Hello hello!
Well this week's been an interesting one, for sure. For whatever reason, we have not been getting an incredible amount of sleep lately. Things keep popping up that kind of prohibit it... So last night we had a super good, intense lesson with Hugo and Johana and ended up getting back home really late. We were exhausted but still had to do all of our stats and paperwork so it was an even later night! So we got to sleep and for whatever reason I woke up really early this morning (I'm pretty sure I thought I heard the alarm or something) and I got all dressed to go work out and called the other elders (that live here close in the same complex) to come over asap so we could go to the gym. They actually answered and after I hung up I was tapping on the bed or somewhere to try to wake up my companion. When he wouldn't wake up I looked in the kitchen and saw that it was 2:00! I don't know how that happened but I didn't think too much of it and got into bed. I'm still not sure if anything happened because of it, because our door was definitely locked if they tried to come over.
Anyway, we had an awesome experience this week when we met a lady named Lois! She's an older single lady that was actually a referral from some members out in Gilbert. The other missionaries here contacted her first and found out that that apartment complex was in our area (it's where Jeff and Kendra, and the McKendrick's live) so we set up a time to stop by. So normally these kind of set-up lessons aren't terribly solid so we weren't 100% she was going to be there. When we got there though, she was there with this Vietnamese couple from Gilbert that she works with! They were there waiting for us, and we were completely taken off guard. We had one of the most spiritual lessons of my life - one of those lessons where everything just goes right. She had been to church a couple times in the past but hadn't really liked it too much. This last week she had gone with the Phan's in Gilbert and enjoyed it a lot more. She said she felt something different and she felt some kind of need for this in her life. She felt good, she felt comfortable, and she felt at home. She felt like people lived the teachings of Jesus Christ and really reached out and embraced her. It was cool as we invited and committed her to read the Book of Mormon and go to church and such. She said she wouldn't have invited us over if she wasn't willing to. Basically, she means business. She said a solid yes to baptism when she comes to know it's true and is committed from the get-go to really find out for herself and seek answers. She already has great fellowship in the ward and we're going to have a huge Family Home Evening tonight with the McKendricks, Lois, the Wilber's, and Kendra Wilber's sister who lives in Gilbert and is starting to take real interest. It should be way cool.
Lois came to stake conference yesterday with her friend, and it was cool to see so many people say hi and welcome her. She loves everything, and might possibly get baptized this month. Stake Conference here in the Mesa West Stake was pretty cool. President and Sister Howes were there, as well as President and Sister Porter, the temple president and temple matron of the Mesa temple here! There were way good talks about unity, family, and sharing the gospel. One thing that was awesome was this relief society president who gave a talk. She got up and said that she wasn't going to share the talk that she had prepared to or wanted to give it. She felt like somebody needed to hear her conversion story so she told it. It was crazy because everything she said completely matched up to Lois, and where she's at in her life right now. She talked about the testimony that she had gained and how it happened the very first night she met with the missionaries. She talked about an overwhelming peace and feeling in her chest that is unmistakable. We looked over and could tell that Lois was paying super close attention and taking note of all of the scriptures this lady cited. It was awesome.
And we had a super busy night Saturday night with solid lessons and a surprise baptismal interview, but I guess we missed out on quite the adult session of stake conference. Apparently the stake president talked a lot about marriage (which first of all isn't the funnest thing for missionaries to listen to) and I guess he talked more than most people do about the intimacies of marriage... We heard from the other missionaries that it was quite the meeting, to say the least. That night we met with this 16-year old guy named Ivan, and he's a stud. He's a super sharp, smart, athletic kid and his neighbor is an old single lady (who's a member of the church). She had talked to him about the Book of Mormon and he said he was interested. He has lots of friends that go to our church and that he really likes and looks up to. So he agreed to come over to dinner and meet with us to talk about everything. To me, that's just awesome. There's not many young dudes nowadays that are willing to do that kind of thing, go over to an older lady's house and meet with missionaries to talk about religion. Anyway, he's awesome and accepted everything we taught, but he's not sure that his parents are going to be okay with all of this. Apparently, they don't have a super high view of us and thinks we're just trying to tear down or change their faith. Hopefully they'll be okay with it, but if not we know that these are important seeds being planted and at some point in his life I feel like he's going to accept it all.
Early on in the week we were having dinner with some of our Spanish members, and this son we had no idea about came in. I guess he just got out of rehab, and completely changed. He had some way spiritual experiences in there and developed a relationship with God that he never had. He agreed to meet with us and we had a surprisingly good lesson on Friday. We weren't expecting him to be so open about a new religion, but he definitely was, even though sadly he didn't make it to church this week.
We've also made some huge progress with Johana and Hugo. We took them all to the Visitor's Center last week (Alberto, Adriana, Hugo, Johana, and all of the kids) and even though the little girls were crazy, they felt something special and Johana was definitely crying after watching "Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration". She wants this for her family so bad, and she's glad that Hugo is opening up and coming to things like this. They both made it to church yesterday - the first time for both of them - and we assigned them to read some scriptures about commandments and God's promises (acting with faith). Johana read them way thoroughly and I guess she absolutely loved them! She basically quoted them to us when we stopped by and started crying last night as she talked about the changes she's seen in Hugo and how peaceful she felt at church. She recognizes the spirit so well and totally does not question it. We're just hoping that Hugo's on-board with all of this and decides to get married and baptized with her on February 25th. So keep them in your prayers! I have never seen people get so solid so fast in my life. Johana and Lois are absolutely incredible.
So all in all, it's been a pretty exciting week. We just got 3 new missionaries in our zone (that's not too many, out of 20 missionaries) and the new guy in our Spanish ward actually was in Columbia for a year and a half and is finishing up here for health reasons. His Spanish is pretty solid, it's always different getting used to new people. Somehow, we keep finding more people to teach which is good :)
That's all I can think of at the moment! Everything's good here, and we're looking forward to good things in the next couple weeks! Hasta la proxima!
~ Elder Carlson
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