Soledad!

Wow...where do I begin this week? I think probably with updating you on Soledad. Remember the sweet lady we met last Sunday?  There is even more to the story. When she came up to us at the bus stop, she had been waiting for about two hours at another stop (if she hadn't done that we wouldn't have met at the right time). When she came up to us with all of those bags from the store, she was walking with a woman. I thought Soledad knew her, but no, she was some random drunk person on the street who was probably going to steal her food. Usually Soledad goes to a Christian church (was raised Catholic btw), but her ride didn't come like it usually does. Then she tried going to another church by her house but the doors were locked shut. That day she had prayed very intently to know what the truth was. So, when she met us and had a good strong feeling about us, she took that as her answer. She is about 73, but doesn't act like it. She is hilarious and very young looking to me.  When we met her and gave her a ride to her house, she told us we were her angels and that God put us her in path for a reason. I asked her how she was going to walk home with all of her groceries and she said, "Just like we did...with you and Sister Gubeli." She was basically saying that we were destined to meet! :) She is so cute and funny.

We went to see Soledad on Tuesday and it was SUCH a good lesson. We asked her to be baptized and she said yes! She is so excited about her baptism. When we went by another day, we mentioned something about coffee and before we asked her if she would be willing to give it up she said, "I can stop drinking it if I need to” :) We were and are so happy. She came to our Bible Class on Thursday and LOVED it! She loved everything about the church and when she met the bishop she told him that she would be coming on Sunday and that it wouldn't be the last time! Too bad she got sick and couldn't come on Sunday, but she is still having FHE with us tonight.

I am so grateful that we get promptings and revelation to do things. While we were waiting for our ride that night, the natural instinct for me was to go to the other side of the street and find people to talk to.  But for some reason I felt like we needed to just stay there. Soledad kept telling us that night too that she was so surprised to see, "Dos muchachas tan bonitas en una calle bien fea," or “Two pretty girls in a scary street.” She is a sweetheart. At our Bible Class she offered to give the opening prayer and was not shy at all giving comments and telling her story about how she met us. She was also taking notes at our lesson the other day!  I can't even believe how golden she is. NOW I know what a "ready" investigator looks like, so now we just need to go find them! Oh, and at the Bible Class when we gave her a tour of the church, she was telling all the little girls there that she was, "La Nueva Vieja." Like the new person in the church, but also old. :) Her baptismal date is set for the 16th of November...soon, but totally doable. 

We had this creeper guy show up at random places this week. Thank goodness we haven't seen him the last few days, because for a while I felt like we had a stalker. We really do feel safe though. I got a blessing and feel a lot better. I think for a while I felt invincible there, but it is always a good thing to be careful. There is a part of town that we don't go to at night unless we have a member and a car. We feel like that is a good thing to do, plus it entices us to get more members out with us.  

Beautiful sunrise this morning!

We met Olga last week and I am super excited about her too. Her first husband died and the second left. She is a single mom of four and is just the sweetest thing ever! We are hoping we can start teaching her more. 

We did service for Carmen this week. She has had tons of roaches in her house. That is something that I am not particularly fond of in New Mexico- all the roaches! Gross! Basically every house has some. As we helped her with service, three different religions were calling her name!  Outside of Smith's, a man came up with pamphlets and said, "Do you want to know the truth?" Then when we got to her house, a different church had left a flyer on her door. As we were helping her in her house, some Jehovah Witnesses knocked on the door...and then there were us. She is a very strong member. Especially with her accident, she knows that this is where she needs to be and she loves every bit of it!

This is the sweetest lady in the world, Carmen. She can't really drive very well, because she got major brain damage from a car accident. We love her to death, so we still take that risk and let her take us places! :)

We stopped by a lady named Linda this week. She was a potential we had met about a month ago while we were riding bikes. She told us that we could come back another day, but we didn't get around to it. When we showed up she let us in. She told us that she NEVER lets "church" people inside, but when she saw us on our bikes, she thought differently. She let us in and we had an AWESOME lesson. We taught her, her husband, and her two granddaughters. The granddaughters really want to come to Young Women’s and Linda is totally ok with that. After that lesson, our member said, "How do you have all that energy?" I think as missionaries, we find a lot of extra energy WHILE we are teaching, because right when I sit down in the car or on the bus, I could fall asleep at any moment! :)

We had dinner with one of my favorite families, the Kolanders. They are awesome! The husband and wife are both converts. The husband is American and wife is from Mexico but both speak perfect Spanish. They cook us some of the BEST food and he does most of the cooking. How cool huh? I feel at home when we eat there.

Yesterday, we sang in church. We sang "O Mi Padre" to the song "Come Thou Fount." The ward loved it, even though on my part, it wasn't my best. But it is so fun to sing in church. We decided that we need to do it more often.   

Missionaries in our ward!

 

Last night, NO ONE was home. We stopped by EVERYONE’S and finally we went to Rosa. We haven't taught there for a while, because they weren't showing any movement. When we got there, she was SO HAPPY to see us. She missed us a lot and I missed her a lot. Her three boys are adorable. We think that she just needs more friends in the church and then she will feel comfortable coming to church on Sunday.

That was a LONG email! :) Well, love you lots! You and the Savior really are who keep me going sometimes! :) Tengan una buena semana!