March 31, 2014

Yes!  Juliana and Isidro both got dunked this Saturday!  Whoooo!  We all waited so long for Isidro to get there so we could start because apparently he rode his bike to the wrong chapel and then upon seeing that no one was here, he rode back to his house.  Our hero, hermano Lopez, went to go see if he could find him, and Isidro was just sitting outside of his garage all confused, so Hno. Lopez gave him A ride to the stake center and everything ran so smoothly after that.  Watching Isidro get dunked was quite the sight, though.  He only had to do it twice, but the first time he didn't cover his nose and lost his balance, so when elder Robison pulled him back up, Isidro looked like a scared little puppy.  He came straight up with his eyes all bulged out.  Also, Juliana's youngest boy, Uriel, had his face up to the glass the whole like going, 'woooooow!' like he was in an aquarium or something.  It was so cute.  Noe, Juliana's oldest son who just turned 8 this past Thursday, wants to get baptized, but he has to get permission from his dad.  After the baptism, Gissel (2nd counselor in primary) gave him a CTR ring and tie, which he wore to church the next day.  That meant a lot to Juliana.  She told Noe he could never take off his ring, so he can always remember to "haz lo justo."  Juliana told us that Noe was telling his dad the next day all about his ring and tie and how he wants to get baptized.  His dad doesn't seem to care, but Juliana doesn't want to ask him directly for his permission either...which we're going to talk to her about later tonight.  

Yesterday was bitter sweet.  My last Sunday at Desert Bloom...oh yeah!  I forgot to mention, I'm getting transferred.  Haha.  I'll be serving in the tinniest Spanish branch in the mish...Alta Vista!  I'll be companions with Sister Hill...who was Hermana Abernathy's companion in the MTC.  Hah.  I'm excited for a change, even though I love desert Bloom to death.  Sister Hill is also a black belt in karate, so maybe I'll actually start practicing it.  Haha.  Just a little info about Alta Vista...I've gone on a hand full of exchanges over there, it's not too far away.  It is HUUUUGE!  Bigger than the desert Bloom boundaries, but what's even better....they recently took the elders out so we're the only missionaries serving there.  2 sister missionaries taking on an area that covers 3 or 4 stakes.  Part of Alta Vista is out of valley.  When I went on an exchange there last transfer, actually, I went out of valley to Search Light.  they have a sweet investigator over there who owns a Mexican restaurant and we get free food.  It's in the Lake Mead zone and covers the other side of Henderson...  the more ghetto side.   I'll be as close to out of valley as I can possibly get....and sometimes even out of valley.  Haha.  I'll be living with a member again who has a cat and dog.  Fun!  I hear the branch is tiny...like, tiny tiny!  Not just a rama, a ramita. It should be fun and I'm pretty sure I'm dying over there.  

