First Earthquake!!

This week was really really interesting.  A lot of crazy stuff happened. Like, lots. BUT, just the highlights for you.
[M].  This is the brother that drank coffee.  We went over to his house again to teach him, and we told him that the mission president said he cannot be baptized on the 26th.  We testified once again of the importance of obedience and the sacredness of baptism by proper priesthood authority. Then it all sort of exploded after that.  His wife,who is a long-time member of the church got really angry and defensive. His brother-in-law,also a long-time member, started telling us that things like the word of wisdom are laws of man and not of God.  [M] was the least angry of all the bunch.  His wife got so mad she stood up and left the room and told us she didn't want to go to church anymore.  It was probably one of the saddest experiences of my mission, not because I felt attacked or offended--I surprisingly didn't feel so!--but because it hurt to see that this family couldn't accept the commandments.  It's sometimes very hard when there's nothing more you can do for someone--when they know the truth and they they know the commandments, but they exercise their agency in a way that makes them lose the blessings their Heavenly Father has prepared for them.  Thankfully they showed up at church on Sunday, which made me so happy, but there is still a lot of preparation that needs to take place. But whatever it takes, when they do accept the commandments, they will be all the happier for having chosen to be obedient and worthy to enter into covenants. 
Guess what!!!!  I felt my first earthquake. During companionship study we were reading Preach My Gospel and the building shook for about 3 seconds. I freaked out and my blood pressure went craaaaaaaazy but nothing bad happened.  
This week we started teaching a lot of new people.  We have quite the variety of investigators right now!  One of them is a hard-working mom that loves her children, but feels like this life is only meant for suffering. Another one is a woman that has a lot of vices and sadness in her life, but is so humble and so willing to change her life to draw closer to Christ. Another one is a man who seems to have nothing in his life but his job, but who wants to understand the scriptures.  We started teaching a couple that let us into their home, fed us lunch and sang us a Mexican gospel song, and ate up the idea of genealogy and eternal families, but is tied to Catholic traditions that really are a part of how they've formed their identities, both within their culture and within their families.  Everyone is so different!  It's really true that as missionaries, we need to teach people and not lessons (see Elder Matthew Richardson's talk from last General Conference).  Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to know what to teach to all of these people, because their needs are so incredibly different.  They come from different backgrounds, have different trials and expectations, different beliefs and doubts, etc.  My conclusion is that I really don't know what to teach, and I won't know what to teach, and I CAN'T teach, unless I have the Spirit with me (see Doctrine and Covenants 50)!  Like Elder Croft (hee hee, awesome) Sister Camarillo and I talked a lot with [some Christian Church] this week, like every day for a few days straight. It's true, they really do know and study the Bible really intensely, and a few of them were trying so hard to tear our words down with leading questions and Biblical citations.  But as long as we overcame the temptation to start fighting over details, and instead focused on bearing testimony of the Savior and the Restored gospel, I never felt intimidated or attacked.  I know what I know, and I know this is the true church! 
Hilariousness from this week:  in Sacrament Meeting, the closing hymn started, and NOBODY was singing except my companion and I.  Nobody!  For at least a whole line of the first verse!  Bahaha, so funny.  Our ward struggles with the music sometimes, but I always love it.  Also, Sister Camarillo and I were almost attacked by a bat!  I felt awful.  It was night and we parked the car and started walking a little to get to the house we were going to, and there was squeaking and black shadowy stuff above us. My poor companion--still in her first two weeks on the mission and her trainer drags her out into the night to be attacked by bats!    Don't worry--nothing happened.

First week of the transfer!

So, my new companion is here! Her name is Sister Camarillo and she was born in Mexico City, lived most of her growing up years in Provo, and then moved around in Mexico. She used to live in Monterrey, where Nathan served his mission! She's doing really great and I'm learning a lot from her. She comes from an awesome family. She has 2 younger sisters and a younger brother, and her family lives in Mexico right now. Her dad is in charge of the Church's humanitarian program for the whole country of Mexico! She's a great missionary and she's working hard and learning very quickly.

