-On Monday we ended p-day early to put on a family home evening for the branch. The branch is so awesome but we have a lot of work to do to build unity and spirituality. They all used to be in such strong, active, united wards and when the branch fell apart it really shook everyone! So we are trying to help as much as possible. So we made a family night centered on the iron rod! We had everyone in the relief society room and we reviewed the story from the book of Mormon. Then we sent people blindfolded, one by one, into the gym where there was a huge course were you follow a rope through obstacles to a "tree of life". We had to do the whole thing ourselves and we only had like 15 min on the "tree" so it turned out like a giant wad of paper. But it was great! At the end, President was waiting to hand out our mission plan! Then everyone went to the chapel to ponder their goals. We had assigned less actives to remember how they feel about the Book of Mormon and share. It was AWESOME!!!!
-On Tuesday a TON happened, but my favorite was when we went back to the miracle referral we had last week, Moreima. She is SUCH a sweet person. She is going through some health struggles so we go over when her nurse is there because she wants us to be there for support. I love her<3
- Wednesday= Baptism day!!!! Yajaira got baptized!!! I am so so so proud of her. The room was PACKED! There were so many people and MANY of them were less actives. We met Yajaira's best friend and their family and turns out that the parents are SEALED and all of the kids are baptized but when they moved here they fell away and never put their records here. We had no idea they existed! But as we said goodbye the girl Yajaira's age said "I want to build my life here!" and the mom said they would start coming back:)
Also LUIS was there. Luis is my favorite investigator on the whole planet. He is in his 20's, SO respectful, keeps his commitments, and is very humble and eager to learn...what more could a missionary ask for? We have met with him several times this week. So far he has almost finished 1st Nephi and prays every night. The hardest part is still his friend. Turns out he left the church AND left Utah because of the church. It's so sad. Sounds like he got offended and left. It is really creating a conflict in Luis' head, but their must be opposition in all things. Heavenly Father knows Luis perfectly and allows these things to happen to make his testimony as strong as possible.
-Friday (skipped thursday cause this e-mail is already lengthy)
On Friday we ate with some VERY less actives and showed them the mission plan. They began to set family goals right away to pray, read, and get their temple recommends back. They have testimonies, they just felt un-needed at church. So on Sunday we called the Hermano and asked if he could come help sit with investigators. He came right away, even though he was sick! Such a miracle!
-Saturday we went on splits to visit as many people as possible to drop off cookies and invites to church. It was great to get to meet more people in the area!
-Sunday, THE HARD WORK PAYED OFF! We hit 50 people at church! The best part is that those kind of numbers are becoming consistent! So exciting. 5 of those people were our investigators. The ward was so excited to see the new blood. There was clearly a different feel of love and fellowship. We asked everyone to sit in the middle of the chapel toward the front and it felt just like a big family. Everyone was reaching out. Each testimony was directed to the investigators. It probably made them uncomfortable, but it was great to see people who didn't even know they had a testimony get up and share what they knew to help someone else. All of the investigators did great. Juan smelled TERRIBLE and everyone loved him. Everyone was asking us where we found him and said "en la calle" (on the street) haha. It was great to see Yajaira get confirmed and feel the power of the spirit! She said "Something came to my body...head to toe chills! I opened my eyes but nothing was there so I just closed them and listened to the blessing."
Then, after church we couldn't shake the fire! We set out and found 3 news right before we drove to Albuquerque for a musical fireside. I got to sing How Great Thou Art in spanish. The chapel was packed...like a stake conference. It was awesome. I think Luis really felt the spirit! Also, that guy did 5 hours of church! 7 plus travel time!
Then, Elder Spencer Smith of Eagle Idaho did a rap. Video coming next week when I figure out how to download it.
WELL THAT WILL BE ALL FRIENDS! SURRREEE LOVVVEEEE YAAAAA
Oh and the pics:
most of them are self explanatory...but one is exchanges with SISTER MADDIE HAZEN OF BOISE! so cool that we are together....and of course just take a gander at that nature! We have been running so hard all week, doing yoga every night, and hitting the gorgeous hikes on p-day. I could not be a happier girl.
The mirror selfie is Yami right before she got DUNKED. kidof a cute before/after thing haha. And the one with us and Yami showing off our muscles is when she got presented into young womens! SO FUN!
ok i'm done. bye! xoxox
