Surprises

Hola familia,

We had a surprise baptism this past week! We dropped our investigator, A, a few weeks ago because he was going in circles with his questions and just kept having more questions and ultimately had to resolve them on his own because we had taught everything and emphasized reading and praying about the Book of Mormon just about every time we met with him. On Wednesday, he texted us and said he was ready for the interview, so we rushed over to the church building, had the interview, and started planning a Saturday baptism. It was great!! My friend A from Peru is now a member of the Church. :)

Sister Mason (the other companionship in Manteca) is training a sister from Peru, Hermana Estrada! Have I told you we have members from all over Central and South America? Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Domincan Republic, Argentina, Mexico... I love it. Hermana Estrada is learning English so it's been quite the reversal--we're used to people coming here knowing just a little Spanish.

I forgot to mention last week that President Martinez took our zone out to lunch because we surpassed the number of monthly baptisms in the Manteca Zone in January. The zone leaders texted everyone asking for lunch ideas and all I could think about was Red Robin because we passed it once and it's been so long since I've been there. Well, obviously I was just throwing my idea out there and knew it probably wouldn't be chosen over Chipotle or a tacqueria or something, but since we had the most baptisms (6 out of the 13), my idea was chosen. Oh no! So we went to Red Robin and it was so expensive but ohh so good--I felt bad! Oops.

We have a couple of progressing investigators right now but are having luck with only one coming to church! The one who is coming to church was introduced to the church through a friend at work who was just baptized last year--those are the best missionaries. Our investigator is E and she is so sincere and wants to know that these things are true--I love it when we assign a passage in the Book of Mormon and they read what we've left and beyond. Hopefully we'll see her baptized in March! That's about it on the investigator updates, though.

My recent convert R blessed the sacrament on Sunday and gave the talk on the Holy Ghost in the baptism on Saturday. That was really exciting!

I love you all,

kates

I hit my nine months on Saturday! My nine-month birthday present was a baptism--not bad. :)

Transfer numero 6

Buenas tardes querida familia,

Highlights of the week:

1. We had a really powerful lesson with our investigator A! We were going to teach a certain lesson and then she asked some things about the Plan of Salvation, which we had talked about last week. While explaining about the Spirit World and the missionary work that goes on there, I took out a picture of the Salt Lake temple and mentioned the covenant of baptism. She told us she'd been baptized before without really knowing it, or even choosing to be baptized, and was kind of bitter about it and leery about the prospect of baptism. We read from 3 Nephi 27 together about the gospel of Jesus Christ and talked about the importance of faith, repentance, and baptism. The Spirit was really strong during the lesson as you could tell that she was really starting to understand the Book of Mormon and what it says about following the example of Jesus Christ and being baptized.

During the lesson, she lifted up her hand to look at it and said, "My hand is trembling. I don't know why I feel like this!" So I asked her what she felt like and she said that she was hot, then cold--she couldn't really decide. I asked her if it was a good feeling, something that she couldn't describe and she said yes. We told her that was the Spirit testifying that the things we were saying were true. The lesson was amazing--and I love how the Spirit works and you go into a lesson with a plan in mind and then are directed to change it according to the investigators' needs in that moment. At the end of the lesson we asked A to pray (last week she didn't want to pray at the end because she didn't feel a need to do so), but this time she did and started crying during her prayer. She was going to go to church with us on Sunday but had to work out a few things with her family in San Jose but promised us (and God!) that she would come with us next week. She really wants to know that these things are true and will hopefully put in the effort to receive her answers!

2. We did service at the food bank! Last Tuesday (Happy Valentine's Day!) we went to... well, first we went to Taco Bell (I'm obsessed with Taco Bell--for some reason I want it every day) for lunch because it was Sister Solomon's birthday (she's an English sister)... and then we went to the food bank and helped them organize food into bags and sacks for a few hours. It's funny because every day for us is service but we don't really realize/feel like it is because it's not like a set service project. At least this is a service that everyone at the food bank appreciated. :) Not everyone appreciates it when we show up on their doorstep. We had a man yesterday tell us that we came at the most inopportune time, and then he closed the door on us. That's pretty typical!

3. My zone leader let me borrow his DVD of Mormon Messages and I've been using it a lot during lessons/times when we just drop by someone's house, and it's been wonderful! The Mormon Messages are segments of apostles' talks along with a little video that you can watch, and it really invites the Spirit into peoples' homes. We went to a member's home last week and there was a nonmember there, so we put on the video "My New Life" with the story of the plane crash survivors and the woman we met said that she could relate to that video in a lot of ways. We had a good discussion about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how he has felt all our pains and understands our sufferings. She felt a lot of comfort during the lesson--hopefully the missionaries in Sacramento where she lives will be able to follow up with her soon!

4. We went to a missionary farewell open house on Saturday. Two families are sending their sons on missionaries within the next week or two--first missionaries in the family! They're going to Anaheim and Los Angeles. I'm looking forward to hearing them speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday. One of them is R (our recent convert's) son. By the way, R passed the sacrament on Sunday! I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw him at the sacrament table. That was a really neat experience. Our other recent converts (V and son V) were called as Scout Master and Scout Assistant. They haven't been involved in scouting and are a little nervous about the calling (especially because they feel like they're up against the scout leaders in the English ward who have more experience with this type of thing!) but are excited to learn. They'll do great.

