BAPTISM!

Well this week has been a rather challenging week as far as our numbers. It was difficult to get lessons for some reason or another. We did have a baptism yesterday which was a miracle. His name is "L". We have been teaching him for three weeks now and he has been soooo solid about everything we have taught him. We taught him The Word of Wisdom and when we taught about not drinking coffee or tea, he said "I don't get that but ok I will stop!" 

"L" baptism

Haha so we explained a little better and he did so well in preparing himself for his baptism. Im soo proud of his decision and happy for his chance to receive the Holy Ghost this Sunday. He will make a really good member. Im really looking forward to the new transfer and am excited on starting with a new companion since Elder Reid will be heading off tonight. Im glad I have had the opportunity to work with him and to learn from him. Im impressed by everyones missionary efforts! You all are studs! I absolutley love missionary life! It is soo much fun! Even though it is by far the hardest thing i have ever done! I have learned sooooo much in the little time i have been out and look forward to continuing to grow! Stay safe and beautiful!

Great Conference!

Well this week had its ups and downs. We had a rather difficult week finding and had a lot of people turn down the opportunity to hear from a living Prophet of God, but after much praying we had 2 investigators come and view at least 1 session. We had a man named "A" there on Saturday morning and on Sunday we met at a members home and watched both sessions with an investigator named "S" who we have been struggling with. We have been meeting with her for some time now, like 2 months, and she hasn't really progressed at all. So after watching conference we sat and talked to her for a bit and one of the members asked if this was something that she wanted to continue doing, meaning continue meeting with us. She said that although she has been learning, she doesn't think this is something that interests her... I was devastated. So with one last chance I bore probably the best testimony I have yet born since being on my mission, in which I shared my beliefs about the church and shared with her the fact that we will never know everything about this church or this gospel but we can definitely know enough and she does indeed know enough. She is full of deep and insightful questions that although have great meaning and do have answers, they don't need to be answered in order to know this church is true.

We are taking a break for her because she wants to finish her schooling and so we will hopefully get to meet with in a month or two. Please pray for her and for the rest of those we teach. Conference was amazing though! I loved every second of it! Got a lot of things to work on and improve on but I'm happy to say that they are things I have been needing insight and help determining what to do. So I look forward to the future and the opportunity to improve myself! We hope to have a baptism this week for a young man named "L"! So keep him in your prayers! I love you all soooooo much! Keep up the awesome work!

I cant think of any cool puns for a subject line....

Well this week has been a Greeeeaaaaaattt one! We had a baptism for "R"! He asked me to baptize him and it was rather funny because i forgot my white tie so we went to the closet and i found this sweet old retro jumpsuit that fit to perfectly to pass up;) But when we were getting in the font as i was stepping down the second to last step decided to move on me so i kinda missed it and slipped down.. Luckily i caught myself but it was HILARIOUS... mostly for everyone else but i laughed pretty good;)

We also had one of the best lessons i think i have had thus far on my mission. we taught a guy named "C" who is 18 about the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was pretty quiet the entire time and not really all in it, but when we testified together and asked him how he felt after our testimonies he just started crying.. We sat there in silence for about 25 minutes and just let the spirit teach;) We are going to keep meeting with him and hopefully prepare him for baptism because he said during the appointment when we asked him if he wanted to be baptized that he didnt think he was ready. Pray for him. IM SOOOOOO PUMPED FOR CONFERENCE THIS WEEK!!!!! Hopefully we can have alot of investigators there! we are going to watch it with some members! Should be a good week this week! Love you all!! Keep up the awesome work!

Otimo Seman! Awesome Week!

So this week has been probably the best week thus far since coming into this new area. We have seen alot of success and miracles this week! One miracle we had was we contacted someone on the street one night and the next day we went by and saw him at his home. As we taught him he just opened up more and more and at the end when i asked if he wanted to be baptized he Promptly replied the nails on a chalkboard phrase to missionaries "Ive already been baptized" Of course as we were about to go into depth on the need to be re-baptized he says "...but i feel as though i need to be re-baptized..." We literally almost started laughing at how he said it. It was like the spirit was like here you dont need to say anything, "i got this one". Because he literally said it as we were opening our mouths to answer him.

So we are planning on April 13th hopefully. He came to church this sunday and stayed for sacrament and said he loved it so pray for him. His name is "L". We also have a baptism this sunday for a guy named "R". he has had some issues in his past but he has made such a remarkable turn around in his life. He Has dropped all issues with The word of wisdom and Law of chastity and has committed to paying tithing! He is soo awesome! Crazy news this week.......... Elder Reids visa got somehow rejected because of one small mistake on one page so the First presidency has assigned him a new mission call and He is going to Cape Verde! Portuguese speaking. He is sooo nervous. This has really strengthened our relationship. We hope to continue to stay strong and keep this work progressing! Pray for the baptism that is supposed to happen this sunday! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

District

 

I was going for "what's up?"

Sketchy painting of Harry Houdini on a house near our apartment

E-mail on Wednesday

Hey sooo I will get to email all of yall on wednesday. I went to the Sequioa National Park today and tomorrow we have Zone Conference all day so I will email you all the first chance I get on wednesday! LOVE YOU!!

Another 6 weeks in Visalia

So transfer call happened on saturday and I will be staying in visalia 7th YSA for another 6 weeks with Elder Reid still as my companion! We had a Baptism yesterday for "A" and it seriously was sooooooo AMAZING!!!!!! I gave the talk on baptism and Elder Reid was able to baptize her! Really awesome for him cause it was his first time baptizing!

 

I have been learning soooooo much!!! Missionary work is crazy fun! YSAs are such funny people they are always so flaky.... Haha but I love them none the less! Unfortunately my allergies have really set in and I'm weezing quite hideously.. haha but there was this really nice member in another ward that i met who is a doctor at a prison who bought me allegra and also got me an inhaler all for no charge! He reminded me a ton of Dr. Hopkins! haha the members here are awesome! i love you all soooooo much! Keep up the awesome work!!!!

finally got a name tag in English (was previously in Portuguese)

Great Week!

This week has been awesome! The biggest miracle of the week is that we now have a baptism set for this sunday! Her name is "A" and she is a friend of a one of the members in our branch. She has come to church three weeks in a row and with each lesson we teach her she continues to increase in faith and her desire to be baptized continues to be fortified.

She has such a stong spirit and we had such a powerful 1st lesson with her where she was crying because of how strong she felt the spirit! We, Elder Reid and I, are trying to work much harder in the final weeks of this transfer. I look forward to the next transfer as well in seeing whatever the Lord has in store for me! I love being here in The California, Fresno Mission and look forward to each day I have to spend here! I love every experience I have here whether it be trying or whether it be awesome. They are all beneficial in the eternal plan! 

 

The Zone (a group of missionaries in a certain area)