10-17-11

Monday: Today was a good Pday. We didn`t get to sleep in as long as we
would have liked because the Zone Leaders wanted to play Soccer. But
even that was fun today. We went to their hosue, afterward, so they
could shower off. then we went all around town, looking at places
where they sell custom shirts. For the Mission-wide activity at the
end of the month, each Zone will need it`s own shirt, flag, batlle
cry, and song. Everybody wants me to write the song. It`s in spanish.
I`ll have to try really hard. We went to write the family. Mom said
she`s sent off my Birthday package. Other than that, I don`t know how
they`re doing. Supposedly, Daddy had surgery. But in this case, no
news is good news, right? Mom did mention that devin seems a little
bit lost. She noted that Cassie has Lindsay, and Devin needs me. Yeah,
life is going to be sweet when I get back. When I cried during the
Saturday devotional, Hna. Cecilia rubbed and squeezed my arm in that
way moms have. It`d been a long time and was so nice. I can`t wait to
see mama again. We gave yet another blessing in the Hospital today. It
was 8 year-old Juan. He`s not baptized because he`s waiting for the
right Elder. But when he was in the Hospital, he told his mom that
he`d realized WHO baptizes him isn`t as important as getting baptized.
We met with Scarlet and Gustavo and reviewed the "Book of Mormon"
Liahona. They`re so awesome!

Tuesday: Today was a really great day. We had our Distrizona in the
morning. In our class, Elder Gomez mentioned an email he`d gotten from
his friend who got to his Mission, in Africa, a week ago. He said he
has already baptized 3 people, and they have 20 more people lined up
for the 22nd! they don`t have a Christian background/false ideas, so
they`re receptive. We talked about "The Vision of Baptism." It was a
letter from the Area Presidency, describing how we shouldn`t focus on
Prophets, or the BOM, or Eternal families, because none of that
matters if they don`t have a remission of their sins. THAT should be
our focus. We had to make up a song and a battle cry, butr nobody
wanted to. I managed to get somethign for a battle cry, but I fear the
swong is beyond me. We taught Jorge in the Afternoon. We were finally
able to teach him about fasting. we taught him, and he got emotional,
and before we could even commit him to try a mini-fast, he said, "I`d
like to fast this weekend." Wow. He hasn`t talked to us in a month
becuase he was scared of fasting. I`m so grateful Heavenly Father can
soften hearts. We checked out a referral from Hno. Amstein. She has
been listening to the Zone Leaders from the other Zone (she has two
houses). So we taught her about baptism and everything. She`s so
prepared! She`d only received one lesson, but she already had a date
and hour planned for her baptism. The work of the Lord is so real. I
remember saying something to her and she said, "I was just thinking
about that. Thank you."gift of Discernment =real!

Wednesday: Today was so wonderful. I just feel like I`m going to
explode from happiness. We woke up and went jogging,making a
commitment to do it for the rest of the transfer. I discovered
something--jogging can be a near-traumatic experience if you`re a year
and a half out of practice. My lungs ached all morning. We
determinedly planned a lesson for Lily and Ernesto. they`ve been
wanting to take things slow. But we want them to have a remission of
their sins! Study, this morning, was a really inspired exerience. We
had lunch, then had afternoon study time. We passed by Daniel, a guy
who wants to speak English. But the first thing he said was, "I`m
Catholic, you won`t convince me." The Mission requires mental
toughness to face things like that on a daily basis. we met with
Angelica. She`s so proud. She asked if I think the Catholic Church was
false. I said yes and explained why. She was astonished and will come
to Church on Sunday. We took Hno. Pinar with us, to visit Lily and
Ernesto. They`ve come so far! They understood the examples we gave.
They recognize the Spirit, too. They say it feels different when we
visit, and when we watched "The First Vision" with them. We spoke of
repentance and the forgiveness that the remission of sins brings.
They`ll prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th with their son, Vicente.
They`ll read chapters in the BOM to find answers to their "Questions
of the soul," and pray to know if it`s true. Hno. Pinar testified and
invited them to church. They said they`d let us pick them up. WOOT!
I`m Happy!

Thursday: Today was SO hot. I think it was only in the 80´s, but I was
sweating a ton. We`re only a month into Sprin! Dang it. Jogging was
easier today, if only because we did the "Grandpa Shuffle" style of
jogging. We had our weekly planning session today. It took longer than
normal, because we have a LOT more investigators that are progressing.
We paired each investigator with a Member, and planned out future
lessons. It was sweet! We HAD an appt. with Jorge, but he called us
right before lunch, to cancel. Argh! After lunch, we met up with the
Zone Leaders so that we could do divisions. I went with Elder Tanner.
We picked up Barbara, a member, so she could accompany us to our appt.
with Lilian. She`s so great! Almost all of my converts are results of
the Lord preparing people, rather than hard people I`ve had to
persuade. We taught Lilian the Word of Wisdom and the Law of chastity.
She`s good with the Law of Chastity, but she drinks tea, coffee, and
smokes. But right before we found her, she randomly wanted to start
stopping. But today she said she was sdone. And she said that nobody
else will drink coffee in her family anymore. She rules(literally)! We
met some new people during contacts. Lots of snaky girls. :O We had
our Comité with Hno. Garcia before playing soccer with the Young Men
and a few non-members. Savannah, the gringa, came to Mutual! I got her
to commit to go to church on Sunday! Hna. Roa gave us ice cream. I
love her so much. She and Hna. Pinar are "fighting" over who`s my
mamita. Both are!