Anyway, back to my last Sunday at desert bloom.  I've decided I'm coming back to take you all to Desert Bloom one Sunday!  Presidente Rincon apparently really likes me.  That made my day.  When he heard I was getting transferred the day before he was actually a little disappointed.  He made me count all the baptisms I had here...which was 13.  I was like, no, no, no...it's the Lord's work, not mine.  I don't deserve any kind of praise for it, honestly.  But it made me feel good at least to know that he considers me a hardworking missionary.  After church on Sunday he walked over to me, shook my hand and told me that I have done excellent work here in Desert bloom and that he hopes to see me come back one day.  I told him I'd come back In August and he was super excited.  Then we stuck around a little bit after church taking care of some stuff and every time I saw him he was like, "hermana smith!'  like super happy that I was still there.  Haha.  That meant a lot to me that the branch president considers me a good missionary and actually encourages me to come back.  Hah.  Then I said bye to Isidro, which was really uncomfortable... I told him I was leaving and he got super dramatic and his eyes got really watery.  He was all like, 'porque?!' and 'I was so happy until you told me that, now i'm sad' and just being dramatic.  I let him know that I'm leaving to help other people find the gospel and that it's all part of life, I would have had to leave eventually... etc. and he was just like, 'no, this is your last Sunday, you're never coming back, you'll be gone forever!' blah and I told him that he still has the whole branch to support him, but most of all, the gospel never changes and the gift of the holy ghost will never leave him and that's why he got baptized, blah, blah... and that's why I'm leaving, to help other people with that, but I told him he'd always have my support and I'll continue to pray for him and that everyone I meet on my mission will always have a place in my heart, even if I have to move on to a different area or eventually finish my mission...it's all a part of life... he calmed down a little after that and was like, 'I'm going to miss you so much ,I'll pray for you, too, always!' Also, I added that it's better I tell him now and risk making his day a little worse than just not showing up next week and have him wonder where i am.  He agreed.  Than he awkwardly caressed my hand when I tried to give him a handshake... it was weird... so, i'm pretty sure Isidro's a little more attached to me than he should be, but he'll be fine.  Aracely and Jorge have really reached out to him and even invited him to dinner with us last night.  I shared the scripture after dinner and than Aracely and Jorge almost made everyone in the room cry because they said the most ultimate goodbyes.  Jorge was all like, 'we will never forget you Hna Smith and don't you forget us!' and then Aracely assured me that she will stay strong and keep going forward (I read helaman 5:12 with them btw) and that basically she'll make me proud.  It was so legit, like something you'd see in an inspirational movie.  Jorge was like, 'what about you elders?  Will you miss her?'  Haha, that was followed by an awkward pause and then elder Robison goes, "claro que si!"  And Elder Wareham's just like, 'uh....no comment.'  Haha.  It was funny.  Jorge and Aracely are going to try and meet me for lunch or something sometime.  

Everyone in Desert Bloom is excited to see you all!  We just had lunch with Gissel and her friend today at a Chinese Buffet place and she's totally down for doing something fun in August and also wants to meet up for lunch sometime while I'm in Alta Vista.  UGH!  I love this place!  I'll send you lunch pictures.

Love you all!!!!!  I'm glad to hear you like the 21 day promise!  Also, I did not get your package yet, but I got a dear elder last week.    

March 24, 2014

Sweeeeeet!  Hey, I haven't gotten mail in like, weeks....I don't know what's up, but you all should send me stuff.  

Isidro didn't get baptized this week, but he's scheduled for next week.  Our awesome ward mission leader, Hermano Acosta, stopped by Isidro's house unannounced one day and sat down and talked to him about things.  First I heard he was caught drinking coffee, but then during ward council yesterday Hno Acosta said Isidro told him he had been sober for a few weeks now.  Not sure....he's been coming to church every Sunday, though.  He walks to the chapel.  His leg is soooo much better now.  

I'm so pumped for women's conference/general conference.  April 1st is transfers, so we'll see if I stay for a 6th transfer or finish my mission in another area.  I only have 3 transfers left....that's only 18 weeks.  yikes.  Tell me what you think about that please!  Ha.  Anyway, to be honest, I would like to get transferred.  As much as I love Desert Bloom, I feel like there comes a time when you need a change to keep you motivated 100% of the time.  Plus, I'm starting to get that feeling... the same one I got when I left Ensign.

Juliana is getting baptized on Saturday afternoon before the women's conference at 5.  We reserved the font for 2pm.  She's so ready!  We're crossing our fingers that Noe (her son) will get baptized, too.  It's an interesting situation with him because he will be turning 8 on Thursday...so he's not technically an investigator yet, but we talked to our district leader, and he says as long as Noe's heard all the lessons, he'll be able to get baptized with his mom 2 days after his b-day.  So he'll be an investigator for 2 days.  Haha.  He hasn't told us yet if he's getting baptized with his mom, but we commited him to pray about it with his mom and he's been sitting in for every lesson and FINALLY likes us now.  It's so funny teaching kids... because the ultimate goal is for them to think you're cool.  Normally that wouldn't matter, but for little kids, it's the key to their conversion sometimes.  Ha.  

