Que Calor!

Mi querida familia,

Que calor! WOW. I feel like I'm laying my face on the stove when we go out--it is so hot! I think we passed 100 this week and it was 97 and 95 other days. I've been making great headway to a very promising farmer's tan. But I will not complain--I'm the one from Texas and Sister "No vaca" (no cow) is the Alaskan. She's suffering and I keep chugging away at the boiling water! But with the determination and work we were able to do this week, we have SIX investigators to church yesterday! Yay! I love when Sister Schow says, "YAY!" and does her little fist pump. It's nice to have a cheerleader at the house when we come home at night.

We taught the Ro family the word of wisdom, law of chastity and tithing--and they've come to church three times and have a baptismal date of June 16--so they are firm for baptism! We're praying that everything goes well and that we'll see three baptisms in a few weeks! I absolutely adore this family. The 7 year-old J still reminds me of Asher (nephew)--they do the same things with their eyes; like how they're checking that you're looking at them. I don't know how to explain it but we are great friends! (Probably because I give him candy of each lesson.) We also had another family come for the first time--la familia Sa (Ed and Mi). They're going to tell us their thoughts about church on Wednesday--we'll see how it goes! We haven't been able to teach them a whole lot--just some of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration. They have two children--one of which reminds me of a little friend in Manteca who was our little missionary (came to a lot of teaching appointments with us!). And the last investigator who came was a girl who lives across the way from a family in our ward. We didn't really get to talk to her a whole lot, but we have an appointment with her on Thursday and she wants to meet in the member's home--bingo! She's almost 21 and has Spanish heritage--one of the first Spaniards I've met on my mission! We're excited to start teaching her--and she just showed up at church. Wow.

I went on my first two exchanges this week--real exchanges like the elders going on splits. (In the past the exchange sister has come with both of us at the same time.) It was really fun! I went with some of the English sisters who actually cover a teeny tiny piece of our area. I got to teach in English and it was a beautiful thing! I know I was called to Spanish work for lots of reasons--one of which was to be humbled a LOT. I have been humbled! Many times! And now I appreciate sharing the gospel so much more, being able to share it in my native tongue. The people that we taught are all so wonderful and I would be just fine if President wanted to transfer me to English for a transfer. Actually, I'd probably not like that so much--I would miss my people a lot. I suppose I'm just fine with going on English exchanges every once in a while! I'm going on my next one on Saturday with the English sisters in Folsom.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was perfect. We prepared talks about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Our numbers have been less than stellar these past few months, although Elder Holland came and said that these next few months would be the best this mission has ever seen and that they would essentially be talked about in years to come. After that our numbers went down and President made a lot of changes to how we administer in the mission--with more focus on ministering, thank goodness--so that we would be a Preach My Gospel mission. Well, I think we're all adjusting to the new changes, which are great changes, and this week we saw a great jump in our numbers. Our companionship alone saw success from it! In Zone Conference President had us think about and answer certain questions like "What lack I yet?" and "What wilt thou have me to do?"--questions that Jesus was asked in the Bible. I received what I needed from the conference and am really grateful for President and the things we learned about being better disciples of Christ.

We had a missionary activity this week at the chapel. The attendance was rather poor, but the ten of us missionaries had a fun time planning and setting up! We made the church into a human Plan of Salvation, decorating the rooms according to the different phases of our lives. Sister Novakovich and I were in charge of heaven, of course, and decorated the Celestial Kingdom exceptionally well--well, with the limited resources we have! We brought in lamps and lots of pictures of temples and Jesus Christ and our district leader made treats and we had music playing. It was a great experience and I think--I hope--the ones who came were touched by it.

Love you all!! Hope you have a great week and don't melt in the blazing hot sun.

kates