It's interesting how the Lord gives you exactly what you need to be able to grow. I was shocked to be assigned to be the senior companion and a trainer so early on, but I'm already seeing that this is exactly what I need to be able to grow into the missionary the Lord wants me to be. I've learned in just a few days what it means to truly lose yourself in the work. It's interesting because I see missionary work a lot differently now that I'm the senior companion in my area. This assignment has really helped me recognize the sacredness of this time that we have to be working in this companionship and in this area, and that the Lord really has blessed us with a wonderful opportunity and we can't afford to waste a minute of it. I'm completely exhausted, and so happy. I've never been this exhausted in my whole life, not even when I had my 4:00 AM job or when I didn't sleep at all in high school. But I've never felt more urgently the desire to keep working. The Lord has been very merciful in helping me learn how to really serve Him with everything I have.

Anyway, now I shall describe my week. :) Monday involvled lots of crying. Lots of it. We had an appointment with the family [was baptized a few weeks ago] and Sis. Osborn had to say goodbye. It was very hard for everybody. We taught a lesson on endure to the end, and we know that this family will continue to live the gospel, even when the missionaries leave. They are wonderful.

On Tuesday we woke up early in the morning to finish packing everything to send Sis. Osborn off to San Mateo. We got everything packed and went to Oakland. I said goodbye to my companion, which was totally weird because we've gotten so close over the past 2 transfers. Then I was companions with Sister Essig, from the English program in San Leandro. I got to work in her area and be her companion for Tuesday and most of Wednesday. She's a great missionary and I learned a lot from her!

On Wednesday I got to work in the Visitor's Center with Sister Essig. I LOVED it! It is such a wonderful place, and the Spirit is definitely the teacher there. I got to teach a father and son that came in. I had to do it by myself because Sister Essig doesn't speak Spanish, but it was a great experience to be able to teach with the resources of the Visitor's Center. Awesome! I also met a man who walked in, not knowing anything about the church, but who has read the Book of Mormon one and a half times. He told us he prayed about it and he had a powerful experience and knows it's true! This was a few years ago, and he's never met with missionaries at all. Amazing! We got his information and hopefully he will meet with the missionaries soon. In just one day at the VC I saw lots of miracles!

On Wednesday night I got to meet Sister Camarillo. We had a short meeting with all of the trainers and new missionaries, and then headed home so she could get some rest.

On Thursday, we started out by going to Auto Zone to get a new light bulb for the rear blinker of our car. An easy fix, right? Yes, maybe. We knew how to change the bulb but couldn't get it off because it was on too tight, so we asked the AutoZone guy for help. He tried to help us but couldn't get it off, so we decided to just buy the bulbs and have the mission take care of it later that day. As he walked away I followed him to give him an invitation to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon. As I was talking to him about the Book of Mormon, I heard the trunk of our car slam, and my heart dropped because I realized that the keys were in the trunk. NOOOOOOO!!! Ay-ay-ay. The AutoZone guy laughed at us and went inside, and I started trying to stop myself from panicking. I called my district leader and told him we would be over an hour or so late to district meeting (basically all of district meeting), and then called Oakland to tell them we needed someone to bring us keys. My wallet, my planner, and everything except the phone and my purse were in the car. That left us with a set of Spanish scriptures, about 10 pass-along cards, a cell phone, and an hour and a half of time that needed to be used effectively. I felt HORRIBLE. My first day as a trainer and my brand-new companion and I were locked out of the car with almost nothing. So we did street contacting! It was actually good because it was a nice way to get a feel for Sister Camarillo's teaching style and personality, and we did talk to a lot of people. Unfortunately none of them spoke Spanish, but it's ok! I felt like puking the whole rest of the day because I felt so guilty for missing district meeting and wasting the time of the person who had to come from Oakland to open our car. We did get about 6 referrals for the Tagalog program, so maybe that's why we were there.

Other highlights from this week.... It's actually been quite a tough week as far as investigators go. Let me 'splain.

