Happy Pday

Hi family,

This week was good. We are still working away--trying to find those who are searching for the truth. We have a whole list of investigators, and a lot of them are not putting in the effort to progress and receive answers, so we have decided to drop those who are not ready right now. We went to an investigator's home with this in mind and were going to finish teaching her the plan of salvation because we have been on this lesson with her for a long time now. She started asking questions of a "searcher" and was really interested in knowing the answers and finding out that what we are teaching is true. She looked at me and said, it seems like you have a lot of peace in your life. You just seem so calm, so happy. And that's what she wants. I bore testimony to her that I feel peace and happiness only through the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the only way that we can be forgiven of our sins and feel light and full of hope. She expressed her desire to be baptized and said that she has been praying lately and seeing answers to her prayers. She feels more joy and said that work has been easier to deal with, although things haven't changed and it's just as hard. She said that her son was upset one day and getting out of control and she quickly said a prayer in her heart and in that moment, he completely changed. She said it was incredible--she didn't think it would be that fast. She looked at him, and his whole demeanor changed. I asked her if she prayed before we started coming over, and she said that she hadn't. She is also reading the things that we are leaving with her and seems to be in better spirits. We invited her to talk to her boss and ask for Sundays off so that she could come to church and keep the Sabbath Day holy. She finally mustered up enough courage and said she was going to do it the next day. We have been praying so much for her each day and fasted on Friday so that everything would go well with her boss, who is a really angry person. On Saturday night we passed by and she said she did it! She will find out tomorrow what he says. I'm grateful to Heavenly Father for the opportunity to see the change in one person. She desires peace and answers in her life, and we get to be part of that process. It feels really good.

In the mission we are right on track to hitting our mission goal of baptisms for the month, if we get 29 baptisms this weekend. That's a pretty lofty goal, but we have that many people firm to get baptized. We are seeing the hand of the Lord being revealed as we're working hard, setting goals, and striving to reach them. Although Sister and I haven't seen any baptisms for a while now, we're still working hard, and I know that effort is contributing to the success of the mission. 

I'm sorry--I really tried today to attach pictures. I have a lot of good ones to send, but my memory card and camera aren't working well, which I hope doesn't mean something is wrong with my hundreds of mission pictures... We had a ward activity on Friday--multicultural night. It was really nice and there was lots of food and clothing and things from different Latino countries--we had Mexico, Peru (I represented Peru in making Mazamorra Morada, which was SO good--I'll make it for you when I get home), Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and my mind is going blank now and I can't think of where everyone is from. I ate so much food, I didn't look like a lady very much.

Today it's raining. I can't remember the last time it rained. It's really nice, considering that last week it got into the 90s or 100s again. We're ready for the winter! December is coming quickly...

Next week is transfers so I won't be writing until Tuesday.

Love,

kates