Dylan's baptism happened and it went really well! We showed up about an hour before to get the font filled and set up chairs, and David showed up a little early so he was able to help us. He's been part of more baptisms than the rest of us, so it was nice to have him around. The program was really good and it was mostly done by our ward missionaries which was nice. Elder Walker was leading the music and he said he had no idea how to do it. So he was up there waving both his hands around. It looked more like conducting an orchestra than a congregation! As for the actual baptism, I was the one doing it, and it took two tries just like with Mitch. Dylan is a big guy. He said he's 220 and I'm only around 160, so he was afraid of pulling me down. He's a little taller than I am, so the first time his knee popped up a bit. Dylan said he feels really good; he feels like he's starting a new chapter in his life. He had a lot of friends there, they all live in a ward in the Jurupa Stake that's on the east side of Corona/Norco area. They brought some refreshments for everyone after and it was a great time. The ward members were also there to support him, a couple high priests and three or four couples from elder's quorum were there. There is a move this Saturday and Dylan is super excited to be helping with it, so I think he'll fit right in with the ward.
Cecilia is doing really well. We met with her on Friday when I had Elder Lewis with me on exchanges. She had done all the reading we asked her to, and when we asked her questions, she answered them perfectly. She's almost as golden as Dylan was. The only thing is that she wasn't able to make it to church this Sunday. She sometimes takes care of her 2 year old nephew, and she was just planning on bringing him to church, but her brother couldn't come and drop him off until 10:00 AM, so she had to wait on him. That was really disappointing because she'd been so excited to come to church. But on the positive side, when we were meeting with her she said that she was considering moving her baptismal date up a little because it seems so far away. She isn't quite ready for that yet she said, but I think after a few more lessons and a couple of weeks at church she will be ready. She's technically not progressing because she's has not attended church yet, but she's still progressing in my mind.
The 40 day fast is going well. I'm finding that I have more time to write in my journal and keep things clean and relax a bit in the mornings. It also has helped me with my scripture study, I finished the assigned reading for the Christmas conferences and I only have a couple of chapters left in the Book of Mormon marking. It is hard though because Elder Mecham still reads the comics and so he'll sit over there and chuckle to himself while I'm eating breakfast.
As for the rest of the week, we had exchanges on Friday. We had to wait longer because we aren't allowed to do exchanges with new missionaries until they have a little experience under their belt. As is, Elder Ferrin and I each stayed in our areas and were in charge so the exchange was easy for the "Stripling Warriors". We have another exchange planned where I'll get to go out with Elder Ferrin in a couple of weeks hopefully. The exchange was awesome though, Elder Lewis is a really great missionary. He was so glad to be out of a Spanish area for a few days because then he could talk so much more. But when the opportunities showed up that allowed for him to contact people in Spanish, he stepped up and did a really good job. He also loves talking to everybody. We handed out 25 cards that day to people, which is like 3 times more than we usually do. That was partially because all 10 people we tried to see were gone, so we spent like 3 or 4 hours just walking and talking. We also taught Cecilia that night, so that was a really good experience. We taught her the first part of the Plan of Salvation, Pre-Mortal existence through the Atonement, and she just said it all makes sense and she really feels the Spirit when we teach. Her nephew wasn't as bad as she had told us, he was pretty quiet for the whole thing.
We also had Trainer/Trainee meeting on Wednesday. Basically you go up to Riverside and get extra training on how to train and make sure you're doing everything you're supposed to. They also fed us breakfast so that was nice. It's hard to believe that the transfer is more than half over, and that Christmas is almost here. Every once in a while I have these weird moments where I realize that I'm living in California and being a missionary, and have been doing that for almost 6 months, and it seems entirely normal. Especially with everybody talking about Christmas and family it's been happening a bit more. It's not bad though, not like homesickness, just weird, like deja vu.
Anyway, I hope things keep going well for everyone.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
"Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work." -Gordon B. Hinckley