Ups and downs

Hola familia, que tal? Time is really starting to speed up around here! The first week or so in Minnesota was so long, but today seems like it was just barely last Monday! Some great things happened this week. Oh, but first, let me just tell you that I got clarification about the blog rule. It's fine if you have one for me, but I just can't use real names. Sorry, it's kinda weird to read and not have a name to attach it to, but that's the rule. So, last Monday night we had a really awesome experience. We were supposed to see a lady who just got baptized two days before I came. She has three adorable little kids. Her husband isn't a member and is never usually there when we are over because he works late. Well, Monday night we went over and they weren't home. We sat in the car outside their house for a few minutes and made some calls there to give them a few minutes and see if they would get back since we had confirmed and they should have been there. The dad showed up a few minutes later, but not the mom and kids. So, we started driving off to another place where some investigators live that we could go see instead. Sister Crosby all of a sudden turned the car around and said that she felt like we needed to go talk to the dad. Right when we pulled up, the mom and kids pulled up too! We were able to have a FHE lesson with the WHOLE family!! And it was so good. We talked about Jesus and His life and this things He did. It was seriously amazing and I'm so grateful that Sister Crosby listened to the Spirit and that was able to happen! This week we didn't have as many lessons, and actually a lot of plans fell through. It was a little tough because we had worked hard to set things up, and make it a great week, but it didn't happen how we wanted. This week President Clements pushed like crazy for us as a mission to get investigators to church. Our goal as a mission was to have 250 to church. We had rides with members set up for four different people, and then we were going to drive out to this one family's house and bring them breakfast and have them follow us to church. Well, none of that happened. The only investigator who came was a lady who comes every week and who doesn't even go to the Lakeville ward because the family she lives with (who are members) live in Burnsville so they all just go there. Needless to say, that was frustrating. But, we tried to make the best of this week and we actually did have a lot of great things happen too. We have a few new people we are teaching and so far they have been open and receptive! I think my favorite part of this week was when we were teaching these two girls, K and L. We also teach their mom, but she wasn't there for one lesson because she was at work. Anyways, they are very nice girls and really want to do what is right and follow Christ. K gave her first out loud prayer and it was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard. She said something like, "thank you for letting me learn about You, because I never have been able to before..." The Spirit was so strong! I can't believe I forgot to tell you this before, I guess just because so much happens its hard to remember everything when I'm writing, but I'm actually not just speaking English and Spanish, but ASL too. There is this older man, R, who is deaf. He was recently baptized and every week we have little lessons with him. We always have someone with us who actually knows sign language, but still! He is very honest and hilarious. So, last week we gave him an assignment to read in his picture Book of Mormon and write down something that he liked. We promised him macadamia cookies too. This week we met with him and were surprised to read his very accurate account of what happened in Lehi's dream of the tree of life. He showed us some of the pictures in his book and we quickly realized that he actually just copied word for word the caption under the picture of Lehi's dream! It was so funny. Well, he tried. We will be bringing him cookies. We set a date for baptism this week too! Our investigator C, is so amazing. I told you about her a little last week. This week we saw her twice. The first time we had another great lesson and talked about baptism. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! Right now, the date is December 7, and we promised her she can be ready by that day. The second time we taught about the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I'm always amazed by how much she understands about the Spirit. She has recognized that He speaks truth and has felt so much happiness as she has learned about the gospel. She also told us that she had a lot of pressure from her family who are not thrilled about her talking with us. She told them she is going to do what makes her happy and talking with us does. :) We were finishing up the lesson and we asked her if she had any more questions. She said, "yes, actually I do. I heard you guys don't drink coffee and I was wondering what the deal is with that?" We decided to just go ahead and teach the Word of Wisdom right then and there. We talked about not putting addictive things into our body and she said, "oh that makes sense, I understand that. I know I'm addicted to coffee and I don't need it." We asked her if she would commit to living the W.W and she said, "Yes! I already gave up alcohol so coffee should be a piece of cake!" This girl has so much faith. Oh, so to give you an update on A, the lady who we challenged to pray about Joseph Smith and the B.M., no she did not pray. We had a lesson with them this week and ended up changing plans because her two brothers were also there and they had never been there before. So we talked about the Book of Mormon and hoping that she will actually pray. We are getting to the point with them that there isn't much left to teach and it really is in their hands. So pray that she will have the desire to pray and recognize an answer if she does! Saturday morning we went to a baptism! It was a man who the elders had been teaching. Funniest thing ever. He came out of the water and kind of did a little cheer and raised up his hands. I think he even might have whistled. Apparently he is a public speaker and does something with the news station. Well, after he was baptized he gave his testimony... which included some quotes by the author of Duck Dynasty (he brought the book too as a prop). It actually was a really good testimony, just hilarious. His wife had been a member for a long time so it was a very happy day for their family! Well, I love you all and hope you have a great day! Mom, I haven't seen the package yet, but I will look for it today! Thank you! And thanks for the letters/emails/prayers/love/support! It means so much and I am so grateful for the wonderful family and friends I have! Tengan a buena semana! Les quiero! Hermana Pierce