[G], who had a baptismal date, dropped us this morning. We had an appointment with her on Saturday and we were trying hard to resolve her concerns about church. When I was in San Leandro, I called her and asked her how she was doing. I had talked to her after church and she said that she loved it, that she wanted everyone to be baptized, etc. Then on the phone when I called her from San Leandro, she talked straight for 15 minutes about how she didn't ever want to go to church again because everyone is rich and she's poor, and how she felt like the people who gave their testimonies in fast and testimony meeting were trying to compete with each other for who had the best testimony, etc. It was awful. I was trying so hard not to cry during that conversation. During our lesson with [G] on Saturday, it was the same thing. She's also stopped reading the Book of Mormon and told us straight up that she didn't want to come to church. We tried to teach the doctrinal importance of church attendance, but she has so many problems, in her family, with her self-esteem, with her preoccupations on being at church, that nothing changed. This morning she called me and said that she doesn't have time to meet with us and that she'll call us when she's ready. Sad. :( She is such a good woman, and she will get baptized someday.

[M] had a baptismal date last week. It was a miracle because he has been investigating the church for FOREVER. When I was in San Leandro I called him and called him but he never answered. When we had an appointment with him, the first thing I did was follow up on the word of wisdom. The requirement for baptism in this mission is that they have to live the WOW for 3 weeks at minimum. He is within those three weeks. He told me that every morning he's still been drinking coffee with his milk at breakfast. I was so, so disappointed and sad when he told me that. He knows the word of wisdom, and Sister Osborn and I had made it very clear that he was within his 3 weeks. He wants to be baptized on the 26th because he wants to be baptized by the former bishop of the ward, who is moving permanently to Chile in 3.5 weeks. When we told him he couldn't get baptized on the 26th, he got really angry, as did his wife, and he said that if he didn't get baptized on the 26th, he wouldn't get baptized at all. They talked about how nobody is perfect and how there are lots of members who drink coffee. That's probably true. All we could do is testify of the importance of obedience and the restored gospel--that the word of wisdom is a commandment from God. The saddest part of this is not that [M] won't be getting baptized on the 26th, but that he's not repenting. He doesn't have a desire to leave behind the coffee in favor of the gospel. I actually cried during the lesson, which freaked me out, and Marlon kept saying "No llore, no llore" (don't cry, don't cry). The mission is hard! It's emotionally very difficult. But the gospel is true, and there's nothing I'd rather be doing than serving a mission!

Hilarous story of the week: Locking the keys in the car, aaaaand, a guy telling us to be careful in a certain neighborhood and to not go into a certain apartment complex. I looked to the apartment complex where he was pointing and it was [the apartment complex of the family who was baptized a few weeks ago] :) Hahahahha.

new transfer, new missionary! (Feb 6th)

We went to the temple with the family [who were just baptized a few weeks ago]! The mom and the older daughter got their recommends to go and do baptisms for the dead last week, so on Thursday we got to accompany them to the temple. It was so amazing to be in the temple with them, all of us dressed in white. They got to do a lot of names--close to 20 people and they were so excited to be able to participate in this sacred work. Spanish-speaking temple workers came so they could participate in confirmations and baptisms in Spanish. How great! I was surprised at how much it meant to me to be able to have this experience completely in my mission language, which I have come to love, and with people that have come to mean the world to me. It was a heavenly experience and such a blessing, for me and for the Aviles. They are truly dedicated to this new life they've chosen and they understand the sanctity of doing work for the dead. It was a huge testimony builder for me to be able to have this experience. It makes me sad that I didn't go and do baptisms for the dead more often! Go to the temple! Everybody!!

