GEOFFREY'S BAPTISM

Saturday, Geoffrey was baptized by Elder Kam, who is the District Leader here in Mons. Geoffrey speaks French, so they entire baptismal service was conducted in French. Toon gave a terrific talk on the Holy Ghost. Many of the English-speaking members were in attendance, so we had headsets and the services were translated into English also.Geoffrey is a 15-year-old young man who was sitting in while his parents were taking the missionary lessons. Every time the Elders invited his parents to come to church on Sunday they had an excuse - they were too busy, had other things to do, etc. Geoffrey said that these were just excuses, so he decided to come to church by himself. He continued being taught by the Elders (Elder Kam from Rexburg, Idaho, and Elder Scott from Tacoma, Washington)and eventually decided to become baptized. Although his parents have not yet decided to join the church, they are very supportive of their son. They were at the baptism, along with his little sister.

Elder Davis (from Oakley, Utah), who is one of the Zone Leaders, and Geoffrey's mother's boyfriend.After the baptismal services, everyone went into the kitchen/cultural hall to have goodies. Geoffrey's mother is the woman in black with blond hair.Sister Egbert, Elder Scott, Geoffrey, Elder Warnke, and Sister Hill all enjoying the refreshments.

We have been told that to eat nutritiously, you need to eat as many colors as possible. The fruit added some good color, but the blue Snickerdoodles were a great addition. By the way, chocolate is a color, right?

We have a very small branch, but there are a great deal of children. It was so cute as they all sat on the floor to enjoy their food.
There were so many children, it took two pictures to get them all.
There was a good turnout of branch members to support Geoffrey in his decision to be baptized. It was cute that all of the "young women" were in attendance. Before Geoffrey, there was only one "young man" in the branch. We are sure that these young ladies are especially pleased with this baptism.
The Princess LeRoy. She and JoAnn had a delightful conversation. Even though they did not understand the words, they understand the friendship and good times together. They used a lot of sign language and "sounds" to get their meaning across. She is truly a delightful daughter of our Heavenly Father and is so accepting and loving to all. She gave Geoffrey's parents a nice hug and kissed Geoffrey's mother on the forehead. It was so sweet.
Elder Warnke and Elder Peterson enjoying the punch while visiting with the members.
Brother Marshall and Elder Gonzalez (from Los Angeles, California), the other Zone Leader, posing for a tie picture. We are collecting pictures of the interesting ties we see.
Elder Peterson (from Clinton, Utah) posing with his Italian tie that he got from Sister Egbert for his birthday. Elder Warnke has a similar one in blue. We will add his picture later.

Following are pictures of some of the ward members who were at the baptism.

Gwen LeRoy (sister to Princess LeRoy), Sister Kilgore (wife of a counselor in the Branch Presidency) and their cute, cute baby.

Delightful sister who is a stalwart in the Branch (she is the Relief Society Secretary).

Basilica, another stalwart of the Branch. She gets up at 5:00 am every Sunday in order to take the train, several buses and then walks a far ways to get to Church. She is always there - never misses.

After the baptism, several of the men enjoyed a quick basketball game in the parking lot. Some things are the same wherever in the world you are (even if they did use a soccer ball).