Hola! Todavia estoy in Yuma y tan animado! 9/‏/22

Hola!

Hey well today is transfer today, and yeah Wednesday is Preparation Day for the entire mission. It is a good day to have it, and it's a nice break in the middle of the week. But anyways, we found out that just about everyone is staying here. Our zone leader (Elder Robinson- super awesome elder) is going home today- his 2 years are up- and his companion is getting moved too. But the rest of us are all still here and I'm so grateful! I was worried that I would be moved and that I would have to leave all these people we've been teaching. So Elder Cuthbertson and I are still here, and they are splitting our area in two and bringing down two more Spanish missionaries. We're anxious to see which half of Yuma we have and which people we're going to end up teaching. My companion is also now a district leader, so we're all going to be a little extra busy.

But the most exciting part of the week was last night! We've been meeting with the Barraza family a lot this week (the ones I talked about last time), and all of the kids came to church on Sunday. And then Cesar Jr. told us he couldn't wait any longer and wanted to get baptized Tuesday! We said no problem so we set up everything and got him baptized last night. It was super cool and especially special for me because he asked me to baptize him, so I performed my first baptism and it was just sweet. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone so happy, excited, and glowing as he was after that baptism. He hugged everyone there (there was actually a pretty huge crowd- over 60 people!) and he just set such a great example for the rest of his family. His 2 little siblings are going to get baptized soon and they are both excited. We sang a really cool baptism song, partially in Spanish, and the whole thing was just such an amazing experience. This family is just making such progress and growing so much!

We had another pleasant surprise when we found a fellowshipper for one of our investigators (for Maria Hernandez), we asked her about getting baptized this week and she said yes! So we're going to have another one this Saturday and she's so excited too. She's so ready and willing to take this step and is just so full of faith. She has no doubts or concerns and I know she's going to be a super strong member. It's so nice having members go out with us, who really help these people and become their friends. Especially when you see their sincerity and genuine concern. I am just a tiny bit nervous because I'm going to confirm her on Sunday and that definitely involves quite a bit of Spanish, but I'm going to really pray and prepare for it and I know it will all work out.

We're singing more than ever, probably 6 or 7 times in the next few days, and I've played the piano a little bit. It can be tough sometimes to come up with so many songs to sing! But it's super cool and fun, and usually enjoyable.

Oh, and Hermana Amparo is going to get baptized the weekend after General Conference, and she's so ready. We've loved teaching her and her family, and she is bringing her husband to lessons. Hopefully soon their entire family will be members together and be able to go to the temple! She brought her family to this big Mexican party we had on Friday. Since it was Mexican Independence Day Thursday our branch had a big party Friday night that was awesome. We had a lot of investigators come and have fun and make friends, so I think it was a definite success. Some of the food was definitely interesting, some very hot, but I guess that would be kind of expected, huh?

So we've got a lot of people preparing for baptism and getting baptized real soon, and I love it! They're making huge changes in their lives, and embracing what they know to be true. You can see their immense faith in Jesus Christ and their desire to follow him and do what He wants. In a lesson we just had yesterday we asked how an investigator felt about the Church and the Book of Mormon and at first she said,"I believe it's true", and then she said no, "Yo se que si". I know it's true. So we've really been blessed and really focusing on commitments like going to Church, reading, and praying, so people have the chance to really know the truthfulness of this wonderful Gospel. I've been learning so much from every single person we teach, and I'm definitely growing all the time.

I LOVE it here and I'm so glad I get to stay this next transfer!!

Doing great and loving it :)

Siempre bien ocupado (Always very busy) 9/15/10

HOLA!

It's been a way good, busy week like always. We're really doing a whole lot of teaching and finding through members and it's really paying off. First of all, the most exciting thing that happened this week was that we had a baptism last Saturday!!! It was Helaman's wife Wendy, and it went super super good. It was kind of funny though, because we had a ton of members and friends all at the Church and Wendy's family were the last ones to get there. We were a little nervous because they were late but all went well. It was definitely amazing being able to participate in the baptism and see the happiness and Spirit that this family felt. Her husband has been really supportive and working together with her as we've been teaching her. I think she has actually been the one teaching him more than anything, but it was just incredible to be a part of the baptism.

It was actually pretty sweet because once again, I got to be very active in the baptism. I found out the night before that I was giving the talk on the Holy Ghost. So I got to give a talk, sing a duet with my companion (he said we've already sung 10x more than he has his entire mission), bear my testimony, and be a witness at the baptism. It was sweet being able to look at them as I talked and to see her just glowing with that Spirit. I also think I must have done a decent job talking and everything because I had a lot of members say that my Spanish is improving and that they really enjoyed it. It can be tough because sometimes when I'm up giving a talk, I get a little tongue-tied and can't really speak Spanish that well.