So, like Derek explained, on Saturday we get transfer calls, and if you are to receive a special assignment, the mission president calls you and extends the call. Saturday afternoon we were innocently eating bunuelos (basically a deep-fried tortilla with cinnamon sugar.... tastes like a churro!) when President Wade's ringtone started going off. I picked up the phone and President Wade said, "Hello Sister Croft, I have a special assignment for you. You'll be training a new missionary. Isn't that exciting?" I was literally in shock, literally shaking. I told him it was exciting and that I'd gladly accept the assignment. I was completely surprised. Just that morning Sister Osborn had said as we finished companionship study, "Ok hermana, the 12 week program is over. You're officially trained!" And then hours later Pres. Wade told me I'd be starting the 12 week program over, but on the trainer's side. What?! And then Sister Osborn was called to be a Sister Trainer! The sister trainers are a companionship who are assigned to go on exchanges with every sister in the mission--Chinese, English, Tongan, Spanish, Tagalog--in every area of the mission. A huge responsibility and a huge challenge! She is so prepared for it and she's going to be great! I'm so sad to see her leave though. We've been crying all day because it's hard to see this companionship come to an end! I'd imagine this is a problem that only sister missionaries have (the continuous weeping)... but it's ok! We're both excited for what lies ahead. I'm extremely humbled by the new assignment I've been given, because it comes with a lot of responsibility. All I can do is trust that the Lord has given me this calling because He knows it's what this new sister and I both need, and because He knows we have specific work to do in Richmond together. Please pray for me, and for Hermana Osborn! And for my new companion, whomever she is! I'll meet her on Wednesday night.

This has definitely been a week of refinement for me in the lessons we've taught. We have several investigators who have accepted baptismal dates for the beginning of March, but who have major difficulties they need to overcome. I'm coming to better understand my role as a missionary over the course of this week. My role as a missionary is to invite others to come to Christ, which is not an easy thing for many people. They have to experience major changes in every aspect of their lives as they learn about and accept the gospel--changes that I can't imagine having to make. It's sometimes hard to stay in my role as a missionary, and not to step into the role of a therapist or a casual friend, especially considering the training I received in school. It's been humbling to have to rely on the Spirit to tell me what to do and what to say to best represent the Savior in the capacity in which I've been called to serve. I've noticed this week, however, that I'm "settling" more into my role as a missionary. I feel like a missionary. I'm even a missionary in all of my dreams at night, even if I'm not in California in my dreams! I'm coming to understand the sacred nature of my call, and to accept and love it. At first it was hard to admit to myself that I'd committed myself to living this life, which is so completely different from anything else I've ever done, or anything that I ever saw myself doing, but that perspective is changing and I can finally admit to myself that I love being a missionary. I love being set apart to represent the Savior and to love and serve the people here in this area.

Almost the end of January?! (Jan 30)

This has been an interesting week. There was a point this week at which we had zero investigators. It's hard to literally have an empty teaching pool. Sister Osborn and I were pretty down on Thursday night because it felt like nobody in the world wanted to talk to us. More than that, it was sad because some of the people we dropped were people that I knew had felt the Spirit and really could have progressed in the gospel, but chose not to at this time.

I'll just talk about one of the investigators we dropped because it was an interesting experience for me. This man's name is Leonel. We'd been teaching him for about 3 weeks and he really is a special person. We'd invited him to be baptized several times, and he said he wanted to be baptized, but he couldn't accept a baptismal date because he wanted to be sure, and very prepared, before getting baptized. He seemed afraid of committing sins after baptism. He was so afraid that he couldn't accept baptism because he didn't feel like he was ready to be good enough to enter a covenant. This comes from a good man who loves his children and is an excellent father, and who was reading from the Book of Mormon and even taking notes on his reading. I think he knows the Book of Mormon is true, because he trusts it as a source of knowledge from God and understood the importance of baptism by reading the words of Christ. This pattern of discussion--of inviting him to be baptized, and of him telling us that he wants to but not making the necessary changes or accepting the baptismal invitation--had continued for several lessons, and we had to help him make a decision. We taught him on Tuesday night and invited him to pray, make a decision to either prepare for baptism or not meet with us anymore, and then talk to us the next day. I prayed so hard for him that night--that he would pray, and that he would choose to prepare for baptism. We called him the next day, and he told us that he had prayed, but that he didn't feel like he could make the decision to be baptized right now. It's always hard to drop investigators, but saying goodbye to Leonel over the phone was especially hard. It breaks my heart, because I think the thing that stopped him from accepting baptism is one of Satan's greatest lies--that we can't repent and that we aren't good enough to come unto Christ. Leonel will be baptized someday, I know it, but unfortunately we can't continue teaching him. Hopefully in the near future he'll be able to start meeting with missionaries again.
We've been working hard on finding people to teach, which can be frustrating, but the Lord is putting people in our path. It's been one of the most humbling weeks of my mission thus far, but I've learned so much about WHY it's important to share the gospel. This morning as I was reading a conference talk, "The Divine Gift of Repentance," this hit me hard in relation to my responsibility as a missionary to invite others to repent:

I gratefully acknowledge and testify that the incomprehensible suffering, death, and Resurrection of our Lord “bringeth to pass the condition of repentance” (Helaman 14:18). The divine gift of repentance is the key to happiness here and hereafter. In the Savior’s words and in deep humility and love, I invite all to “repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). I know that in accepting this invitation, you will find joy both now and forever.

