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!
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