Mayo de Milagros!!!...4/30/2012

So this next month's theme is definitely going to be "Miracle May"!

We just got transfer calls last night and.... surprise surprise, I'm staying here in Mesa! Elder Lindquist and I are both staying here, and we only have 4 people leaving the zone so it's going to be a pretty small transfer. I'm way excited though, because this last week has been incredible. Not necessarily any wild or ridiculous things in our area personally, but all kinds of people in the zone are accepting baptismal dates!! We had a super rough April but May is shaping up to be the best month I've ever seen by far. We're determined to have the best month any zone has ever seen. The missionaries who live with us are seeing crazy things in their area. They now have 10 soon to be 11 or 12 people with a baptismal date, and it just keeps going up! People are ready and now's the time! That area hasn't really produced for a while, but when it's ready it's ready. There have even been situations where somebody the missionaries weren't even teaching called them up and said she wanted to get baptized. The field is definitely white and ready to harvest. It's actually really funny because now we go around saying "Miracle May" ALL the time. If anyone is going to teach a lesson or extend a date we just tell them "Why not? It's Miracle May!" So that's the theme for all of our wards and especially our zone this month.

Our highlight of the week has probably been Valeria Hernandez. So we heard about this girl a month ago when one of the young women (Amanda McKay) came up to us and said her friend told her she wanted to get baptized. I guess Val moves from house to house quite a bit and can be hard to get ahold of, so we have just been trying to get ahold of her through Amanda all month long and it just hasn't worked out. We finally set a time to meet with her after mutual on Wednesday and she really is super ready to get baptized. We actually found out that as Hermana Farley and Hermana Escobar went tracting and looking through formers, they totally knocked on a door that Val answered! When Val got to the door she said she was already getting baptized and left it at that. Apparently this was her cousin's house, and missionaries had come and talked to her and her cousins quite a bit (I believe mostly Elder Johnson). We hadn't even met her at this time. When we did meet her, we found out that she has all of these member friends at school and that one of them told her to pray about joining our church. She didn't know too much about it but she took him seriously and prayed about it. She had a crazy strong spiritual experience and she got moved to tears. She felt something fill her whole body, something that she had never felt before. From that day on, she knew what she needed to do and started telling everyone she was Mormon. She's enrolled into seminary now and is going to girls camp pretty soon here. As we taught her she said she was very serious about this and that she wouldn't be there if she didn't mean it. Her mom had listened to the missionaries back in the day but when she got re-married it caused stress in the marriage and she stopped. Her dad is actually in England and way Catholic, but totally supports her and that's actually where she's going this summer.

So...Val, who's 16 now, is going to be baptized next Saturday on May 12th because of some crazy conflicts with activities this weekend. This is what happens when members are missionaries.

We also had a pretty crazy day on Saturday, when we met with Javier Luna, a member referral who we've only been able to teach a couple times. He's going through a rough time because he recently lost his job and is going through all kinds of financial and legal stress. The kinds of things we deal with as missionaries absolutely just blow my mind. Javier is a very visionary man and apparently when he asks for things or asks questions visions just flow to him like water he says. It's way interesting hearing about all the crazy visions and experiences he's had in the past. We've been talking to him a lot about baptism and we even fasted and prayed with him yesterday to see if he should be baptized on May 19th, but we haven't been able to follow up with him too much. He's a really quiet, kind of stern guy, and it can be difficult sometimes to get him to really open up. He did come to church yesterday though, and he totally brought his dad! His dad had some good questions, and we're going to try to see if we can teach both of them this week.

Tuesday was super cool! We went to the Visitor's Center with Milta Millan and her boyfriend Ricardo and they loved it! Ricardo has been pretty skeptical about baptism and she said he's the main obstacle between her and baptism. She wants to do it, but she wants a more sure answer that it's what she needs to do it, and she doesn't want to do it alone. Ricardo wasn't exactly like we expected him to be. Milta's such a nice sweet Puerto Rican lady and he's totally more of a gangster. He's shorter, bald, and is covered with tattoos and piercings. We actually found out he does tattoos now, which explains why he was so fascinated with a lot of the art at the church and the Visitor's Center. After watching the Joseph Smith movie, we showed him the temple and talked a lot about what we do and why it's important. He really liked learning about Joseph Smith actually and wanted a Book of Mormon. He couldn't see too well, but randomly we actually had a large print spanish copy in the car! We never have extra BOM's that big so that was totally cool. He even asked for another copy so he could give one to his friend and invite him to church. Milta really wants to take her son and grandsons to the Visitor's Center, so it looks like that's what we're going to be doing tomorrow! There's a lot of potential in this family and we pray that they will all be open, willing, and accepting. I love to see the light that has come into Milta's life. She literally glows and has been so much happier as we've continued to teach her and help her make changes in her life. She's also praying about a baptismal date.