Friday: I still can`t believe what has happened today and this past
week. We have been so blessed by tghe Lord! I have such a testimony
that the Lord is with us, and that by his power, the people can relaly
feel that we are his servants. We spent the morning planning out our
lessons. Our first appt. in the Afternoon was with Lilian. She used to
smoke 20 cigarettes a day. But in the 24 hours that she`s known about
the Word of Wisdom, she`s only smoked one, and has thrown out her
coffee. We taught her the Sabbath Day. She said, "I always go to the
Super Market on Sunday to buy lunches. But I understand I won`t be
able to do that anymore." What?! She said she is always happier after
we visit. He r husband`s even noticed. I gave her a blessing to help
her resist temptation. She told us she`d felt something warm on her
head that spread through her whole body. She`s so sensitive to the
Spirit! Wevisited with Hector. He`s always so hard-hearted and
doubting. He questions the Book of Mormon. But he told us today that
he`d been able to read a few verses. He`s nearly blind, so that`s
great. We taught him about repentance and Baptism. We invited him to
prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th. He waited about 3 seconds before
saying, "Yes." At first, I thought he hadn`t understood the question.
But then he said that he`d been pondering a lot about Joseph Smith. He
said it makes sense. He also said he had less doubts since he`d
started reading. I know that that Book of Mormon is a Miracle of God,
given to us to be able to get closer to him. I`ve seen that promise
been completed over and over again. He also said that he feels
somethign differently when we come over. After that, we went to visit
Paola. She`s a referral that the Office gave us. We found out that she
is getting divorced. She`s 27. She looked so vulnerable. She said she
needs Spi8ritual Strength and hasn`t found it in the other Churches.
She has a co-worker that`s amember. She`s so smart. We taught her the
Restoration, and she underwstood everything. She wants to read the
Book of Mormon and receive an answer. She`ll come to church and even
accepted the invitation to prepare to be baptized on Nov. 19th. I mean
HOLY SMOKES!!! Wepve been blessed so much, to beable to help these
people. Paola said she, too, felt the Spirit. I`m really learning to
become a better and better instrument in the hands of the lord. I`m so
grateful for his mercy and his patience with me. Being worthy of his
love is one of my biggest dreams. I love this work. I love loving
people. I love helping them find Heavenly Father`s love. I`m so happy,
right now!

Saturday: It`s amazing how disappointing a normal day can seem after a
miraculous one. We had a special activity with Pres. martinez in the
morning. He spoke to the Youth of the stake about the iimportance of
Missionary Work. It was nice. there were refreshment afterward. I got
to know a new Sister Missionary, Hna. barbosa. She`s from Washington.
I pretty much just listened as she told me how her first two weeks
have gone for her. those were good times for me. Well, interesting
times at any reate. We had lunch, and then prepared for a lesson with
4 new investigators. They weren`t home when they said they would be.
They`re not even in the city. We did contacts in the hot sun, for a
while, until our next appt. who also wasn`t hom. We visited Hna.
Pinar. Anyway, all of our appts. fell through. We did contacts, and
helped clean the Chapel.

Sunday: Today was kind of a let-down. We worked all week, trying to
get people to commit to being baptized and progressing. And they were!
But not one of them showed up at Church. I felt so helpless. I had
felt like I had finally been doing things right. But nobody came to
church--not even Lilian. Mouricio Rodriguez taught about the Book of
Mormon, and how it`s meant to be a source of light, truth, and
revelation in times where sacred things are befuddled (okay, he didn`t
use that word EXACTLY) by the understanding and interpretation of man.
The Gringa, SAvannah, came to Church. we helped reactivate her, at
least. We had lunch with Hna. Roa. She`s so sweet. She loves to have
us over for lunch, and to spend time with ehr. She asked us for acvice
on how to help a daughter understand that she has to date within the
Church--or at least marry in the Temple. I found that as I pondered
the dilemma, my mind immediately started thinking of Scriptures and
questions to make them think and find the answer for themselves--just
like an investigator! I`m not sure how I feel about htat. We taught
Paola again. We`d planned to to explain baptism a little more, but she
asked why Christ had to die, or what happens to the Spirit between
death and the Resurrection, so we taught her the Plan of Salvation
instead. She was reather shocked that we actually had real answers. It
was great!