As I read this talk this morning, I felt and understood the doctrine of repentance in a very different way than I ever have before. What a wonderful gift we have--repentance! What a wonderful thing, a thing that so often we're afraid of or don't use! That was the point of the Savior's sacrifice--to provide a means for us to be able to repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father.

Bursitis, recent converts, and the mission baby (Jan 23)

So this was a great week. It's been raining like crazy! It's great fun. I am so grateful that we have a car, because the rain here is really strong sometimes. Apparently it's the start of the rainy season, so I might have to buy some boots. :)

Highlights of the week: exchanges, confirmations, and the mission baby!

First, exchanges! In my mission there are two sisters who are assigned to be sister trainers. They go on exchanges with all of the sisters in the mission to help them learn, kind of like Derek gets to go on exchanges with the people in his district. This week, I went on an exchange with Sister Wakefield, who is wonderful. My companion left and went to San Mateo to be with Sister Wakefield's companion, and Sister Wakefield came here to Richmond. That means that I got to be senior companion for a day. Scary! I really was scared at first, because it's definitely different to be the one that's in charge of the area for the day, but it ended up being one of the best experiences of my mission thus far. We started our exchange on Friday afternoon at the Visitor's Center, and then I had to drive (scarrryyyyyyy, haven't driven since October, and there was torrential rain and our car is ginormous compared to the Bug, AND we're in California) us back to Richmond. Thankfully, we made it there alive and I didn't get lost or crash the car. We were extremely blessed to have appointments all night long. Every single one of our appointments happened as planned, which is something that very rarely happens. I think the Lord knew that I would have a tough time handling driving around in the dark and rain working on our backup plan! We had a lot of excellent appointments, and I learned so much from Sister Wakefield.

On Saturday we had an appointment with a lady that we met on the street. We went in and sang "I am a Child of God," and when Sister Wakefield asked this lady about how she felt about the song, the lady told us that she doesn't believe everybody is a child of God, and that only people who study the Bible are children of God. It was astounding to feel the ABSENCE of the Spirit when she said that. We knew right off it was going to be a tough appointment. This lady was a nice person, but didn't want to learn about the Restoration. She wanted to "Bible Bash," as they say, and it was so hard to hear her rip apart the Book of Mormon, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the nature of our Heavenly Father. Sister Wakefield and I tried our hardest to boldly testify without being mean or starting to fight with her. When we left the appointment, I felt exhausted. We had a member with us, a 16-year-old girl from the ward, and she said, "Wow, I'm not sure if I want to go on a mission anymore!" We had to reassure her that things like that very rarely happen, and that almost every appointment we have is spiritually edifying because there really are many people who want to learn and feel the Holy Ghost. It's true--that's really the only experience I've had like that. But I'm really glad that we had that appointment. Sister Wakefield and I talked about it afterward and she said that things like that are a chance to really draw closer to the Savior by following His example. He was blasphemed, spit upon, and abused in every way, but He exercised patience and restraint, and always focused on doing the will of His Father before He focused on defending Himself. It's the same thing with missionary work, and with any other instance in which persecutions come. The example of the Savior is always the example to follow, and the Holy Ghost will always tell us, if we listen, what to do.

Another thing I learned from exchanges--gratitude! I'm so grateful for Sister Osborn and everything she does to work hard as the senior companion. There's a lot to think about and do, and she does wonderfully every day. I didn't realize how much she does until I had to take the lead. I'm really blessed to have a great companion. I'm grateful for this exchange because I learned a lot about myself and I can see that I've grown and changed in a lot of ways, and that the Lord has really helped me be prepared to fulfill my calling.