Last night we also met with Itzel and Karen, and they're definitely progressing along smoothly. They came to church and Saturday we gave Karen this illustrated children's version of the Book of Mormon, and she is already in Alma! She knows and remembers every single story that she's read, and it was awesome teaching and reviewing everything with her last night. She's a way intelligent little girl and she's loving learning about everything. Karen has also been getting refreshed on everything, since it's been quite a while since she's been to church. We found out a few minutes before Gospel Principles yesterday that we were teaching it, and as we taught she was way involved and we could see that she was truly enjoying being back in church. Some people just need a little push :) They also have the funniest, cutest little 2-year old girl and for some reason I love to hear little kids speak in spanish. It's the best.

So there's another family that is looking really promising - Ofelia, Griselda, and Emily, who we taught last week. We also gave Emily one of those Book of Mormon's and she really likes it! We'll see how things go - hopefully we can get them coming to church and progressing. It was cool to see something click with Ofelia as we were teaching her. She finally realized exactly what the Book of Mormon was and was 100% committed to reading it. She kept saying she was going to read it this time. "You'll see!"

So that's about it for the week! We're gearing up for a Miracle May!! Pray for it - it'll happen!

~ Elder Carlson

Mas familias! Los mismos problemas...4/30/2012

Buenos Dias a todos!

Well, once again, it's been an eventful week! We've definitely found a lot of new people to teach and the area's doing a whole lot better than it was before. We actually finally got to teach this family that we've been trying to teach since December or January, which was pretty cool. They came to the Christmas lights, but we kept on setting up all these lessons that they would have to cancel for legitimate reasons. It was pretty ridiculous. We never gave up though, and kept setting them up until we got one this last week. There's a mom with 2 daughters (8 and 22 years old), and they don't have a whole lot of religious background. They were way interested as we taught about the restoration, prayer, and how the gospel blesses families. One thing that's tough to deal with as a missionary is people's work schedules though. The economy is getting worse and worse down here, and jobs are more and more scarce. People are doing everything they can just to work and live and have a job, and employers are taking advantage of it to make them work all kinds of crazy hours. It's super rare to find people that don't work on Sunday and can go to church. That seems to be the biggest obstacle here, that really prevents people from progressing in the gospel.

Milta Millan is still doing really well! Her boyfriend Ricardo is still way interested and we're planning on taking them to the Visitor's Center tomorrow. We're still not 100% sure what we're going to do with them in terms of where they're going to go to church and everything, but she's solid and will do well wherever she goes. It's difficult sometimes because Sarah (the member that she watches over) often has to go to the hospital, and the lessons and church can't always happen.

Yesterday was an especially eventful day - early in the morning we got a call from Brother Bull (he actually served in this ward a couple years ago and then came back and married a recent convert and has been living here) who's moving to Texas so we got to help him move his stuff real fast. He had to leave within the hour. It's crazy how many people around here who move in and out literally put it off till the last second and they would not be able to do it if we didn't show up. We went to our spanish correlation and then went to the Hansen's house (a family in the Dobson Ward) to practice a song that we sang in sacrament meeting in the spanish ward. All of the missionaries except me got assigned to speak during sacrament (they said they've heard enough from me) and we offered to sing, so we did the EFY medley and translated it into spanish! Since just Elder Lindquist and I sang it, we had to translate "As Sisters in Zion" a little differently. The good thing is it's a whole lot easier in spanish to translate and change things like that, so it actually sounded super good! Elder Lindquist is the only companion I've had that can really sing with me and the spanish wards absolutely love it! I think that's probably all they're going to remember me for. That or the fact that I eat a lot, as I talked about in last week's email :D We practiced that and then went to our Dobson Ward correlation and found out that we have another new Ward Mission Leader since the McKendrick's are moving. This will be our 3rd ward mission leader in like 2 months. The good news is that our new WML is Brother Rappleye! His brother served with me in Yuma, and he's awesome. Bro. Rappleye always comes out with us to lessons and is a perfect fellowship. He's also way straight-forward and gets things done, so we're really looking forward to some good things happening in Dobson Ward. We haven't hardly been able to teach any people in that ward because we simply don't have any investigators there and it's a lot more difficult to find through your own efforts in english. Plus, we're teaching a LOT of people in spanish now and we're plenty busy. So hopefully we can get a lot of excitement and member involvement and see some cool things happen. We actually found out the night before that we were also doing a fireside for the youth! We totally didn't know, but we did this fireside on helping the youth do missionary work, and talked about things we wish we knew before the mission. It was actually super fun and interactive and I wouldn't mind doing it again. It's fun being a missionary, because there's so many talks and firesides and lessons that you do on the fly. You never know what you're going to be asked to do next. At this fireside though, a couple of the youth came up to us and said they have friends who are legitimately interested in the church and we talked about what the next step would be and how we could meet them. I wish I could have been more like that when I was younger. It's pretty cool to see the influence they have.

