Cooling down, Speeding up

Familia,

We had a baptism on Saturday!!! Sister Toro had her very first baptism (and we were the ones who started teaching her from the beginning, so that was a neat experience), and I had my very first English baptism--Rebecca! Her fellowshippers were all there--it was small, but I thought it was a great turnout. Very intimate! Her daughter flew in from Idaho to come to the baptism. Her husband has been less active for a very long time and her daughter was baptized just last year. Since her baptism, her dad has started coming back to church and received the Melchizedek Priesthood and her mom was baptized. Rebecca's daughter shared her testimony yesterday in sacrament meeting and it was really touching. Sister Toro and I bought Rebecca a CD so she will have pretty music to listen to and are going to make a picture frame collage thing of her baptism pictures and maybe quotes or something cute.

We are hoping to have a baptism in a few weeks for a woman named Ang whose children were baptized in January. Her daughter An turns 8 this month, so they'd like to be baptized the same day. We hadn't really thought through it that much, and the zone leaders pointed out that Angela would be a convert baptism too. Wow--miracles happen just like that! So we are hoping and praying that some things will be sorted out soon and that Ang's heart and mind will be set at ease so that she can be baptized. The whole ward probably thinks she's a member already because she's been coming to church weekly since December. So that will be exciting!!

We were working with some other investigators whose husband/father spoke Spanish. The wife/mother is white but learned Spanish from her husband--hence we were teaching her. Things just fell into place for the APs to start teaching her (one of the APs is a Spanish missionary, so he can teach the husband). We are hoping the mom and son will be baptized in two weeks as well. We are making progress in East Sac! Even though our investigators are going to English wards/counting for the elders! But we're seeing progress in our Spanish work, too. Yesterday at church was the first Sunday that we've been together since our ward split. We were small(er) but I think we had a nice turnout! The pianist didn't show up, so I played at the last minute and bore my testimony while I was there. Wow, I love this ward. I love this area. Stacy asked me how I like Sacramento and my companion and investigators. We have been finding a lot of people lately who are interested in learning more. I think I will be transferred soon, which makes me really sad. I've been here for 6 months. But I feel like I'm leaving the area in a good state (with recent baptisms and a good investigator pool) and in good hands--Sister Toro! We'll see what happens when transfer calls come in two weeks.

I am happy to be a Mormon. I want everyone to know how much I love the Book of Mormon AND the Bible. We believe the Bible to be true--the Book of Mormon is an additional witness that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that this is the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I am grateful that we can read it, ponder it, and pray to our Heavenly Father to know that it is true. And through the power of the Holy Ghost we can know that it is the word of God. How lucky we are to have more, to know of the restoration, to be living in these days. There are treasures in the scriptures and in the words of the prophets. I can't wait for conference in a month.

Love you all,

kates