Hey Fam,
I'm sorry I haven't updated on the packages I've received. I got the skirt, I've been wearing it a ton. I got the obedience lesson and I LOVE IT. I remember reading it with you a few years back but I understand a lot more about the gospel in general now so it's awesome. The CD hasn't gotten here yet, but I'm sure I'll love it :)
Thanks mama!
I'm so glad for Josh Ogle and Adam Shapiro and Jennifer Prusse! Dang! They really are dropping like flies. Hoowee! Baha. I'm glad to hear about Cambria G. I hope she recovers from reverse culture shock soon!
Please smother my niece and nephew with love and kisses for me! They're so stinkin beautiful.
As far as struggles, just general mission ups and downs. Like I said last week, obedience is making a HUGE difference in my perspective. It's a little pathetic how many times I have to be hit over the head with the "DUH! Just do what God says and your life will be easier!" stick. I'm just grateful that Heavenly Father hasn't struck me down for my persistent stupidity. :) I am noticing that I'm learning some major life lessons that I really need. Go figure, eh? I'm constantly learning new things about my personality, my capacity, my habits, etc. Rough stone rolling, right?
Rivers (the son of Amanda and the grandson of Carmen) as well as Eduardo (the grandson of the lady who flagged down the missionaries on the side of the road) got baptized yesterday and it was so great! Of course they're old enough to understand that baptism's important and a major blessing, but boys will be boys so they were super squirmy during the baptism. Rivers doesn't speak any Spanish but neither his nor Eduardo's grandmother speaks English, so it was a very Spanglish baptism. Rivers' uncle who is deaf also got to come and we arranged for an ASL interpreter from one of the English wards to come. I sat next to her and translated the Spanish bits to English, which she then signed. She did so great and the Spirit was really really strong. Carmen, Ric, Alexis, Amanda, and all of the rest of their family were really touched that we cared enough to arrange that. I'm so grateful!!
We had a branch picnic on Saturday, complete with water balloons and slip-n-slides, and one of our investigator families came! They haven't been able to come to church and this is the first activity we've had in a while. The parents seemed to have a good time talking with the members (we have a really cool, really funny Cuban couple who told tons of neat stories and kept the parents entertained) and the kids had a blast running around and playing with the other kids in the branch. I hope this experience gets them more intrigued and excited to come to church.
Also, we had been teaching a little girl some Bible stories (per her mother's request...the mom told us that if whatever message we had included her changing her religion, she wasn't interested) but after the second visit with the little girl, we asked the mom if we could come to specifically teach HER. She agreed and we arrived at her apartment, hoping to meet with her and her husband. She said he wouldn't be home for another hour, but he showed up not 30 seconds later and sat in on the last part of the restoration lesson, and was quite attentive during the part about Joseph Smith. Claudia (the mom) said, "Wow. I'm trying to imagine how he must have felt. That's so amazing that he had that experience!" So we're meeting with her and her husband again this week to see how things go.
Please, please, please pray for Virginia that she'll receive an answer to her prayer (she loves the church and wants to be baptized, but after her son recovered from a bad accident, she promised the Holy Spirit that she would stay in the church her son was attending. She doesn't want to go back on that promise, but her homework this week is to pray to be released from that promise since she knows the church is true), that Nick and Cheryl will have a good experience with their scripture reading this week (they need to get married, but are afraid to because they have established bad habits in their relationship regarding bickering and teasing.... "The study of the doctrine of Christ will change behavior faster than a study of behavior will change behavior"....They are to read 5 verses together every day so they can have the Spirit in their home and maintain a better perspective and respect for each other), that Gus will come to the conclusion that baptism is something he can do to enable God to bless him, and that Ricardo's divorce will go through so he can get married then baptized. I'm not trying to keep you in the dark, I promise. Sharing each of our investigators' stories is really tough and very sensitive, and I'm nervous to share immediate successes because we also have so many disappointments. Like Sister Erickson told me, it's sometimes easier to share the stories once the end is known. But thank you so so much for praying for our investigators! Your prayers are helping me immensely and I feel your love and strength support me all the time :)
Love you more than missionaries love basketball!
Hermana B
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