So Karen and Itzel, who we first taught last Sunday, did end up coming to church and it was awesome. I called her right before and she said that she just woke up - she said my companion told her he would call her to make sure she woke up on time (we were on exchanges that day) and he didn't. Next thing I know she walked through the doors right in front of me and was laughing. They loved church and Karen was so happy that Itzel had such strong desires to come to church and learn about God. We haven't decided on a baptismal date yet, but it will probably be at some point in May.

We met with a family who knew members (the dad is co-workers with one and asked him about doing a memorial service type of thing for his mother-in-law), and finally got to have a lesson with them. It was interesting because we dedicated the grave from over here and prayed for her and the family, and we taught them all about the Plan of Salvation. The mom who had just lost her mom, was way interested, even though the dad wasn't terribly, and we hope we'll be able to meet with them again soon. It was interesting because there are so many aspects to the Plan of Salvation, but somehow we were able to teach it way thoroughly, along with a little about the restoration and everything else we did, in under an hour.

We taught more families than I've taught in a long time, even though only a fraction of our planned lessons went through. April's been a rough month for the zone baptism-wise but we're feeling a MIRACLE MAY! So expect big things :)

Gracias por su apoyo y todo lo que hacen!

~ Elder Carlson

•Todo viene con tiempo....4/16/2012

Hey hey hey!

So after a fairly long week, we had a super awesome Sunday! All I have to say is fasting opens up the windows of heaven. We've just been working and doing everything we know how for the past few weeks and not a whole lot has happened. But...it finally is now! Yesterday, Milta Millan came to church with her boyfriend and her 2 grandchildren and loved it! We have just had the hardest time getting people to church, so yesterday morning after we called her and she said they were all getting ready for church, we had a pretty big celebration in a pretty small corolla. This is a big deal. She said they got there late and ended up having to sit in the back where there were lots of kids making a lot of noise and they couldn't really hear much (the boyfriend doesn't speak much english apparently). But what was awesome about it is that she said she felt incredibly relaxed and peaceful throughout the whole thing - she paid attention to the spirit and what it was telling her. That morning they were also worried and nervous that they weren't going to make it on time, but they said a prayer and not only did they make it, but her boyfriend also got a call for a new job! They could tell that these were blessings coming, because they were doing the right thing.

It was also fun to teach her throughout the week. We taught her about all of the commandments, including the word of wisdom and the law of chastity, and she committed to living everything right there on the spot. She said it's going to be tough, but she feels like this is a good and a necessary change in her life. So now we have a lesson set up tomorrow evening (her one day off) with her boyfriend and grandkids, and it should be pretty cool. Also, the other caretaker that has been supposed to be coming over and taking shifts got sick, so she's been doing double shifts this week. She told us Friday she'd like to come to church, but with the amount of work that she's doing, it's not going to be able to happen. We had our Relief Society President Sister Dexter with us and we testified powerfully that if she puts the Lord first and comes to church even for just an hour, that she'll be blessed and everything else will be added unto her. So she came!