But I've had a lot of growing opportunities lately, for sure. My companion was super sick last Wednesday so he had to stay inside all day. I got a LOT of studying in that day - reading the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel, english and in spanish. And then later that day I got to go on splits with an English elder and visit quite a few people. It was definitely different being the main person to talk and deliver the lesson. We visited 3 families that all speak Spanish and I had to really do all of the communicating. It was definitely tough at times, because I totally couldn't understand all of what they were saying, but it made me step up and lead the discussions and really practice my Spanish a whole lot. We also met an AMAZING family that these other elders had found - the Barraza family. I went to the lesson because the mom speaks only Spanish and can't understand English very well. But the entire family is so amazing and so prepared. They've been to Church once and been taught for maybe a couple weeks, and they all have desires to be baptized. They all felt the Spirit and Church, and have felt that this is the right one. There's Caesar and Maria, with their kids Caesar Jr., Natalie, and Rene. Caesar Jr. is 16 and he's such a stud - he already wants to go on a mission and feels like he's going to go to Spain! He's already handed out 2 Book of Mormons and shared the Gospel with a few of his friends. The kids are all reading in the Book of Mormon every day, and the husband is really trying to get his wife more involved in the Church. He said she called him the other day to tell him that she was reading it! It was a random call and she was just at home. He was super excited and we absolutely love going to their family to teach them. After being there for only a few minutes, I felt like part of the family and there was just an amazing feeling in their house.

One thing that we've been working on this past week is getting Hna, Amparo ready for her baptism. She has this family thing this weekend in Mexico so she won't be able to do it this week. We had a huge Family Home Evening the other night, and we talked to her about still doing it very soon. It's tough because she's still nervous and thinks she has to know more. She always feels like she doesn't know enough. We assured her that she is ready and that the Spirit will help teach her after she's baptized. What's most important are our desires to follow Christ and get the Holy Ghost to guide and direct us. She is so prepared and we are going to have a lesson with her tonight so we'll be praying real hard about how we can help her.

So my companion had his 21st birthday this past Sunday and he has gotten a ridiculous amount of cake and presents from everyone here! Everywhere we went for like 3 days was a party. As soon as they found out it was his birthday, people were getting all kinds of gifts and making a ton of cakes for him. I was stuffed for so long and I had to eat a lot of cake that I didn't really want to... but it was way cool, and everyone around here is so generous. They all asked me when my birthday is and I had to say that sadly it's not for quite some time. But...if they wanted to celebrate any time, I would be cool with that.

Our lesson last night was also way good. We had a lesson with a less-active and his wife, who has been investigating for quite some time. We didn't really get anywhere for quite some time, because we felt like there was this barrier and that we weren't really getting through to her. But then all of the sudden it got quiet and she was just speechless. We started asking her questions about how she felt and could see that she was feeling the Spirit. We bore pure testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and she was getting way emotional. She said that she had been asking these questions in defense of her church (catholic) but then that her mind was cleared and that she had just really opened up. She felt the Spirit very strong and said that she guessed she needed to be reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We said yep, that would be a pretty good idea. Anyways, the husband felt it too and they're going to read and pray together. So the Spirit is amazing and definitely is the true teacher of all things.

This week is transfers and we'll see what happens! I really really want to stay here with my companion because we have a lot going on here, and I love the members and people we're teaching. But I will definitely go where the Lord wants me to go!

Mucho trabajo que hacer‏ (Much work to do) 9/7/10

Hey hey!!!

Well this last week has been way good and super busy... that's one thing about the mission that I love and find really cool. The work never stops and there's always so much to do! There's no time to take breaks and there's no time to really think about anything else than teaching and visiting people. There have been a lot of new people popping up everywhere - friends of members and referrals, random people at Church. We're getting so many new people to teach and it's so incredibly exciting!! We had a referral from the mission office the other day that has a ton of potential. It's a Mexican man named Benito in his 50's who lives alone, and he called to get a Book of Mormon. We visited and taught him a little bit and he's already reading quite a bit. It's such a blessing when people will actually take the time to read the Book of Mormon to know the truth of it.

