December 12th, 2011

So Colorado is doing wonderful.  We're actually in the ghetto part of town since we're Spanish speaking but the funny thing is is that it reminds me of Chula Vista.  Seriously, I feel like I'm at home because there's just tons of taco shops everywhere and little houses with random colors painted on it.  It's still freezing here but it hasn't snowed in a week, thankfully.  The roads are still icy and we hate it because we slip every other step....so scary but it's not scary in the car so we're good.  There's geese EVERYWHERE....it's like pigeons in San Diego except these birds are huge.  Anyways enough about random stuff.  The work is going great.  We actually saw alot of miracles this week...the Lord really has blessed us.  We;re having a hard time finding new investigators so on Wednesday we had a fast for it.  It was a pretty slow day and it was 8 at night (the hour we kind of dread because we feel bad it's "late").  We had plans to see a family but last minute Hermana Thomas told me that we should go visit Juana (who wasn't in our plans) who was an old investigator.  Well we went to go visit and she invited us in and we taught her about the importance of reading the scriptures and she said she was interested in hearing more so she was a miracle for the day.  The next day we went to go visit Theresa who we taught lesson 1 (the restoration) last week.  We extended the baptismal invitation and she said no but I felt the Spirit telling me to tell her to read 3 Nephi 11.  So when we came to visit her, we followed up and asked her how her reading went.  She said she loved it and that the chapter was a baptismal invitation and she wants to get baptized but she doesn't know when but she wants to prepare.  WHAT?!?! We were blown away.  I mean, I knew she had the potential to be baptized (like everyone does) but we were not expecting that.  Such a tender mercy.  So this week we'll be extending her her baptism date for January 8th.  Love it!  She even came to church yesterday and stayed all three hours.  She even took notes of all the scriptures that were mentioned in the lessons so she could study by herself.  She is AWESOME.  It was a bit nerve racking since it was testimony meeting and then for Gospel Principles and Relief Society they taught about the Spirit world and the final judgement....seriously?? talk about being straight forward and scare people off but thankfully she liked it alot and she said that alot of her doubts were answered.  Sooo great!  
  So after we taught her, we went to go visit a couple of referrals that we received.  A woman answered and let us in and we talked about prayer and how the Gospel can help strengthen her family.  Her daughter has a cleff lip and will be going through major surgery soon.  So she said she wanted us to come back and her husband is interested too.  Yay a family!  ANOTHER tender mercy.  So of course we said a thank you prayer to Heavenly Father.  We taught the Limones family (a less active family) and we taught them the importance of praying out loud.  The husband does NOT like to pray but we taught out of Joseph Smith History where it said that Joseph Smith felt anxiety when he prayed but if he had never done it, we would have never had the blessing of the restoration.  It was all becase of his sincere prayer.  We all knelt and said we'd each say a prayer so the husband wouldn't feel uncomfortable...well....he actually said a prayer!  How awesome, right?  It was all Heavenly Father.  I know it because it's His work.   
  The members really are great...so kind...so loving and always willing to feed us.  I feel like they're all related to me.  It really does feel like home.  Hermana Thomas and I are still trying to learn how to teach with eachother.  I'm still not comfortable in Spanish and she doesn't like akward silences...well they aren't awkward, they are just silences but she feels awkward so she doesn't pass it on to me.  So it's just weird but we really are aware of it and we're trying to be better at it.  Last week our numbers were horrible but this week we had alot of success.  Not necessarily in numbers but our attitudes changed.  Hermana Thomas was just worried to be a trainer and also for the area because all her investigators were baptized so we didn't have any after.  And all last week I felt like we knocked on doors and noone answered for us, so I kind of felt uneasy because I didn't want my whole mission to be like that.  So to say the least, our hope was lacking.  So we decided as a companionship to pick a Christlike attribute for the week and focus on it.  We write scriptures of that attribute each day of our planners to remind us.  So for Weekly Planning, we changed our attitudes and our desire changed as well.  It's amazing how much desire and hope can do for the work.  We saw major miracles and we are eternally grateful for them.  The Denver 1st ward is going to be booming!  We have faith and hope in it.  I'm grateful for my companion, for the ward and for the opportunities the Lord has blessed me with.  I love you all and hope you're staying safe.