It's also just been quite the week in general for finding new people to teach. We've been really focusing on it for a while now, but this week it finally started happening. We got 7 new investigators and some are definitely solid (some are just interesting). Yesterday, after we had fasted, we visited this lady Karen who we had talked to a couple weeks ago in some apartments. We found out that she was baptized 3 or 4 years ago and has an 11-year old daughter who isn't baptized (once again, over-age youths in spanish work just don't happen - this is also a big deal). She hasn't come to church since she moved over from Phoenix, just because life got busy and she didn't know where or when church was. We had just barely been talking after dinner how we feel like it's been a while since we've been warmly received into somebody's house that we're teaching. It's starting to happen more now, but recently as compared to the rest of my mission, it's been a big difference. Anyway, she let us in and we had a way good lesson. The daughter totally wants to come to church, and the mom was figuring out how she's going to fit it into her schedule. I love seeing a family kneel together for prayer after reading the scriptures. It's like the best thing ever :)

So I'm also glad I can get by on the piano. I never really played hymns before my mission, but I've been able to play more and more since I have to play now for district meetings and leadership meetings. Our 2nd counselor in the bishopric came up to me yesterday and said there was an emergency - the pianist didn't show up and they needed us to play the piano. So similar to the Yuma days, Sister Farley and i traded off on playing the piano and it ended up working out okay. I never thought I would play the piano so much on my mission. So all of you future missionaries out there, learn how to play those hymns and the wards will love you!

One thing that has been pretty fun this week is a Book of Mormon challenge. We decided to start doing a different challenge every week in the zone, and this week we challenged everyone in the zone to give out Book of Mormon's, whether that be in lessons or to people on the street. It seems like so many times on the street we talk to people without really testifying of the real doctrine and meat of our message. I personally love to give out Book of Mormons and have given out hundreds, but we thought it would be a cool thing to focus on as a zone and everybody has really jumped on it. They get excited when we do some kind of competition - now all we have to do is figure out what prize we're going to give them tomorrow.
Another fun story is an older guy named Jose who we taught just a couple days ago. We talked to him on his driveway and found out that he blamed God for a 7-year old son he lost many years ago. We talked to him and mostly listened for a long time and testified that his son was "alive in Christ" and saved through the grace of Jesus Christ. He told us about some crazy visions that he had and angels that he had asked questions to. What was even more exciting was when he talked about the power/electricity he had in his hands. He was opening and closing his hands and bringing his right arm to the square, and then asked me to feel his fingertips with mine. I did, not knowing what I was supposed to be feeling or how long I was supposed to sit there like that, and luckily the phone rang and I had to reach down to silence it. I contemplated shaking or doing something crazy, but I figured that might not be the best idea. Needless to say, I didn't really feel anything. It was still a cool experience, to see how this guy opened up to us when he seemed really harsh at first.

We also taught this guy named Javier, who was at this member's house for dinner. He met with the missionaries for a few months before, but recently went through a divorce and feels like he needs something in his life. He's a younger, kind of stern guy, and he's also had some crazy visions. He's a way intelligent guy, and he told the missionaries before that thoughts and feelings weren't enough for him. He needed to have a stronger witness. He told us of one where he was on this train and there were 4 spirits (somehow he knew they were dead) and he asked them if the things the missionaries were teaching were true. They simply said yes. He asked again if these things were true and they said yes - he shouldn't question answers he's already received. He's way cool and we have a lot of hope for him.

This week's going to be incredible. I can feel it. I feel like my faith to find, and my commitment to teach and baptize has always been there, but my faith just had to be tried some more. We have to always realize a little more whose work this is and that we really are just vessels through which the spirit works, prepares, and converts. We do have to be pure and humble though. Esperamos muchos milagros esta semana :) We expect many miracles this week

Hasta la proxima! Les quiero mucho! Until next time! I love you!

~ Elder Carlson

Sweet railroad track pictures 4/2012

•La busqueda sigue...‏.4/09/2012

Hola Buenos Dias!

So the search continues... We talked to incredible amounts of people all week long and invited them all at least to the Easter Pageant, which was great in English as well. We went with a bunch of people from the Dobson Ward and some of them brought neighbors, but sadly none of our investigators were able to make it. We're continuing to search for the elect and build up our investigator pool and some cool things started to happen yesterday. So we were praying all day for an Easter miracle because we simply need something more, we just need more people to teach. And then, when we went to the last half of the classes in Liahona 5th Ward, two different members came up to us and talked to us about friends that had asked questions and wanted to either talk to us or come to church! This kind of thing never happens in Spanish work - well, at least, it's been a super long time since it has. One of them actually said he has a bunch of friends and co-workers that have been asking him questions and he'd like to invite them to something. I guess one called him up because a relative in Mexico died and they couldn't go down there, but wanted to have a memorial type of thing here for her. The member didn't really know how to go about it, but it looks like this week we're going to meet with them and set it up so that we can do it. I guess there are lots of people and families that would come to it, so we're pretty excited for the opportunity to do something a little different and testify about the Plan of Salvation. The member said it was interesting, because this friend wasn't interested in the tiniest bit before, but now he is. Everything can change so quickly, and hearts can be softened, perspectives can be changed. So we're looking forward to do that soon! Elder Lindquist said that in Chandler they talked to the funeral home place there and put down the missionaries' info so that they could be contacted if people (specifically Spanish-speaking people) needed a funeral and sermon and everything. It's way expensive to do it through most churches and most people just don't have that kind of money. Plus, it's an excellent opportunity to testify about restored truths and our Heavenly Father's plan. They did a couple and he said it went really well. So we might try out something like that here to switch things up a little bit.