We also had another cool experience with a recent convert's friend. Some of the investigators and recent converts here are just amazing and some of the best missionaries I've ever seen. They're so excited about the Gospel and bring all kinds of friends to Church and everything! This one new investigator, her name is Lorena, is from Veracruz and seems to really like the Church already. She loves to read, which is like the best thing ever for missionaries to hear, and she said that she's going to read the whole book. She has quite the crazy story about her daughter though. Apparently one of her daughters was abducted and they had to pay $20,000 to get her back. I guess she had been gone for 2 months by the time they got her back. But Lorena has been going to Church, reading the Book of Mormon, and likes everything so far - hopefully she sticks with it and everything works out!

We have a baptism this weekend, which I'm super excited for! Wendy is getting baptized and is the mom in a part-member family. She has been really doing well, reading and praying. She is very shy and doesn't like to talk much, so we have to be careful when teaching her to not make her super uncomfortable or anything. But she's been doing a great job of reactivating her husband Helaman (awesome name!) She has been helping him pray and read and come to Church. It's really an amazing feeling to be part of a work like this. We've been able to work with this family and see them grow so much stronger and closer together as they become more involved with the Church and more converted to Jesus Christ.

There's been a lot of commotion in this area, and a lot of people are going through tough times. It definitely humbles people and tests their faith at times, but it can also bring them closer to God. When we realize that everything comes from the Lord, and that He really is always there for us, we'll be a lot more willing to do those simple things that we know we should do. Our ward mission leader is a really on-the-ball guy who wants to get a ton of missionary work done. We have quite a few branch missionaries now (mostly couples) and we're starting to take them out with us more to show them how to teach and to help them be missionaries. They're studying Preach My Gospel and we're starting to train them as missionaries on what to teach and how to teach by the Spirit. If all of this continues, there's going to be growth down here at a ridiculous rate. The Lord has prepared so many people and when we have more missionaries, we are able to find and teach more people! We have plans to do more splits and really increase the number of people and lessons that we teach.

Church was really sweet this week - we had a lot of investigators come, and even more new faces that I've never seen before. I sat by Hermana Amparo, with her son Edward, and it was just so incredibly amazing. He is the most spiritually mature kid I've ever met and is really just helping his mom out in so many ways. There's a bond that you develop with these people that's just really hard to describe. Like there's so much love and charity there - they know how much we care about them and they know how happy and excited we are when they are doing well and are happy. I've also seen their family grow a lot closer, even though the dad is a strict Catholic.

We also had a bunch of less-active families come to Church this week which was surprising. We've been visiting a lot of less-active families and helping them get back in the Church and feel that love and happiness that they felt before. We had a couple full families come, and we could see how much it helped them and how much the members really reached out to show them their love. We've even had some people just come up to us and ask us to be taught! This less-active named Freddy has been working on coming back to Church and asked us to come over and teach him and his non-member wife who has been investigating for a long time. We are so excited!!! It's not too often that these kind of people come up and ask for appointments. That was just super cool, and we've really seen the Lord's hand in the work down here.

We did have an interesting experience with a Jehovah Witness woman the other day. One of our really strong investigators (his name is David - he's just waiting for divorce papers to be finalized to be baptized) was with his girlfriend (a less-active woman named Martha) and her sister when we visited them. She was trying to have a bible study with them and show them the "right" way. When we came over she shut her Bible and just stopped, because she saw us. We talked to all of them for quite a while and then she was trying to convince us of her Church a little bit. We were determined not to Bible bash or anything, so we just talked a little about the Restoration and testified to her of the truth of it. She wasn't willing to hear any of it though, so that didn't really work out, but it was quite the visit. She would entirely avoid the questions we ask and would talk about some crazy random stuff. What was super cool about all of this is what David did. He was totally unfazed by everything she was saying and kept on referring to our Church as the right church or the true church. He kept on inviting her to Church and saying he would pick her up!!! That was so so sweet. He just really impressed me, and he's going to be an awesome member. Hopefully, he will be getting baptized the end of this month.

We also found that softball is a really good fellowship activity - we've had quite a few games the past couple weeks and lots of investigators and less-actives will show up at these games. I'm actually not bad at it either! I hit a home run the other day and scored a couple more! That was pretty exciting. We've also been trying to be a bit more active since we literally sit down almost all day - studying, teaching lessons, sitting in the car, etc. Our area is just too big to ride the bike much, and we don't really have a choice. There's too much to do!! I've also had tons of opportunities to sing now that people know I can sing. We sing at ALL of our lessons - sometimes multiple songs - and it's so sweet because it always brings the Spirit.

But yeah, that's basically what's going on right now! We have a lot of investigators progressing and getting close to baptism, and we have a lot of new ones to teach as well, so we'll see how that goes!!

Hasta la proxima vez!

(Until next time !)