Hi family!! Last week was amazing! We had 24 lessons and 20 of them were with investigators. The zone leaders called us after we had already gotten in bed to confirm that our numbers were right. Unfortunately Graciela's baptism in Livermore was canceled. She got cold feet at the last minute. But Roberto got baptized! The baptism started 30 min late and we had an appt right after so we stepped out right after he got out of the water. He received the priesthood though and is planning on baptizing his sister, Briza. Of the 20 investigator lessons that we had we set 2 new baptsimal dates. One with Suleima and one with Javier.
Suleima watched the Restoration video and couldn't take her eyes off of it.Then she told us how she realizes that her baptism in the catholic church wasn't vale la pena and wouldn't be recognized by God. She came to the conclusion all on her own! Now we just need to help her get up to the church. Right now, the Spanish branch meets 15 minutes away in Morgan Hill. It's really hard to get people up there but in July it will be back in Gilroy.
We met Javier last Sunday at the park. He was sitting with a while bunch of friends drinking. My companion went to talk to some men close by and I shared a card to receive a free book of mormon with all of them. They were all being loud and laughing but then Javier spoke really soft and asked to know more about the book. I noticed that he was the only one no drinking. We set up an appoinment and visited him on Tuesday. He didn't even hesitate to accept a baptismal date and the prayer he said at the end of the lesson was the most heartfelt prayer I have ever heard. I think my favorite thing about him is that if he can't make an appointment with us he calls to tell us that he won't be home. Such an easy thing that makes ALL the diference. His trial will be getting up to church too. Not only because it's far but because he plays soccer on Sundays. We were walking by his house on Saturday and we stopped by just to say hi and he was sitting in his living room reading the Book of Mormon. It made me so happy! I love seeing that book change people's lives.
Two more of our golden investigators this week are Anthony and Ivan. We met Anthony in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He's 14 and is SO interested in the gospel and everything we teach him. When he prays I understand why we're taught to become like little children. He loved the story about Joseph Smith because he said he feels the same way. And I think he can relate to him being the same age. He keeps trying to include his mom in the lessons but she always says she's too busy with the baby. So anthony will offer to hold the baby during the lesson so that his mom can pay attention. His mom hasn't sat through an entire lesson but she's heard bits and pieces.
Ivan lives with Anthony and is 20. He heard us talking from the other room and basically ran in the room when he found out we were from the LDS church. He said when he was younger he wanted to be Momon but his mom or dad said he had to wait until he was 18. He hadn't been in contact with the church since then. We were just about to leave so we gave him a book of momon and told him to read and pray about it. The next time we went to visit him he said he was at work a few days ago and was having a really hard day. He just knew there was something else for him from God so he prayed his entire walk home from work. When he walked inside his apartment he saw the book of mormon and said he felt so compelled to read it. He said it was weird because he's received a lot of religious material from other churches and has never had the desire to read any of them. He's been reading the book of mormon and absolutely loves it. He told us he can't wait to be baptized. We asked him what he wanted to wait for and he said he wants to read the whole book first.....haha. So no date yet. But soon.
Last person...Amber. She came to all 3 hours of church (english ward) on Sunday and LOVED it. I was worried that she would feel out of place but she showed up in the cutest little modest dress covering all of her tatoos. More than one person told her they thought she was our new companion. All of the members were super welcoming and helped her around. During relief society they were just going on and on about geneology and indexing and I was just trying to imagine how lost she must be. However, after church she had a million questions about how her family could be sealed (boyfriend and 3 kids). Marriage is not in their plans at all and the both refuse to even consider it. Yet. Someone also gave her a gospel principles book which she begged us to teach her from since the book of mormon is too confusing.
Here's a quote from a 6 year old (non-member) that we heard this week: "If I obey good people I'll be a good guy. But if I obey bad people I'll be a bad guy". Kids are smart.
Dad you asked if we're on bikes full time. We still have a car but we usually don't use it until dark. We meet so many more people on bikes! Last week we contacted 176 just on the way to our appointments and people are starting to recognize the pink bikes. There actually weren't enough cars for all the missionaries but president said that sisters aren't allowed to ride bikes at night so he made the assistants give us their car...which is by far the nicest car in the mission (2013 ford fusion).
Well that's all I have for this week! No one said anything about a good time to skype for mother's day? It's coming up! Can't wait to see everyone :) :) Have a good week and love you all!
Love, Sister Billings
ps- People have told me that I sleep talk but Sister Garcia-Gomez says that she wakes up to me laughing all the time. Apparently I have very amusing dreams...although I never remember any of them.
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