So, I tried really hard to write a good email last week. I brought my journal with me and it helped me to remember better what had happened during the week, and I brought it again today but I left it in the car. Turns out my journal doesn’t help me at all when it’s in the car. So, I guess you’ll just get the random bits I can remember.
We had a crazy successful week. It was definitely a miracle. We’ve been teaching about 9-10 lessons a week, and this week we taught 22 🙂 We found 8 new investigators, and we currently have 6 investigators who are preparing to be baptized.
Augustin had his baptismal interview this week. We were a little bit worried about him being able to remember all the commandments but turns out he’s way smarter than we thought. He’s super excited for his baptism, and has continued to invite his friends and family to come to the visitor center with him. He also still seems to have a little bit of a crush on me. The other day he tried to give me a rosary. I said thanks but told him I wouldn’t be able to accept it, because missionaries aren’t allowed to accept gifts from members of the opposite sex. That’s an actual rule in our mission because there was a big problem with guys giving presents to visitor center sisters. Anyways, it then turned into a teaching opportunity and we were able to explain why we don’t use rosaries.
We’ve continued to meet with Judy who is awesomely prepared. She already has a testimony and she wants to be baptized. We just need to get her to church. Wah wah wah… Her and her kids are super cute. We were able to do the armor of god presentation with them at the visitor center this week and it was a lot of fun.
Alright, I’m trying really hard to remember things but my life all sort of blurs together all the time. So, I’ll just tell you about yesterday.
Yesterday there was a mission president’s fireside in Spanish, aka, my last mission fireside. Lots of missionaries for their last fireside plan special musical numbers or their companion makes lots of secret phone calls to make sure all their converts will be there. I’m not much for a big show, and lets be real I should never sing in public, so I was just planning on finding Augustin a ride and enjoying the meeting. Augustin and his ride got lost and neither one of them had a phone with them. So, they just went back home. The member gave us a call when they got back and informed us that Augustin was tired and no longer wanted to go. Which meant we had to leave. I was so bummed out. We didn’t really have any solid back up plans because we had visited everyone earlier in the day and we had really thought we’d be at the fireside all night. We decided to visit a potential investigator. This potential investigator was a referral from the ward mission leader of one of the nearby singles wards. We were so stoked when we got this referral. The ward mission leader had thought Hector was turning 18 when really he was just turning 17, so the Elders had already taught him and set a baptismal date. We were also told he had 6 brothers and sisters and that the mom was interested too. Then when we went to meet them, Hector was leaving town, and the mom wouldn’t commit to a solid appointment. We thought it was a miracle ruined, but we decided to swing by and see if Hector was back.
Turns out Hector is crazy awesome. He LOVES the Book of Mormon. He says he feels like God is talking to him every time he reads it. He also shared the Book of Mormon with all his family in Washington. He had left town for his grandpa’s funeral and he told all his family there that if they read the Book of Mormon it would help them to feel better. He said they all read parts of it together and that it helped everyone to feel happy. We texted the YSA ward mission leader while we were there and while he was on his way Hector’s step dad and younger siblings showed up. All the kids gave us candy and we were acting ridiculous trying to show off, and one of his little sisters ended up coming with us to the visitor center and we all watched God’s plan for His family. SUPER MIRACLE. Hector is better at recognizing the spirit than anyone I’ve ever met.
The other crazy thing that happened yesterday is that on the way home last night we got a call from president. He asked if Hermana Reed could come stay with us. Hna Reed’s companion left this morning because she had been waiting for a visa for Spain that finally came. We’re not sure how long we’ll have Hna Reed with us or how on earth we’re going to cover two areas, that are not even remotely close to each other, but it should be fun in the mean time. It will probably just be temporary, but you really never know with this sort of thing.
Love you all,
Rachel