Speaking of kids, we started teaching 2 kids of a family who's been coming back into activity.  Their names are Pablo and Kelvia Jr.  (the mother's name is Kelvia as well.)  They also have a younger son named Sebastian.  They are SO cute and want to get baptized ASAP.  We were thinking about combining their baptisms with Juliana and Noe, but their mom wants to wait 1 or 2 more weeks to make sure their putting everything into practice, which is understandable, and we need some time to teach everything anyway.  Hah.  These kids are smart as a whip and raise their hands before answering a quesion... they're always asking questions as well.  Usually pretty good ones, too.  The other day Pablo asked, 'are the constellations about Jesus Christ's God or like the Hercules gods?'  Haha.  Their sweet.  Pablo is 9 and Keliva just turned 8.  Kelvia will not be a convert baptism because her parents are members and she'll be 8 when she's baptized.  

Yesterday was an adventurous Sunday... we rode our bikes after church.  We had dinner with Aracely and Jorge, which was BOSS.  We took all those pictures and they gave us all kinds of cool trinkets from Bolivia nad Ecuador.  Jorge thought of dad and thinks he'll appreciate the pictures because he served his mission in Ecuador.  They make the most delicious food.... and we ate outside with the Bolivian band named Kjarkas playing.  Basically it's the same music that dad has... it's instrumental with those cool wooden flutes... I don't even know how to describe it.  Hopefully you know what I mean.  Haha.  Anyway, after  that we rode our bikes back towards our car and had to drive to our next appointment, which was pretty far away.  Sister Abernathy totally biffered it on the way back.  She fell off her bike and face planted onto the rocks...don't worry, she's fine.  We were actually laughing about it.  She lost her balance and grabbed onto the light pole to catch herself and fell.  It looked like she pulled herself off the bike, though.  It was quite a sight to behold.  

 Also, have you all heard of the 21 day promise???          *******************************************************************************************

ps...

speaking of our ward mission leader, Hno. Acosta, he's actually a recent convert of less than a year.  When I first came to desert bloom they weren't even baptized yet.  They got baptized like one of my first weeks there, back in September.  The elders taught them, of course.  He recently just got called as a WML and he's awesome.  You can tell he really thinks about the people we're teaching and goes out of his way to get to know them...for example, showing up at Isidro's house randomly.  He lives like 25 minutes away from him, too.  The other day he even called us just to ask about how Isidro was when we taught him and how far through the lessons we got.  Just trying to understand the situation more and get to know him.  Being such a recent convert, too, he's very aware of how our investigators must feel coming to church for the first time and what type of things are probably going through their heads.  He's very sensitive about that.  On Sunday he personally went up to Juliana to congratulate her and get to know her better and told us to call him with all the program information so he can stay in the loop and make the programs for us.  He's so awesome and since this is his first calling, he's really pumped to do as much as he can.  He even told us to feel comfortable correcting him and giving him suggestions because it's all new for him.  His wife is also a ward missionary and totally boss.  Hna Acosta's been to lessons with us to see Juliana before and when she heard she wass getting baptized, she gave her the biggest, warmest hug.  on top of all that, they're by far the most attractive couple in the branch... well, right up there with Kelvia and Daniel (parents of Pablo and Kelvia jr) the only sad thing is that Keliva and Daniel have marital problems.  Such a pitty.  they're both just so so pretty. :(

March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's day, everybody!  

