President and Hermana Severson Have Arrived!

Hola Hola! Last week was a pretty good week. Monday after p-day we were able to contact for a bit and went to see Joselin. She told us that she is reading the Book of Mormon but having a hard time understanding or rather having a hard time staying focused during the time she is reading and remembering what she read. So we gave her some ideas like saying a prayer before and after, putting her phone to the side or in another room and reading in private. She is doing really good though and progressing very well.

Tuesday in District meeting we talked about working with members more to receive references to help us bring more sheep into the herd/flock. So we were going to call one member every day and offer service then ask if they have references. We were also going to organize an FHE with the bishop and our investigators to help them feel more welcomed and understand more about the church/gospel. During the rest of the day we went by investigators to invite them to church on Sunday because the sooner we invite them, the better. Plus, if they tell us they can’t come, we can try and help them resolve the problem so they will be able to come to church!

Wednesday was a really good, busy day. We had an appointment with a girl named Briseida who is the one we found Sunday who is getting to know the church because of her boyfriend’s mom. Then we went to lunch with a really cool family a little bit earlier than normal because of another appointment we had. The cita we had after lunch was with a really cool family and we were starting to teach them about the Plan of Salvation but only got part way through because they were making food too. When the food was ready they insisted that we eat with them. So even though we had just eaten an hour before, we ate again but we talked and got to know them better so it was worth it. After them we visited with a less active family for a bit. We also got a new District leader. Not sure why but Elder Ortiz called us the night before to tell us he was being emergency transferred. Our new district leader is Elder Parke from Utah! Also President and Hermana Urrea left on Wednesday and the new President and Hermana Severson got here, so now it’s official!

Thursday right as we were getting ready to start weekly planning the zone leaders showed up to help us go through the area books and organize them to find former investigators who have had either one or more attendances at church. So we set those aside to go visit them in the coming days and weeks. After that we went a ways away to eat lunch but on the way back to the casa a dog bit my companions leg. The dog barely escaped through a hole in the fence, just quick enough to bite him and then quickly went back on the other side. We called the President’s wife who told us to call the Mission Doctor. We got it all taken care of but we had to go back to see if we could find the owner to see if the dog has its rabies shots. After that we had two lessons. One with a man named Juan Garcia and we were able to invite him to be baptized to which he accepted! The other lesson was with Joselin. Things are going really well with her.

Friday we had a special conference to get to know President and Hermana Severson. It was cool and they seem like they will do an awesome job! They are still super stressed and trying to figure out what’s going on and adapt to being Mission President but they are super nice. We went to visit a contact after that but it was a strange visit and a bit hard to teach her so we’re going back another day to see if she is really interested or not. We had a lesson with Claudia after that and it was a really great and powerful lesson talking about how God is our loving Heavenly Father, how the Gospel blesses our families and about faith. She has been through hard times and has looked for help with some other churches but didn’t feel satisfied or good with them. She really opened up to us and even cried, but it was because she trusts us and told us she knows God led us to her. It was super great and she lit up even more when we gave her a Book of Mormon and seemed excited when we invited her to an FHE we were having on Sunday with the Bishop.

Saturday we were able to go look for and find a former investigator named Eva. Her son and her mom were baptized like 4 months ago but for some reasons Eva and her 3 other children are not baptized. So we started talking to her and she said she has been really yearning to go to church but she works in Herbalife and hasn’t been able to go. Since she hasn’t gone, the rest of her family haven’t gone either. After that we visited with Joselin again to teach her about tithing but she didn’t think she would be able to go to church. Basically all of our investigators told us they had to work or were going to be out of town.

Sunday like we suspected none of our investigators went to church. We did our part to invite them and promise them blessings for keeping the Sabbath day holy but because of other things they weren’t able to. Oh well. In the afternoon we had an appointment with Angel and Eduaro but they were getting ready to leave when we went by so we had to schedule another day. We also had another lesson with Eva, who was from the day before, but for some reason she and her family weren’t home. Claudia showed up for the FHE that we had at the bishop’s house though and it went really well! We talked about faith and then ate elotes with coke haha. It was a fun FHE and really helped Claudia and the investigators the other Elders brought too.

Where’s the pictures! from the boating trip?? haha jk sounds like lots of fun though! Thank you for the thoughts and I’m sorry I haven’t sent one. I had one in mind before but I forgot so I will go with faith! Faith is like a door, Jesus is on the other side but he can’t open it. If we want blessings from him, we have to act and use our faith and open the door! It's short but there you go! I will look for a really good one for next week! Love you guys!