Other good news is that Milta is progressing really well! We went by a couple times this last week and she has been able to get started reading in the Book of Mormon. She says she doesn't doubt that the things she's learning are true, but she's trying to figure out how to deal with her family's reactions. People are already trying to say all kinds of things to her, and tell her she needs to send her 2 grandkids (who are staying with her) somewhere else because they're baptized Catholic. It is a super tough change when your entire family is against you, but the good thing is that she feels the love and support from us, the members, and especially her Heavenly Father. She still hasn't committed to a baptismal date yet, but is doing really well and we hope to talk about one soon. She's a way spiritual lady, and it's so nice to teach people that are open and that truly and sincerely listen.

I also finally got to have my interview with President Howes! I've been waiting for quite a while and it was nice to finally be able to talk to him one-on-one. We talked about doing some things to infuse some energy into our area and we'll see how it goes. We're probably going to pray over some former and potential investigators, make a list, and switch areas with the sisters here (in the Liahona 5th) to contact them, get lessons, and so forth. It'll also help to get some new faces in there, and just mix things up a little bit. I've been in this area for quite a while and it'll be nice to see something new for a day. After that, I talked to him about how I haven't felt any crazy attachment to people I'm teaching right now. In the past I've felt like there's certain families and people that I specifically needed to teach and baptize (specifically Alberto and Adriana's family, Reyna's family, and then Hugo and Johana). I haven't felt like that this transfer, and he basically just asked me if I ever thought I might not be here for me, my area, or my companionship. I hadn't really thought about it like that. He said that this zone is incredibly critical to the mission - this Mesa Zone and the Tempe Zone are the "heartbeat" of the mission. He has to have missionaries here that have a super strong sense of urgency and that can really keep the zones moving. It's not about my wards reaching their baptismal goals, but rather all 4 of the stakes in the zone reaching their stake goals! There's a much bigger picture and I'm going to have to focus a little more outward and look for ways to work with and inspire the missionaries and leaders in those stakes to help them reach their goals. I've never felt the sense of urgency like I feel it now. We can't waste time, we can't not talk to people, and we certainly can't not give absolutely everything we have! I really want to teach people and families and see big things happen, and no matter what it takes, it's going to happen.

So that's about it for the week. We had a super good leadership conference this week, and got to do some fun things to spread around some ideas and build some unity. This is going to be the biggest week anyone's ever seen :)
~ Elder Carlson

•Me encanta la conferencia.....4/02/2012

Hola de nuevo!

Wow, I always love General Conference weekend! It was so good to hear the prophet and all of the apostles and some of the emphases this time around. I was reminded of last April when we heard the conference 100% focused on getting married, and how it was interesting for all of us missionaries to listen to. After we heard the first two talks on Saturday morning about families and children we thought, "Oh boy - hear it comes again". But it's always interesting to me how different people can hear the same words and talks, and see a different focus out of it. They are definitely inspired in what they say, because the message is able to be so universal! I thought Jeffrey R. Holland's talk and Henry B. Eyring's talks were incredible, and I think there's a lot in every single talk that we can apply. A lot of people are going through a lot of trials and it seems like choosing to be happy through challenges and choosing to be happy for other people when good fortune befalls them is way important. I also thought Richard G. Scott's talk was great on receiving revelation and specifically being humble enough to receive it, rely on it, and record it. I haven't been as diligent in my journal as I'd like to, but I have a renewed desire and commitment to be better and to record more during my studies and throughout the day.