This week was a joyous one.  We saw Juliana on Tuesday and taught her the word of wisdom.  It was the most legit WOW lesson I've ever taught.  We thought for sure she'd have some dudas or setbacks, but it was absolutely facil.  We shared some verses from Doctrine and Covenants 89 and she LOVED the promised blessings.  She was like, "Jesus Christ said that?  Wow, that's exactly what I need!"  And I kid you not, the promised blessings for living the WOW in the scriptures and the pamphlets are EXACTLY fit to her needs.  She even asked us for a copy of those verses and the one part in the pamphlet to hang on her wall.  So cool.  She trusted perfectly  that it was truly a commandment from God and that living it is the only way to receive the blessings.  She didn't doubt it at all, which, I guess already having a testimony of the BOM and modern day scriptures and prophets helps.  haha.  She even told us she won't keep any coffee in the house to offer guests.  She's changed a lot.  As soon as we walked into her apartment on Tuesday she seemed different to me.  She just seemed happier.  Not surprising at all, she had been keeping all of her commitments.  She even told us that a long time ago her father was co-workers with a member of the church, who gave her father a BOM.  He refused to read the book, but it was always laying around the house growing up.  Juliana said she grew up with the Book of Mormon right in front of her face that whole time, and only just recently remembered.  She said that if her father had read the Book of Mormon, she thinks it would have made her family closer and her father would have been a better dad and husband.  That was SO COOL that she shared that story with us, especially sense not too long ago her biggest doubt was drifting away from the traditions she was raised in.  But now she sees what this gospel could have offered her family growing up.  She's making connections!  We saw her and her son Noe again on Friday night and focused the lesson around helping Noe see why it's important to go to church.  I wish you could she what a strong, faithful mother Juliana is.  Her little 2 year old, Uriel, goes around saying, 'basus' all the time... meaning 'Jesus'. Haha.  In church he goes, 'what the basus!' but I think he's trying to say 'papa Jesus'.  Haha, but you can see how much she teaches her children about Him at home.  Often times she's try to get Noe to pray by telling him the story of Joseph Smith and how he was a young boy as well who asked Heavenly Father what he wanted to know and got an answer.  It's so cool.  Juliana is very excited about her baptism as well.  She told us she doesn't want to go watch one until hers because she wants it to be a surprise.  Haha.  In church she told us that every thing is very clear to her now.  She says she needs to continue learning, of course, but she doesn't have questions, doubt or fear and isn't confused anymore.  That was really cool because a lot of her setbacks have been feeling confused and scared about the future and not being able to clear her mind.  We promised to her many times throughout her lessons that if she keeps the commitments we leave with her and especially if she would make the decision to be baptized, the confusion and doubt would leave her.  It's miraculous to see how that's taking place now.  

Isidro is getting baptized next Saturday, the 22nd.  We went to the Why I Believe fireside with Aracely and Jorge yesterday and stopped by Isidro's house to see if he wanted to go (because the elders didn't even invite him... that's another story) he was outside just chilling with a few other guys and Aracely invited him to come with us right that moment.  He was like, "ahora..?"  And then paused for 5 seconds and goes, "ok, vamos."  Haha.  Jorge asked him if he wanted to let his friends know he was leaving first and Isidro's just like, nah, I'll just shout at them as we drive by.  So he just basically yells out, 'yo, I'll be back in a little bit.'  (obviously in Spanish, but that's pretty much the translation.  Haha.)  It was so legit and they all enjoyed it.  Afterwards Isidro told us he felt very happy and peaceful.  He said he didn't have any bad thoughts at all and that it was a much better feeling than sitting around outside talking about football with those guys.  Haha.  He doesn't like the elders very much... he says we taught him more and when they went over the baptismal questions with him he was just like, the hermanas already taught me all this stuff, of course I know what you're talking about.  Haha. He's funny.  Half the time when the elders go over there they're on exchanges with English elders and only one speaks Spanish in the lessons...I think he just thinks their weirdos because of that.  Haha.  The situation's a little ridiculous at times... I feel like I have to tell them to even go up and talk to Isidro at church sometimes...ANYWAY.  (hehe)

Funny story...on Sunday on our way to church we realize that our gas light is on...and so to avoid breaking the sabbath day, we left the car parked at the church and walked to dinner and then Aracely and Jorge's house, who then gave us a ride to the fireside.  It was good for us.  Good thing my purse can transform into a backpack.  :)  

LOVE YOU ALL LIKE BUNNIES!!    

March 10, 2014

Okay, okay, what happened this week?  

