Last week in Albuquerque
Honestly, this week was one of the best weeks ever. It
started off kind of rough getting sick last P-day, but since then I have
felt great and it was a week of success. Two baptisms this weekend, transfer
news (I am going down South to be a Sister Training Leader), and just a whole
lot of other things (like breaking into our investigator's house because we
thought she was dead). It was also a very gloomy week at the same time, because
my dear friend Veronica's father passed away. It was a huge shock. So just
feeling for her was very hard, but honestly, that family is doing amazing. She
came back for the funeral and I can tell that the gospel is changing everything
for her. I love her so much.
We also found out some depressing news about our sweet
Martha and Leo. They are having some major family problems, and I just pray
that they can work through them. They are so close to coming to church and
really taking this all seriously. This might do it for them.
We still can't get a member to meet Olga. They still have
dates for the 14th of December. I just know Satan doesn't want her to meet a
member, because she will be so solid. It will happen though. Sweet Isabel
Castillo came out with us and will be perfect for her when we finally get her
there.
We had a lesson with Oliver this week. He is still reading
like crazy! I can't believe how much he reads and watches. He will be so solid
once he finally decides that the Book of Mormon is true.
The funeral for Veronica’s dad was on Thursday. It was
amazing. The stake president spoke. I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome
this man is....he is such a great speaker. And you can just feel love emanating
from him. Veronica spoke about her father and it was incredible as well...so
from the heart and just so real. Love that girl.
Now for a funny story of the week! Soledad is ALWAYS
home...like ALWAYS. And she is ALWAYS there when we have appointments with her.
We told her we were going to be at her house at 5pm to go over the baptismal
interview questions with her, and then we had a ride to take us to the church
at 6pm for her interview. When we got there and she wasn't answering the door,
we started getting worried. We decided to call her, no answer...call again, no
answer. We peek inside her house...both of her coats are sitting there, her
light is on, and her dog is barking like crazy. We decide to start talking to
her neighbors to see if they saw her leave. No one did, and we were thinking
the worst and imagined that something had happened to her. So what do we do? We
break into her house (remember that she is giving us a key to her house so I
was pretty sure that if she was dying in there, she wasn't going to mind that
we came in through the window). It was pretty easy to take the screen off, and
then the window was unlocked. We searched in her house and couldn't find her. I
was so relieved...well kind of. I was worried she didn't want to get baptized
anymore.
We left after waiting a while and go see Refugio. After that
we decided to come back and check if she was back...she was! She had gone to
the stinking store. She doesn't have a car and these random men brought her
home. I swear she is so hilarious. She was still SO excited for her baptism,
and went to the store to buy food for her baptism. It was hilarious. Her
interview that night lasted at least an hour. She is just such a hoot! And she
speaks English and Spanish so she is SUPER funny. We stayed at the church that
night for dinner. It was Young Women in Excellence or "La
Tertulia."
Soledad's cat sleeps exactly like I do. Sometimes I
fall asleep before we shut the light off because I am exhausted and that is
usually what I do. :)
The Kolander's dog was trying to kiss me!
Kolander's are a sweet family in the ward- the mother Olivia is so cute and funny!
Saturday was a pretty stressful day. I was very worried
about the baptisms and getting transfer news all day. There were so many odds
and ends to take care of. Long story short, after using coolers and pans to
bring in water to the font, we got it full enough and warm enough for the
baptisms. A lot more people showed up than we expected. Alfredo was SOOOO
excited for his baptism and Soledad, of course was the star of the show. She
bore her testimony at the end and said some very sweet things like, "I
don't care when God takes me now, because I am baptized." And she told the
story of meeting us...I swear she changes it every time! :)
Alfredo, his mom Yesena, and Jayleen. It was a perfect
night! The last pic is Alfredo with his member friends (La familia
Sanchez).
Soledad- She was so ready for this. SO MANY people ended up
showing up. It was a miracle. She has only been coming for three weeks.
