Should be a Great Sunday!!

February 22,2011

Hello Family!

This is the last week of the transfer and it's going to be pretty great. We're hoping to have 2 baptisms on Sunday, and Elder Bednar is coming to the mission on Saturday with another General Authority from the Seventies to talk to the missionaries. It really is going to be a great week. Everything is going well though.

Anyway, I'll just give you an update on our main investigators and their progress. But first I want to tell you about Cynthia. This week we had the opportunity to go help out at English class and the church. Their was this one girl there that we talked to briefly afterwards and said that we needed to drop by and teach her, and we could even help her out with her English. On Sunday she showed up to church, and even came early. Neither of us had invited her to come, but the teacher must of told them in the class. While there Elder Sopena and I took her on a tour around the church. We showed her the baptismal font, and she told us basically that she wanted to be baptized. It was pretty amazing. It's weird because she is a lot like Diana. She's 15 years old, Dominican, and wants to be baptized. We just need to go and teach her now.

Ok, so our first expected baptism this week is Diana. Diana has been doing pretty great. I said last week that we were hoping to baptized her on the 20th, but that didn't quite work out because it's been tough to see her. We finally got to go teach her again, and she has really progressed. She knows that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and knows that the book of Mormon is true. When we first got to her house we saw the "New World Translation: Bible" (Jehovah's witness bible) on the table with another booklet from the Jehovah's Witness church. I think she had gotten it awhile ago, but when she found out it wasn't from us, she threw it in the trash. She also told us that she read the chastity pamphlet I think a few times, she said that she really likes it and it makes sense. Later she even asked if she could have a chastity pamphlet for her cousin while she was sitting right there. We taught Diana the plan of salvation and when we got to the part about the 3 kingdoms, she ran to get her cousin so she could listen. Diana has a great desire to be baptized, but we're hoping she'll be prepared to be baptized this Sunday. Diana also has a great desire to share this message with others and asks for some material to give to people.

Next we have Ruth. Things have been pretty great with Ruth. We had interviews this week with President and Sister Bahr, and we told Sister Bahr a lot about Ruth. We've been having some great lessons with her lately and on Sunday we did a fast with her. We went and taught her the next day and she said that the night after the fast she had a dream involving the Book of Mormon. Ruth has really progressed a lot, and we're really hoping that she'll be baptized this Sunday. She is a really faithful person, and will be a really strong member of the Church.

And unfortunately Maria is not going to be baptized this week due to her current situation of still living with Gabriel. It's been pretty tough seeing her progress really slow down. We were pretty sure she was going to be baptized because of how fast she received an answer and how much faith she has. She is making arrangements though to get a divorce from her former husband, which is one step in the right direction. Then she either needs to marry or separate from Gabriel. We'll keep working with her though and helping her understand the importance of obedience to the law. She's a really good lady though.

So as you can see, we've got lot's to do this week with Diana and Ruth especially and really preparing them for the 27th. But we just need to continue to have faith and be diligent, and listen to the spirit in all things.

I've really enjoyed reading Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage lately and I really invite you to read it if you never have. There is some really deep interesting stuff in there. I'm grateful to be a missionary and for all the things I'm learning. Sometimes things get hard and things happen that make me a little more worriesome, but I think it really helps me to learn to rely on the Lord and know that he will take care of me, and that those times of sickness or opposition are really for me to learn.

I hope all is going well at home and that you are all doing awesome. It's kinda weird thinking I have a family back home because those family relations are stretched so far apart, but I really love all of you and I'm thankful for all your support. The Gospel is True, and I know this message can really bless everyone. They just need to let the spirit in!

Last week of the transfer... Here we come!