Stiffnecked Missionary

Buenos dias familia,

This week was great! We almost reached all of our goals with lessons and finding new people to teach and so on. I suppose I failed to mention the past few weeks that I am still an exchange sister although I'm training. And Sister Toro is a trooper! If I were in her shoes I would be completely stressed out having my trainer leave, but she is such a natural missionary and determined and focused that I'm not even worried about her--okay, maybe a little just because it has been only three weeks! But I don't think I've stressed enough how completely amazing she is. WOW! Heavenly Father blessed me this transfer--He seems to do that a lot. Having said that, I went on a split exchange with Sister Romero in Sacramento and her companion Sister Ashton came to East Sac where she served for 6 months, which is nice because this is her last transfer and she got to see a few people before going home.

We had an amazing miracle on Friday morning. We decided to call a woman who was investigating the church with her children but has since been dropped because she's not married and because of issues with becoming a resident and marriage delaying that process even more, she decided not to be baptized with her children in January. Her youngest is turning 8 in September and she has decided to be baptized with her!!!!!!! When we texted her (oh yeah, we were texting), we were just asking when we could meet with her because I've been feeling this urge lately that we've needed to visit her and prepare her for baptism (teach the lessons again and everything). She asked if everything was okay and if there was something we needed to meet with her about. We said that we just wanted to see them and then finally asked if she's been thinking about baptism lately. She said, "Hermana, I just decided that I was going to do it and I told myself I was going to get baptized with my daughter in September. It's like you read my mind because I was just thinking about it and wanted to tell you, but I was going to wait to do it in person." Wow!!! That's the Spirit at its finest! Sister Fernandez is probably freaking out right now--you know who I'm talking about! We're having a baptism in September!

Also this week we started teaching a woman in English. Re lives in Rancho Cordova and since there aren't any sisters who live close to there, we get to teach her! Her daughter was baptized last year in the young single adult ward and has since gotten married and moved to Idaho, but has been sharing the gospel with her mother. When we leave her reading assignments, she and her daughter talk over the phone and her daughter explains what she's reading. :) Actually, I just got a phone call this morning while emailing from another English woman in Rancho Cordova who wants sister missionaries. Looks like we're taking over English work... Just kidding.

Oh, something really important. On Saturday morning I was getting ready and was going to put on mascara (I really should leave that part out of the story because it makes me sound really pathetic) and whipped my head back to get my hair out of my face and heard a "cuuuhh" in my neck and felt a really horrible pain. I grabbed my head to keep it balanced so my neck wouldn't have to support the weight and laid on the bed for a good half hour before Sister Schow found me there. I ended up lying on the bed for about three hours, received a blessing from the elders and the mission housing coordinator who happened to be in the neighborhood helping other elders move in. My neck is super sore, and it took me a long time to get up because my head would just pound. I've been taking Ibuprofen and doing a therapy that the mission nurse told me to do. I might see a chiropractor this week. We went to a baptism Saturday night (Elaury, Gloria's Jose got baptized! And the Camachos' father who's 82.) and people were calling me a robot and Sister Schow said that I shouldn't be so stiffnecked. Ouch. The elders said my posture was so good I could balance a book on my head. It's getting better slowly--I just have to turn my whole body to look at someone to the side. And I have a cold, so that makes things a whole lot more fun!

I love yall! I feel like we're going to see a lot more miracles really soon. First a little opposition had to enter the picture. :)

Love,

kates