On Sunday the [members of the family that was baptized] were confirmed! It's so great to see how much they've grown since we started teaching them just over a month ago. They're members of the Church! They have the gift of the Holy Ghost! What an incredible blessing. They're so solid and they have strong testimonies. On Sunday night the mission held a fireside called Porque Yo Creo (Why I Believe), which is an opportunity for recent converts to bear testimony. All three of our beautiful recent converts bore their testimonies. It was so amazing to hear each of them say, "Yo testifico que esta es la iglesia verdadera" (I testify that this is the true church). What an amazing thing.

Sister Wade, our mission president's wife, had her baby! We have a mission baby, a little boy. They haven't named him officially yet, but he's unofficially Elder Wade, jaja, and also Jacob David Wade, since he was their firstborn in the wilderness. :)

Other news, I can join the family of running injuries. BURSITIS, dun dun dunnnnnn. I did three days of hard runs in a row and I guess that's the price I pay for having bad form. It's so annoying! It's not too bad, but it's super annoying to go up and down stairs and whatever. Any tips, running addicts?

A Baptism Times 3

January 16 letter

So, this was a good week! It was a very stressful week, but it ended with a baptism, which makes it completely worth it. Our cute little family got baptized! It was beautiful. There was a great turn out from the ward, and the chapel was filled at the baptism. We had a few moments of panic, like [the mother] didn't show up until exactly 5:00 (when the meeting was supposed to start) because they were delayed 30 minutes trying to get her elderly mother into the car, and when her brother, who was the one performing the baptisms, didn't show up until 5:10. It worked out great though and it was awesome. The little girl in the family, age 8, was so excited to get baptized that when she walked back to enter the font, she started jumping up and down and squealing. :D So CUTE! It was truly beautiful to see them enter into the covenant of baptism. Having grown up as a member of the church, I don't think I fully realized the sacredness of baptism, but I'm starting to learn more about how our Heavenly Father feels about those who enter into that covenant. It's the beginning of a life dedicated to following the example of Jesus Christ, and it was so amazing to see the [family] dressed in white, ready to start on their path toward returning to live with their Heavenly Father.

It's amazing to me how much you can love people that you've barely met. Like Derek said, it's usually hard for me to let people get close to me, or to let myself get close to them. I'm a "slow mover" when it comes to relationships, but I really feel like the Lord has been merciful with me in letting me feel love for the people here in my mission. We started teaching the [family] just a little over a month ago, but I feel like I've known them my whole life, and when they got baptized, I thought my heart might explode because I felt so much love for them. And even as I type this I'm astounded at how much I feel for them, and how happy I am that they've chosen to make covenants with their Heavenly Father. It blows my mind to think how happy He is for them, and how much love He has--perfect love--for this little family, and for all of us. I think that's the part of my testimony that has grown the most since being called as a missionary--that God really is our loving Heavenly Father. In Preach My Gospel, "God is our loving Heavenly Father" is the first heading of the first lesson, and I can see why. If we understand that God loves us and is literally our Father, then the gospel means so much more. The doctrine of Christ--faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end--means so much more, as does the Atonement, and the Plan of Salvation, and each of the commandments we've been given.

Like Derek's companionship, our companionship is now back to the finding stage. As the [family] progressed, most of our other investigators stopped progressing. Finding is very tough, and sometimes we feel like we've exhausted all of our resources. We were on a sort of missionary high with the [family,] and now we're getting back to the "dirty work" of being a missionary. Like Derek said, sometimes it's hard to talk to everybody, but that's the way the Lord has told us to do the work, so that's what we have to do. It's frustrating and sad to see people choose to say no to the gospel, especially after they've felt the Spirit and know that it's a good thing, but all we can do is invite and invite and invite. Sometimes we have days when we have 3 solid hours of tracting in our schedule, the thought of which almost makes me want to throw in the towel, but I've realized in the past week that a lot of it has to do with attitude, humility, and faith. When I look at tracting and other forms of finding as an opportunity to tell people about the love that their Savior has for them, rather than as a 3 hour block of cold hands and awkward conversations, it's a lot easier to see the miracles that happen when we put forth an honest effort to do the work the way the Lord has asked us to do it.
...