So as it turns out, we probably won't have any baptisms this week.  We stopped by Janet's house a few days ago and she was in tears because she had just found out a day before that her father in Nicaragua is dying.  She told us she was flying out there on Sunday to be with him until he dies.  So...her baptism is temporarily postponed.  I feel like a lot of our investigators got sick this week.  Speaking of being sick, yesterday I woke up with the worst headache.  I felt like I was in constant motion and felt like throwing up every time I looked at something for more than a minute.  Anyway, we had ward council at 9:30, but we let them know we wouldn't be able to make it because I wanted to rest and try to recover before church started.  I did feel better and so we went to church and to our pleasant surprise, Juliana came with her 3 little boys!  Just as we were walking into the chapel to catch up to her, Isidro comes walking out of Hermana Roby's jeep.  Isidro was actually walking to church when she passed by him on the street, pulled over and offered him a ride.  And he stayed for all 3 hours!  Jorge took him to priesthood and gave him a ride afterward.  Hno. Lopez even came up to him after church and also offered him a ride, but he was already leaving with Jorge and Aracely.  That made me happy that the branch was really reaching out to him.  I was proud of him for walking to church, too!  that shows a lot of self- motivation.  He apologized to us and I explained to him that we still are here supporting him, but that the elders will continue to come by and teach him because it's safer that way and they can go inside whenever they want.  He asked me if he did anything wrong, which made it kind of uncomfortable because technically he did, but that's not why we're not stopping by anymore.  I hope he understood what I was explaining to him, because he doesn't always comprehend things right away.  Another thing that might be good about the elders teaching him now is that it will show he's in the process of conversion to the gospel and not to us.  Apparently he's been known to refer to me as HIS Smith before... we just feel like the way it is now is best.  I'm still on his side and care about him, though.

Juliana stayed for 2 hours, with her boys in primary, which was an achievement because they did not want to go.  We stayed in nursery with her and her littlest one until he got distracted and we made a run for it to gospel principles.  Haha.  That little boy is 2 and just CLINGS to his mother.  She had to leave after that, though, because of work.  She told us outside that she's going to pray very hard to her Heavenly Father to get Sundays off.  That was so awesome to hear, especially since church hasn't been the most pleasant experience for her in the past.  The 2 times she stayed all 3 hours, she fell asleep during relief society and her youngest son, Uriel, always tries to rip her clothes off during sacrament meeting.  But she has this whole new determination to make her kids sit and listen and stay all 3 hours.  It's really cool to see.  A couple weeks we brought the 2nd counselor in the primary to a lesson with us to talk a little bit more about all the activities, including boy scouts, and Juliana told us in that lesson that she had been praying for a way for her kids (especially the oldest, Noe) to get involved in something and make good friends.  She believes that what the church has to offer is an answer to her prayers.  Noe went to boy scouts once and really liked it, and he wants a uniform and everything.  

Thursday was out Zone Training Meeting, which was a little embarrassing because they asked me to share my testimony on prayer and I got awkwardly emotional.  Why?  Pues...

One time when I was with sister Holland I just had like a breakdown, feeling like I had so many things to work on and just feeling overwhelmed in general... we went to the gas station and I said a prayer in the car out loud while sister Holland pumped gas..she stayed out there until I was done because she knew I was praying.  I wasn't able to think of anything I was thankful for because I was just frustrated.  I started expressing my frustration and asking for forgiveness out loud and in tears the entire time. eventually, my mind filled with things I was grateful for and the prayer ended on a positive note.  Afterwards I felt this overwhelming sensation of peace....like suddenly anything was possible.  The first thought that popped in my head said, "I love you and I'm proud of you."  It was a really cool moment, but I don't know if I've ever even shared that with you before.  Anyway, I shared that experience in my testimony at ZTM.

 don't have much more to report.  Just that I love you all and never forget the power of prayer!  Seriously, I've seen so many miracles with prayer.  Too many to count!         

