hey everyone! i love you!
not too much has happened since last time and i dont have very much time left so this will have to be a short one...
we are still preparing eduardo for baptism this sunday...! we are planning on having jorge baptize him which will be amazing! they are both making huge progress! random note- they are just friends, never were partners... but yeah we went to a presidents fireside (a counselor of our mission presidency- who is from argentine spoke) anyway jorge bore his testimony- we signed him up before hand and it was amazing! he is so happy! he told a little synopsis of his conversion story, it was amazing! to go from living on the streets, drug addict etc to finding happyness and knowing the gospel is true! its amazing! his testimony is so strong! he always calls us his "salvavidas" life savers and also life guards but in this case life savers... so yeah they are both progressing really well! that is the only thing causing me to worry slightly about transfers because i will have to completly let go of that situation. but i trust them and moreover i trust the Lord. i have no doubt they will both remain active! so thats good!
we are starting to teach jorges brother/his family. the daughter is ready for baptism- we used to teach her a while back but the dad didnt like it so we stopped but now she said that he said that she could get baptized...! the only problem is that he isnt ready yet so we dont know how to handle that situation..... but it will all work out! he is a drug addict still(ish) but the whole family is pressuring us to teach him because they say he needs "la palabra de Dios" he is nice but i dont know how much we can do but i have seen the changing miracle of the gospel before so if he makes a choice to try to change his life i know it will all work out! they just need to make that initial decision and stick with it and the rest is in the Lords hands through us, well the holy ghost really.
i am really starting to realize that is essentially our job- to invite the holy ghost so that they can be converted. i always knew that but now i am seeing it in action. jorge and eduardo always tell us that we leave something special in eduardos house when we leave and that eduardo feels something different when he is with us! random funny story about them- as we were leaving eduardos house for an appointment the other day the jehovahs witnesses knocked on his door! it was kinda funny because eduardo said sorry i am with them! haha and jorge was smiling! it was great... also jorge says hi to you all! he told me to say hi, we were just at his house because it was the only time taht his brother had time to have an appointment (usually p day ends at 6) but it turned out he was too busy working on something in his car... so we just talked to jorge for a little and then left... also i took a picture with most of the ambriz family (jorge's dads last name...) so i will have to send that soon!
also we found a new guy to teach in the english ward! yay! he is really solid! he is a mongolian college accountant student that showed up at church randomly last week! turns out he lives right next to us! it also turns out he has a member friend at BYU hawaii who told him about the church... his (well both of their names) is bilguun. he is awesome! he is getting baptized on the 21st! its a miracle because that is not like asian culture to accept that change so quickly... and on top of that he has very very little christian backgroung or knowledge but he is keeping all of his assignments in the book of mormon- even though his reading of scriptures is understandably not that strong... (we are waiting to see if the mission home has a BoM in mongolian...) he also asked if there was a movie he could see to help him picture the BoM so we watched testaments... so we are very excited about him!
also we won the metro trophy! haha so the Zone leaders came over this morning to cook us breakfast! its based on points that we get every sunday for investigators with a baptismal date at church and actual baptisms etc... we won because we had three at church with an extra point for having our bap dates match church attendance... (it was a slow week because usually it takes like 7ish points to win, but hey well take it!) but yeah its all just to get us focused and excited for the people in our areas...
hmmm well i went to my first wedding this week! it was at the church and it was so a couple could get baptized... it was someone in our districts' investigator... haha so the first i have ever seen was in spanish done by the bishop! haha
also as for the two other families- we have pretty much dropped them... they dont come to church.... but one still shows a little life so we might give them one more chance... but it looks like well be giving them a "drop" lesson this week... people need to show committment... and the drive to leave the culture (thats all it really is sadly) of the catholic church... leave the comfort zone of waht they have grown up with....
hmmmmmm well i played a fun and energetic game of soccer today at the local park (very very diff than wilmette parks... we felt like sandlot!) it was good to be active! i forgot how good it is for my body and mind!
well i have to go!
i love you all!!!!
ps transfers are indeed next wed but i will email on monday still.
pps sarah, ben, peter expect a letter from me ASAP i promise.
kenzie yours will be in the mail today or tomorrowm, its already done.
sorry others i considered kenzie as the biggest threat of coming to LA and strangling me so yeah.... life preservation.... yeah
but i love everyone!!!
