Week Dos Back in ALB

So last P-day was so much fun, because there were actually sisters to play basketball!   Including Sister Shaner (we claim that we are cousins).  Later that night, we were supposed to have an appointment with this awesome guy named Hector who we met who apparently had moved, so we had to go to our back up plan which was Miguel and his cute daughters. It went so great! At first I wasn’t totally sure we would get in, because the girls kept saying, “My dad said he is eating.” Then after chatting with the little girls outside for a while, he finally came out!

Let me remind you that the first night we met him he wasn’t entirely friendly, but this night, he was totally different. We all sat down outside on the porch and started the lesson. We really focused on how to begin teaching and telling them that we were going to invite them to do things, like baptism, etc. It went fantastic! Everything did. Angela had great questions, and they lead perfectly into the discussion about prophets. I am pretty sure they understood it, because in the end when we asked Miguel if he wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized he said yes!

Apparently they have family in Utah and he has been exposed to this before. The thing is that he was so intrigued by Joseph Smith’s story, and he wanted to read what we left him.  Then he said, “Hey can you show me in the book where it talks about what happens after this life. “We said, “Perfect, we will get there next time,” and left him with Alma 40. He was just doing what any great single dad would do. I truly feel like he is sincere about this, which made it awesome. Hermana Garcia was there and she added a ton too. We are hoping to get him some male friendship ASAP! The little girls are really excited about everything, including church. As we were leaving, Angela gave me something she had made me…a cute ducktape wallet with mustaches on it!  J Love my cute little Frozen singing girl!

Deiri is doing pretty well. We had a dinner with her this week. LOVE HER! She looked gorgeous. It was Brandon’s graduation and she fed us delicious food. Then we had a little lesson with her. We actually ended up sneakily asking her the baptismal interview questions that she answered perfectly, without fail. We just wanted to show her how ready she was. Then she went off venting about her mom and family and how horribly they have treated her. I feel so bad for her. I really hope she can move on from this. I don’t think she will be able to take the step of baptism until she does.

It is so fun to have Isabel here in the branch again too. She was so sweet in telling us about missionaries. She loves us. She talked about how certain missionaries come and can open people up and be perfect for that specific person. She said that with us, she remembers that first day that Hermana Gubeli and I showed up. And how instantly a “click” happened and Ana started opening up, and then finally baptized. I just love those ladies.

One day we were leaving a trailer park and we saw this woman and thought, we totally have to come back and meet her. So, we wrote down her trailer number. Yesterday we were in that area and our appointment had fallen through. We decided to go over there and her son was outside. We started talking to him and asked him to get his mom. It was so easy to talk to this woman (Esperanza) and she sells snow cones out of her house. She used to do it in Mexico about a year ago. Right away we were laughing and getting along. Then we met her sweet 18 year old daughter. They said we could come back and that they weren’t going to any specific church. We still don’t know if there is a dad in the picture, but we are excited anyway.

It is Hermana Monsalvo’s birthday today! Last night I made her no bake cookies and a big heart one for her “cake.” That’s the best I can do here.  J  We have a fun day planned.

This last Sunday was so great! Veronica Enriquez showed up with her daughter Jasmine. It was so good to see her!  If you don’t remember who she is, she is from Rio Grande. She stayed for all of church with us. The branch is quite small and there is a lot of work to do, but I am excited to do it. I am hoping this is my last area (I don’t want to pack up all my stuff again J) and I just love it here. Then after church we had dinner with Isabel and Oscar Castillo. It was so great to talk about their plans to make it to the temple this year. They are such cuties. Plus Isabel, Ana, and Jorge’s littlest brother just turned 8 and wants to get baptized. That will probably happen within this transfer…little Carlitos.

After dinner we had such a great surprise- Edna was in town. She is the sweet RM that used to come out with us a ton in Rio Grande. Since then has moved to Farmington, but was in town for the weekend and found out that I was here because she is good friends with a member in our branch. We were able to see her for a few minutes. It has been so fun to see these people that I love so much.

We are really focusing on finding new investigators…last week we found seven and this week we plan to get at least that many. We just really need to find the people who are ready NOW.

I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This Sunday at church, the talks were on repentance, and it really hit me hard. It is easy to think we aren’t worthy or that we don’t receive forgiveness, but we do. It wasn’t the back-up plan; it was THE PLAN. Sometimes it is hardest to forgive the person looking in the mirror and easily give forgiveness to other people.

I invite you all to take a look at your lives and see if there is anything that you should repent of (there is something), and then forgive yourself it you have truly repented. It is a miraculous feeling. And if you are like me you might be tempted to keep bringing up past mistakes to our minds and feel bad. It is normal to feel remorse and sadness for those things, but we shouldn’t dwell on them. Worry about the things that really matter…your family, your calling, repentance. Just a thought. LOVE YA!