Wow, there are some HUGE changes going on right now - this week's been a little different and we had transfer calls last night (so P-day was changed to today). I was definitely not expecting what happened...So first of all I got a call from President Howes and was called to be a zone leader!!! Holy smokes, I still feel so young and inexperienced - I guess that's how the Lord works though. I was definitely expecting the call to be for Elder Johnson, but it was most definitely for me. And I was just barely about to type my letter to the mission president today, and found out that he already had my new assignments in the computer! You'll never guess where I'm going... back to Yuma! That was the last thing I expected. President Howes is by far the most unpredictable person, and there have been some pretty huge changes. So I'm fairly sure they're opening up Spanish zone leaders there, which has never been done before. It might be a rough start, but I'm excited to get things going down there. Apparently Yuma's been pretty dead since I left.
We have had a pretty incredible week though, and have seen all kind of miracles. So it all started last Tuesday, after district meeting. We went out all pumped up after district meeting and went and visited Nelly Ramirez, a super nice 21-year old girl we're teaching. We had invited her to be baptized before and she said yes but we had never extended a specific date. So we taught about baptism and invited her to be baptized that Saturday. She said yes! She was nervous at first, but somehow it helped to relate it to school - baptism is the door, and you can't really learn that much until you open the door. It also means that you don't have to know everything before you go in - just like we go to school, not because we know everything, but because we don't! It's the same way with church, and i don't know why but describing it that way helped her and she just wants to do it.
The zone leaders here were also teaching this family (there's 9 kids but they were only teaching 3 of them) and had been for months and months. They came to church last Sunday and they fasted and prayed during the week, and told them Thursday that they wanted to get baptized on Saturday!! So we had five baptisms (Nelly, and then this mom and 3 kids) this last Saturday that were completely unexpected! We have been so privileged to be a part of it all. So I got to interview them all the other day and it was pretty hectic - lots of little kids running around.
It was kind of rough though, because Elder Johnson got food poisoning on Friday night and we had to stay in almost all day Saturday, just going in for the baptism (poor kid hardly stayed awake during it). So I got to baptize Nelly and sing a special musical number, and it all went great even though the people that were getting baptized all came over 20 minutes late! Goodness, sometimes spanish work can be so stressful. I guess it's to be expected and there's some things that just don't change.
Oh wow, and I almost forgot - so this has been one of the hardest weeks ever in terms of how much people have fed us. They all heard it was my birthday, and I guess in spanish somehow that translates to "Oh, we need to feed him an incredible amount of food". Don't ask me how. So not only did we have that big birthday breakfast but throughout the week we had double dinners where people would make all kinds of stuff and have some delicious cheesecake at the end. The worst was at Juan and Maria's, when they literally kept bringing out more and more food from somewhere - numerous desserts...the good thing is, Elder Johnson and I stepped it up this last week and were running a solid 3 miles every day before our workout. Not that workouts do much when you're eating that much.
But more than anything I'm just super excited for a change right now - to have a new companion and head down to Yuma is going to be an exciting move. I just don't really have any idea what to expect at the moment. I'll find out soon! So I'm packing today, saying goodbye, and we'll see how everything goes!
Adios!
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