5. Mosiah chapters 2, 3, and 4 are amazing. I read Mosiah 3 yesterday in personal study and again today because I loved it so much. It talks about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we need to become like children to receive salvation. Mosiah 4 talks about looking out for our brothers and giving because like it says, "Are we not all beggars?" Do we not all depend on Heavenly Father for the things we have and for forgiveness of our sins? We need to look to others and give of what we have--which is not even our own but God's.

Love you all!!

Love,

kates

Crazy Dreams

Mi familia linda,

I wrote crazy dreams because for some reasons, I have been having some wild dreams lately. At the beginning of my mission I felt strange because people would talk about mission dreams they'd had (like teaching, contacting, whatever) and I would just have random dreams having absolutely nothing to do with the mission. Now I have dreams where all I'm doing is breaking mission rules. It's not as bad as it sounds. In fact, last night I was talking to Scott* on the phone for hours and hours and just laughing away (I can't remember what we were talking about, Scott, but we were having party over the phone). And then I realized, wait a sec. I'm a missionary. I can't be talking to you--and I think I tried hanging up. You know, it's amazing that they trust us with phones on our missions--we call and text all the time but it's never a temptation to call home.

We don't have a lot of investigators (and zero are really progressing), which is really disappointing. I'm sure there are so many things we could be doing to find new people to teach but I don't know how. I know there are people here who are prepared to hear the gospel and I want to find them so badly but I just don't know what more we can be doing. So for the time being, we're in a slump but I'm still optimistic about it. I've noticed a big change in how I react to situations and I'm trying not to stress so much, but we all know it's the Lord's work and I don't want to disappoint Him! Unfortunately we had to drop our investigator who had a baptismal date. I don't feel like he's truly converted and he doesn't have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. The absolutely last thing I'd want to do is baptize someone who wasn't converted and would soon fall away. It's sad having to let go of someone you care about because they're not progressing in the gospel, but I know the Lord will prepare his heart to receive the message again and to accept it. Oh agency. I always tell people that 'la vida es una lucha.' It's a battlefield! Satan is doing a good job, but we'll do better.

We've been getting artsy and thoughtful this week--it's been fun. We've been heart-attacking people's doors (cutting out hearts from construction paper and taping it all over the door). We did it for a member who had a birthday this past week and for another member whose son is leaving on a mission soon. The neat thing about being in a Spanish ward is that most of the members are converts--they're still learning and their children will be the first ones to serve a mission. Not only do we teach investigators but we work hard to keep the recent converts active and participating but also strengthen the members' testimonies and remind them of why they were baptized.

I love you all!! Thanks for the cards and pictures and packages and love.

love,

kates

*Scott is Katy's and my brother. :)

Really Week 5?

Querida Familia,

Hello beautiful people. I can't believe another week has gone by and that we're already in week 5 of this transfer. Sister Beale and I have a guaranteed additional transfer together, so I know I'll be in blessed Manteca for at least another two months.

This week in district meeting we had "Faith Factor," which the zone leaders made to mimic Fear Factor. Last week they had us write our fears on a piece of paper and submit them and the following week they made this Faith Factor, where we had to strive to overcome our fears from the mission. They set it up where some missionaries had to put their hand into this box with a tarantula and teach an 'investigator'--a member from the English ward--a message about the Restoration or the Plan of Salvation. The tarantula was actually blocked off from their hand, but we didn't know that. Others had to call random people in the phone book and have a conversation with them (on speakerphone) about the church or beliefs or baptism--anything. One of the English sisters reached a Hispanic woman and she did her best to tell her the name of the Church in Spanish. I was so proud. Another group of missionaries had to "contact" people (in the meantime, the zone leaders took goldfish out of water so the missionaries were racing against the clock) and if they found the person matched to them who was interested in hearing their message, they could rescue the goldfish and put them back in the water. So there were a lot of activities like that--mine was I had to touch a mouse trap and pull my hand away really quickly. The mouse trap was supposed to represent a doorbell. What I didn't know is that they didn't actually set the trap, but they got me on camera saying, "Really? Would Y'ALL touch that trap??"

We met and taught a beautiful woman this morning named E. She came to church last week with a co-worker--he was recently baptized in the English ward, but she speaks Spanish so we'll take it! We went into her apartment and she immediately started to tell us that she had questions about the Book of Mormon (the elders gave it to her last week at church when we were in Sacramento for Gladys Knight). She then went on to say that she was raised Catholic and had attended a Christian church and was still looking for something and had a very open heart to the things that we were going to teach. She is so prepared and was saying all the right things--wow. I'm really excited to teach her. I love it when we find people who are just so genuine, open and prepared to listen to our message. I know it's something new--learning about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and everything, but we have the promise from the scriptures that if we have a sincere heart, real intent to learn and to act, and have faith in Jesus Christ, we will know for ourselves through the power of the Holy Ghost the truth of all things.

Last night we went on a ward missionary exchange from a companionship of English elders who serve in Tracy. I went with a couple in the ward to visit a family (the wife is active and the husband is less active). They volunteer for a search and rescue team where they use dogs as part of the search process. The wife is a nurse. Our focus was to go and invite them to think of people they could share the gospel with. I read Mosiah 28:3 where it talks about the sons of Mosiah not being able to stand seeing people around them perishing (without the word of God). I related that to their desire to help people physically--that they could do something even greater and bless people spiritually by being member missionaries. I really appreciated after the lesson when the couple told me in the car that I was on my mission for the right reason. I'm trying my best and love following the Spirit and being able to teach people according to what Heavenly Father would have them know. I am grateful for this gospel and for this short time I have to share it.

I love all of you. Thank you for your examples to me.

kates