that case usually the zone leaders do the interview.  However they were still sick following the conference in Rome and there was an additional issue that the president wanted me to handle which normally he would handle.  The baptismal service was scheduled for Wednesday of that week so time was of the essence.  We drove and took the sisters with us since they had planned to do an exchange with the sisters in Taranto. 

We did the first interview with a brother and all was well.  The second interview was with a young African woman from Nigeria.  I asked if she had any questions before beginning the interview and she proceeded to ask me about marriage requirements.  The baptismal interview includes a question about being legally married.  In West Africa however it is very common to have a traditional marriage arrangement which does not involve any formal documentation, that was the case with her.  I was stumped and did not know how to proceed.  I made a quick call to the mission president but was unable to resolve whether traditional marriage qualifies as a legal marriage for the church.  I did not feel that I could do the interview without resolving that issue.  Needless to say she was very disappointed as were the elders.  But here is the reason I wanted to share this experience; this choice young woman  had such a strong desire to repent and be baptized that she was prepared to do whatever it takes to accomplish this.  She wants to be clean and her faith is strong.  The next day she was working on how to resolve the issue, cost and inconvenience were no obstacles.  To see such a strong desire, really the epitome of what the Savior meant when he said to hunger and thirst after righteousness filled my heart to overflowing.  I hope the rest of us  desire those blessings as much as we partake of the sacrament each week...  Anziano/Presidente Bullock