Monday, March 4, 2013

March 4, 2013 - Livermore


Thanks for the emails and pictures! The kitchen looks AMAZING!!! I'm excited to see it in person...one day. And I'm sorry that I haven't written anyone the past couple of weeks. There never seems to be enough time, but I'll hopefully get to a couple letters today.
 
This week was really good. I'll talk about Blanca first (but I don't pick favorites). We had a really good book of mormon lesson and then we talked about her baptism and she said she doesn't want to ask her husband to marry her because he should do it. She said "would you propose to your boyfriend?" She made a good point. Then he showed up about ten minutes later and we awkwardly started a conversation about the law of chastity. I never thought I would teach something like that to 50 or 60 year olds. Oh and their 16 year old son was there too. Anyway....he didn't really get it until we said that Blanca couldn't be baptized until they were married. He asked her if she wanted to get married and she said "well I want to get baptized...so yes" then it was silent for a minute and he said "well I don't want to get married" super awkward silence after that....and then he started laughing and said "okay let's get married". The marriage part won't be hard, it's the divorce papers in mexico that will be hard. But very possible. Oh also, we asked marco (blanca's husband is named marco polo...honestly) how he felt about the baptism, meaning blanca's baptism, and he said he wasn't ready YET but that she should do it now. He's super suportive and he loves the members of the church. Blanca had a class for her work on Sunday so she couldn't come to church but marco came all by him self. That family is amazing it makes me so happy. And we have a trip to visit the oakland temple planned this week!
 
As for our other investigators we got a new baptismal date with a woman named maria alforo. We had our second visit with her on Saturday and after we told her about Joseph Smith we asked her what she thought and she said "Well I think it's true". After she said yes to be baptized on March 30 (easter weekend!) she was just glowing. It'll be hard for her to come to church 3 times before her baptism though because of work. But not impossible.
 
I don't have time to talk about all of our investigators so I'll give a quick update on Ana. We dropped by last night and taught them about repantance because she has told us that she feels guilty for a lot of things that she has done and she doesn't know how to forgive herself. We talked about the steps/conditions of repentance and then shared Moroni 8:24-26 where it says the first fruits of repentance are baptism. It was a super super spiritual lesson and the spirit was really strong. I think people forget or don't realize that baptism is the FIRST step to a very long journey. They can't progress without baptism. So many people want to learn more before their baptized but they have their whole lives and eternity to learn what they need to after baptism. Their 9 year old daughter gave the closing prayer and it was sweet and simple but afterwards I felt really strongly to ask Ana to offer a prayer as well. So she did and  I think I felt the spirit stronger during her prayer than I have during any other time on my mission. In her prayer she asked God to help them be baptized soon and then she said really soon. We've asked her so many times to pray about baptism but she never would. I think she was scared about the answer they would receive. Now we just have to help Luis receive his own personal witness as well.
 
President bought us bikes!! We came home from church yesterday and there were two cute blue bikes by our beds! I'm so excited to start riding them around. We still are going to have our cars but he just told us to use them when we can. I'm guessing that they'll start spliting areas pretty soon and more missionaries will need to use the bikes. As soon as we buy helmets I want to ride them to every appointment possible! (I've been craving exercise since Sister Green left)
 
Okay last thing....funny story: Sister Wallace called the dentist to tell them that her teeth have been hurting. They didn't answer so she left a message. She meant to say molars but instead she said (after saying that she was a sister missionary) "I'm having problems with my morals" I started laughing so hard. She tried to say that her morals were fine but she was laughing too hard.
 
Thanks to everyone for the letters/emails. They always make my week! I love you all -les quiero muchisimo!!!
 
Love, Hermana Billings

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