March 3, 2014

Wow!  so many awesome things going on in the St. Pete ward!  How fun and exciting!   It's weird hearing you talk about the fall, because I'll be back by that time...interesting that I go home in August and then a month later is my 21st birthday...I'll be partying it up for a while!  whooo, yay for me!  Juuuuust kidding.  By the way, at the mission office they always post a list of the "departing" missionaries going home in the next 1 to 3 transfers and guess who's now officially on it?  Yep, that would be me. :(  It honestly doesn't seem like I've been out that long.  It's crazy because before I left, it felt like I was about to go on this big, long adventurous journey, but now that I'm winding down to the end of it and looking back, I have no idea where the time went... I will talk to you in 2 months over skype, and than a little over 2 months after that you'll see me face to face.  Everyone I talk to now is like, "wow, you're going home, girl!"  It's bitter sweet.  I hope you all see that I've grown and changed while I've been out here.  It's hard to see big changes in myself when this is my life and I'm living it day to day, but if i take the time to think about it, I really have taken many little steps of progression over this past year and those little steps have led to improvements that I don't always notice because of the process of it all.  

This past Friday we had a sisters luncheon and all of the office senior sister missionaries spoke to us.  They shared some very inspiring words.  Sister Royal counseled us to start praying for our future spouses, which I've actually started doing because for whatever reason I had an impression that I should. 

We went to the temple on Saturday, and it was beautiful as ever.  We were told they made an even newer temple video, but either that was a rumor or we missed out... still a beautiful experience all the same.  We happened to actually run into Brother and sister Royal in the cafeteria and we ate together.  Brother (elder?) Royal served his mission in Tallahassee Florida.  

Yes, sister Abernathy and I are doing great, and by the end of this last week I felt so happy!  Thank you for your prayers. :)  We set the Ventura family with a date for the 12th of April.  It was cool because Alma really opened up.  The member we brought with us asked them in the middle of the lesson when they were getting baptized, which was a little random, but worked out great because Alma got frustrated to the point of tears and explained to us that she is torn right now between two churches and desperately wants to know the truth, but needs to find out for herself and make that decision before telling anyone where and when she wants to get baptized.  It helped us better know her concerns.  I read a scripture from Galatians where it talks about the fruits of the spirit and we testified of how she can receive that answer.  Alma and Francisco both were in tears by the end of the lesson.  They were hesitant towards the date, but we cleverly helped them realize that the 12th is a date they are striving for, preparing for...and promised them that they can receive an answer by that time and be baptized on that date if they do their part because we have prayed about it and received confirmation that it is possible.  They felt better about it towards the end and said yes.  

I wish I could tell you the weekend ended on a completely perfect note, though....it didn't.

On Thursday we taught Isidro the word of wisdom for the second time with Aracely and Jorge as our lovely fellow shippers.  We wanted to go over it again because when we screened him for baptism, he got confused as to what the WOW was.  So anyway, the lesson went really well and he remembered the 5 specific things he should avoid before we even started the lesson. He had been studying!  He assured us many times that he had no problems with anything, even his friends he lives with (who love to get drunk) told us he doesn't have problems with alcohol or smoking - he can't even push it with alcohol because of his leg.  And so he committed to live it and we moved his date up a week to the 15th of March because we didn't have enough time to teach/review everything with him before the 8th.  We even gave him a calender and planned out all the times we would come by before the 15th.  Fast forward to Saturday and he calls us to cancel the appointment we had with him that night.  Still, we felt like we should stop by just to see how he was doing and why he canceled and there were drunk men all inside of the house, one of which opened the door.  We asked him if Isidro was there and he told us Isidro was drinking.  We were shocked to hear that and right then, standing by the door way we see a stumbling, WASTED Isidro enter the living room and fall on the couch.  It was a very disturbing sight, and he had the typical 'caught in the act' reaction.  THEN Enrique, who owns the house, points at Isidro and goes, "there's the drunk!"  And then shoves Isidro out of the house towards us saying, "here, get out of my house!  Go home with them!"  We were absolutely dumbfounded and Isidro was just spouting off drunken slurrs, but kept saying, "bien bonitas, bien bonitas" and things like, "no es mi casa, no es mi casa.."  We announced we were leaving, speed walked to the car and he tried to follow after us calling, "disculpe!  Me perdona!"  He of course didn't come to church the next morning.  