In other news, I finished the Book of Mormon again this week, and--like always--my testimony of this book has grown ten fold. I am kicking myself for all of the nights before my mission when I decided I was too tired to read my scriptures, or that I had too much homework or whatever. That's one habit I am promising I will keep-- to read and study the Book of Mormon daily!

Stake Conference, New Investigators

This week was truly one of the best weeks here. We were blessed with many, many miracles and were able to start teaching a lot of new people. I also realized how blessed I am to be in this ward. The ward here is truly amazing and I feel blessed to be able to get to know them and to see how great they are at doing missionary work.

This week was a little different because we had stake conference. Stake Conference here is different from how it is at home. At home, we can walk to the stake center in just as much time as it takes to get to the chapel. Here, we had to drive 40 minutes to a different city to get to the stake center. Thankfully, we were able to find rides for [the family we're teaching]. The mom and the uncle actually came to the adult session on Saturday night! Amazing. A lot of lifetime members--here and in Utah--don't even do that! The conference was great and we were so happy our investigators came. For the Sunday session, we had FOUR investigators at stake conference. Such a huge blessing. We had the 3 members of the [family], and then a new investigator.... We met her in the street last week and she told us she wants to start going to a church. I was worried what she would think about sitting through two solid hours of talks because she's 19 and used to go to Christian churches with rock bands and stuff, but I really had no reason to worry. I talked to her after and she said, "I really liked it! I think I'll come next week! I like how it's really peaceful and I liked the talks." She's awesome. We taught her later Sunday night and she said (paraphrased), "Yeah, I'm excited to start going to your church. I know I'll have to make a lot of changes but I'm excited. And I know I have to read the Book of Mormon and study a lot so I can decide to be baptized." We invited her to be baptized, and she accepted, but didn't accept a date. We're really happy to be teaching her because she truly is prepared.

We had another investigator accept a baptismal date during our first lesson with us. It was kind of a weird experience for us. We'd been trying to meet with this lady... for weeks. We received her name as a referral and tried for a long time to contact her, but without any luck. On Thursday we went and knocked on her door, just expecting to set up an appointment to come back another day, and she opened it and let us in! Crazy. That never happens! She took us into her living room, sat us down, fed us cucumbers with salt (much to the chagrin of Hermana Osborn, who is not a fan of this delicious green vegetable), and we taught the first lesson to her. The Spirit was definitely there. She told us, "Si, creo que todo eso es verdad." "Yes, I believe all of that is true." We invited her to be baptized at the end of this month and she accepted. We told her about the word of wisdom and she committed to stop drinking coffee. We walked out of the appointment a little bit in shock that everything had happened so quickly! Unfortunately, as has happened with several of our past investigators who have accepted baptismal dates, we haven't been able to have contact with her since that night. We're worried, but we also know that it's going to be up to her to make the choice to prepare for baptism, and all we can do is continuously invite her. Our mission president said in stake conference, quoting Preach My Gospel, that our success is measured by whether or not we invite people to receive the restored gospel. It's true! We experience a lot of disappointment every day when people choose not to accept the gospel, but we see through the miracles we experience daily that the Lord is aware of our efforts to be obedient and to always invite people to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The [family we're teaching] is doing great. We went over the baptismal interview questions with them and they are incredibly prepared to be baptized this Sunday! I feel so blessed to know them. They are amazing. They already have desires to share the gospel with people, and they haven't even been baptized yet! The mom of the family said, "The people out there don't have what we have! We need to be examples for them!" That's really a sign of true conversion--to recognize the blessings of the gospel, and then to have a desire to live in such a way that others can recognize those blessings. They will be interviewed for baptism tomorrow night, and next week I'll be writing all about how their baptism went!

Other comments from this week: I feel so weird around white people! I was shocked at how strange I felt when I walked into the stake center and was surrounded by people speaking English. I didn't realize how immersed I've been in Latino culture until I felt immediately awkward around white people. An odd phenomenon.