Baptism of Juan Escorza, grateful for the temple..

Hey mom and dad! 

 I am doing really well! We had a baptism on Saturday! His name is Juan Escorza! He is this very sweet and humble , 70 year old man. My companion baptized him and I comfirmed him. The sisters started teaching him and then we had changes in the area and he ended up in our sector!  His baptism was really special because he was so excited that his life had a purpose again. We will have maybe 2 baptisms next week but for sure we are having one! It was a really good week and really cool to see how the lord works to change his children, helping them see the light. Two of the men who we have reactivated bore their testimonies and they were easily some of the most sincere and powerful testimonies I had ever heard in my life and everyone in the branch was dumb struck. 

I was thinking about the creation and the fall of Adam and our need for the atonement. We would have forever been lost without the atonement and nothing we could do would have saved us. I think that by learning this is over and over and over again in the temple, where the spirit is the strongest and it makes the fall more and more real in our minds and hearts.  I believe the lord has decided to teach us in his sacred house our complete and unending need for him. It will be so different going through the temple with this knowledge after the mission. This will make my repentance that much more sincere and the need to pray and ask for help even greater. 

I brought some questions  my patriarchal blessing to conference and received  a lot of counsel and instruction to my questions.  Some of the instruction was simple things I must do daily and when the time comes in the sight of the lord he will fulfill his promises

Elder Christopher Ryan Barlow