Soledad and el obipso (bishop). She thinks that he is prophet or
something. She was SO excited to have the bishop do the baptism. We think this
pic is quite funny. :)
I had to get a pic with Soledad and her dress...we told her
to wear it! She is so funny. :)
Then after talking
with people at the baptism, we had a lot of people tell us how strongly they
felt the Spirit. We did a special musical number for them as well. That night
we came back home and waited for transfer news. We were in the other sister's
apartment when I found out that I would be leaving and Sister Gubeli staying. I
had felt like that all week so I wasn't too surprised, but it still hurt. I
just love the people here. Then at about 10 o'clock, President Miller called
and assigned me to serve as a Sister Training Leader. I am pretty darn excited.
I should be in El Paso! Yay, I can learn Spanish! Just kidding...I am just
excited to be speaking it a lot more! :)
La Hermana Banderas...LOVE HER! Going to miss her tons!
Said goodbye to sweet old Manuel...he calls Sister Wilcoxson
"Barbie" and me "princesa." He has only been a member for a
few months. When he has us over to eat, he ALWAYS buys tres leches...and this
last time it said, "Bienvenidos Misioneros". I loved it!
Hermana Sanchez- I LOVE this woman! We probably stopped by
her house every day. We teach all of her neighbors and they are so willing to
help us out and come to visits. I will miss their family dearly.
Familia Sanchez- Love little Marcito, he reminds me of Jake.
He is the one being funny in the pic.
Carmen- This woman is incredible as well. She suffered major
brain injury from a car crash, but that hasn't stopped her from helping us. I
love her tons!
Today has been a nice P-day...not as many emails as usual
because we had P-day on Monday again just for this week, but I will survive. :)
I love you all lots and know that this gospel is true. Oh yeah, last night…and
yesterday...oops! So church was canceled because there was a teeny bit of snow
on the roads. I thought that was comical. Since a lot of us were at the church
already and the stake president was there to speak, we had a little Sacrament
meeting with the English ward. We didn’t get to bear our testimonies and that
was kind of sad. Raul ended up coming and that was awesome!
They canceled church with this much snow...pathetic! :)
JK, but that would never fly in Idaho, especially Rexburg!
Kimberly- this is a cute girl in our ward. We stopped
by her family to say goodbye and they ended up making us breakfast. We also
made a "snowman" if you can tell.
Raul came for my last
Sunday. He told me that he stopped drinking, but
might go drink again when I leave...he was just joking. I am super excited for
him. I am sure that he will get baptized down the road.
All the missionaries in our ward doing the awkward folded
hands in the front. Hma Wilcoxson is getting transferred (she has been here one
more transfer than me), Elder Krebs is going home home, and then me.
Sandra is my buddy and is studying to be a doctor. We love talking about all her classes. Right now
she is in O Chem and Physics and a couple Biology classes. That is an intense
semester.
The rest of the day we visited a ton of people! I was so
exhausted last night. Cute Ana and Isabel made a "Libro de Mormon"
cake. It was adorable. And then we all sat around talking, bearing testimony,
and crying. I have a very special place in my heart for this family. They are
so much fun and I just love them. Ana gave me her watch so I could think of her
often...and then I gave her my favorite watch. It was so cute. It is amazing
how quickly you can become friends with people in the gospel.
Isn't it adorable> It was so cute...we ate the cake and
then the two sisters told us how much they loved missionaries and how grateful
they are for them. I just love Isabel and Ana...holy cow.
Martha and her kids...I had a really hard time saying
goodbye to this family. They are really progressing. I just know they
will get baptized. I am planning on staying in touch with them for sure.
Edna- This woman is my hero! I am going to miss her so much.
She served a mission and was always so willing to help us out with ANYTHING.
Seriously, going to miss her so much!
Off to El Paso…excited to see what the Lord has in store for
me there!
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