I can't explain to you how disturbing it was.  Hearing someone else say that Isidro was drinking was bad enough, but actually seeing him drunk out of his mind and caught right there in the act was a very creepy experience and an image I wish I could get out of my head completely.  To add to it, I know people have problems that we have to help them overcome, but it's one thing when we are aware of those issues and another when we are lied to to believe that the word of wisdom wasn't even at all a problem for him, especially drinking.  We can't help people when they're not even willing to be honest with us about their problems.  It's scary, too, because we stressed the seriousness of it and made sure he committed to live it, understanding that if he says he will and then goes and does something like.... get drunk 2 days later, especially after baptism, there are consequences.  That night I was in a weird state of mind.  My eyes were more opened to what it is I'm fighting against.  It's widened my perspective, I think.  

When we got home that night, we read Doctrine and Covenants 132 together.  Super intense chapter, you should read it right now!  I feel even more determined now to do everything in my power to ensure I'm on Satan's bad side.  We had received so many confirmations that Isidro was ready, that the Lord wanted him right now.  We invested so much time into helping him come closer to his Savior.  we've seen miracles with him and I even had to defend him at times when my own companion was impatient with his level of understanding.  When you grow to love investigators it's like they're your kids in a way.  And it effected me to see what I did Saturday night.  But Isidro has his agency.  (Don't worry, we didn't just drop him.  We passed him to the elders because we as women can't continue going over there with the whole 'go home with them' and 'bien bonitas' comments. We'll still see him at church and go to his baptism if he makes it.)  It made me think about my future family and how it would feel to see my children willingly disobey my counsel - the Lord's counsel.  Then I felt sorrow for all of the times I put you through similar experiences.  It truly is a disturbing thing.  

Sister Abernathy and I talked about it for a while on Sunday and I came to realize something else.  I truly believed we did all that we could possibly do with him.  If someone is showing all the signs of progression - keeping commitments, going to church, wanting to be baptized - our duty as missionaries is to get them there.  We had no way of knowing he was being dishonest with us.  We could have better helped him if we were aware of any of these things he struggles with.  When I was in the MTC we had a devotional where the speaker explained to us that at times we seek the Lord's guidance through prayer and don't always get a clear, direct answer right away.  Sometimes we just have to act on the good feelings we have and trust that if we are doing the wrong thing, the Lord won't let us go too far without letting us know something needs to change.  I think that's what happened.  We didn't do anything wrong.  We did what we were supposed to do.  And the lord stepped in and showed us what was really going on.  We could have baptized him without knowing any of that took place.  But the Lord kept His promise and guided us back on the right course before it got too far.  Sister Abernathy said my thoughts on that were an answer to her prayers because she was worried we should have seen the warning signs earlier or something.  

So... that's what's going on with Isidro right now.  I'll keep you updated as we hear word from the elders.  

Janet is doing well.  She might get baptized on the 8th actually, but we're not sure yet.  could still be the 15th.  

Speaking of this whole Isidro thing, though, I gotta tell you, I'm really fired up about fighting in the front lines of this war of souls.  I was running this morning and the one thing that kept running through my head was, 'I bet Satan's jealous right now because I can run around in the beautiful weather with my healthy body.'  Haha.  Sister Neal also spoke at the sister luncheon on Friday and was sharing her conversion story.  There was a time in her life when she was very discouraged and someone told her that if Satan can destroy her, he destroys her children and her husband as well.  He drags the whole family down with her. That gave her a lot of motivation to fight for the sake of her family.  That made me want to follow her example.  I cannot afford to let Satan win over me.  I'm finishing my mission soon and It's going to be hard to go back to living among all of those same temptations that I often fell victim to before.  I cannot afford to let that happen again.  Not only for my sake, but for my family.  For my future family's sake even.  My children need a righteous mother who will lead them to walk in the Savior's footsteps.  So more than anything I'm inspired and I've been holding onto a more eternal perspective.  

Love you all!!!!!  

Read D&C 132.