So this has been quite the week - we had meetings literally every single day! We had interviews with President Howes, district meeting, Zone Leader Council, ZDLM with the district leaders, and then conference all weekend. I felt like every meeting was super good, uplifting, and enlightening, but if you're not careful you can get overwhelmed and not focus on one area to improve on. We have to be able to set little goals and do it one at a time or we're never going to get anywhere. So it's always fun arranging everything for interviews and zone conferences - there is always so much more behind it than you think about! Reserving everything, getting boards ready, making assignments, setting up musical numbers, and all of the other good stuff. This time around was unique because Elder Lindquist and I actually didn't have our personal interviews with President Howes yet. Elder Lindquist had an important appointment he had to run off to, but we got to talk briefly with him about our companionship and the zone. He, more than anyone I've met, really has an ability to infuse a sense of urgency within you. He talked about the importance of what we're doing and why he put us together. The Mesa Zone has a lot of potential, but it's simply under-performing at the moment. He wanted to put two powerful zone leaders here to get things moving and we really need to get things moving! This is also the first time they've had sisters in the Liahona 5th ward in forever (the L5 is the highest producing unit in the entire mission) and we're going to have to really help them get things going! We need to do it, and we need to do it quickly. He said it was a risk to put us together (he'd like to spread us out), but that we need to do whatever's necessary to get the entire zone cranking. All they ended up doing with Elder Lindquist is giving him this boot thing/air cast and telling him to come back in 3 weeks. We'll see how it goes - we have to be in car everywhere since he can't really bike, and his foot's pretty bruised and crazy looking... hopefully it heals up soon.

So we had a super fast teaching relationship with a lady named Salette that didn't quite end up as we had hoped. Elder Twitchell had talked to her on the street fairly recently and she was way interested! She was saying she was looking for a church and she'd like to come check ours out. She was on vacation so we couldn't meet with her until Friday, when she came to the Easter Pageant with us. We took her through the Visitor's Center and she loved everything we saw and explained. She saw a short movie of Jesus Christ working miracles and said it all looked familiar but she didn't know that He came to the Americas! She was way curious about that and we taught her a little about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. When we shared Amos 8:11-12 she said that was exactly how she felt! She was hungering for something in her life and wanted that spiritual foundation before she had a family. She's from Argentina, about 30, married, and looking for something. She couldn't stay for all of the Easter Pageant, but we met with her on Saturday and had a solid lesson explaining more about the restoration and how she can know that it's true. She said she would talk to her husband about which session on Sunday they would go to. That night she sent us a text saying thanks but no thanks, she wants to just find a catholic church where she's comfortable, because the Book of Mormon confused her when she tried to read it (she had only had the BOM for less than one day by this time). We're pretty sure her husband wasn't a fan and convinced her, because she was absolutely rock-solid the night before. We testified of its truthfulness and how a testimony and understanding doesn't come all at once, but sadly we had to let it go. It's crazy how fast you develop a relationship with people as a missionary and how fast you get attached to them. It crushed us that night, because we haven't had too many people to teach and she was finally someone promising. Well, when one door closes another one opens.

The Easter Pageant was awesome on Friday though! We also had another family that we just barely met come with us, and it was so nice to see it, surrounded by investigators. I love seeing it in Spanish and talking to all of the people there. It's so well-done and there's definitely a special spirit that people can feel as they go. So the family that came with us was people that live in these apartments we've been at a little more lately. There's actually 7 in total - Manuel, Juana, Oscar, Carlos, Norma, Selina, and Karen, and they were excited to come with us, even though we had just met them a couple days earlier. We also got to teach them last night and had a way good lesson. They haven't really been to church, but definitely see a need for God and getting answers, developing a relationship with Jesus Christ. We also had a fun experience at a trailer park as we talked about how much we needed to find humble people. We had just talked to some way close-minded people and just didn't get anywhere. We were walking and saw a lady hanging up clothes. Elder Lindquist asked me, "Do you think she's humble?" I said ,"I don't know - let's go find out!" We talked to her (her name was Mariana) and she was super nice and friendly, and totally humble. Hopefully we'll start teaching her this week. It was just a funny situation.

We also had another awesome lesson with Milta Millan, the care-giver we started teaching last week. We found out her mom died recently and she was way interested in hearing the prophet speak and learning more about him and the plan of salvation. We definitely see good things happening with her, even though the 2 little chihuahuas there are about enough to drive anyone loco.

So that's been our week in a nutshell - big things are coming. I can feel it :) Love ya!

~ Elder Carlson