Querido familia! como estan todos? This week was fantastic! So much happened and I know I'm going to leave a lot out...but I'll do my best.
To start off, remember the rain that we fasted for? Well it hasn't stopped raining and biking around in it made me sick! I think this is my first time being sick on the mission though so I'm not complaining. Apparently receiving rain was more of a miracle than I originally thought. There was high pressure (or something like that) hanging over California for 63 days which threatened the crops that more than half of the nation relies on for food. Several churches and groups had fasted and prayed earlier in the month, but the very day that members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints joined together in prayer and fasting was the very day that rain began to fall. Pretty powerful right?
This weekend we had a special mission wide conference and Elder Cook from the 12 apostles and his wife came to speak to us. We all got to shake his hand! It's such a neat experience to meet an apostle of the Lord! The spirit was very strong and he spoke to us about the divinity of our missionary callings.
The morning before the conference I got a call from the assistants asking if I could speak at the conference. I agreed, not knowing when I would find time in our busy schedule to write a talk. Thanks for the heads up elders! By the end of Friday night I had completely lost my voice from my cold and I ended up staying up until midnight writing my talk that I didn't even know if I would have a voice to give! I was still pretty sick the next morning and my voice was about 8 octaves lower than normal, but at least I was able to give my talk! After hearing from an apostle of the lord I don't think anyone really cared what I had to say anyway :)
I'm still pretty sick but the elders were really nice to us last night and let us use their car. The elders in my zone, and in the entire mission really, are incredibly nice to the sisters. I think President Watkins must threaten them because he's really protective about sister missionaries. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he has all daughters. Whatever the reason though, I'm not complaining!
So this week we got good news and bad news. The bad news is that Enrique told us he didn't want to be baptized on the 14th. We're not sure why because we haven't been able to visit with him since he sent us the message. We talked to him on the phone a few hours ago though and he said there was an emergency with his family and there are "muchas cosas" and "muchas problemas". We're not really sure what that means and why it would need to stop him from getting baptized on Friday. Especially since his family lives in Mexico. But we'll find out tonight at 7 so keep him in your prayers.
Funny story about Enrique....the last time we were over at his house we invited some members over to come meet him. They were asking him about his experience with the missionaries and Enrique said, "I just don't get it! How do they know so much? This little girl (pointing to me) speaks as if she's lived forever. You'd think she's a grandma!" It was funny! And I realized that although we are teaching the basics and the very simple truths of the gospel, it answers questions that people have had for years and years. I've known these things since I was 2 years old! But he's just hearing it for the first time. That's why missionary work is so great!
The good news is that Lourdes told us on Saturday that she'll get baptized before I leave. I didn't even ask her to, it was completely her idea! And it made me really happy :)
Some other goods news is that I talked to Blanca Lastra from Livermore. I don't know why but I felt like I should call her one night. I didn't even know if I was allowed to, but I did anyway because I felt like I should. She was so shocked and happy to hear from me! It was so great to talk to her! It turns out that she moved to Tracy and she's not meeting with the missionaries over there because she doesn't know how to get a hold of them. I asked for her address so that I could send them over.
Okay I have to end with a funny story...at least it was funny to us! Sister Baird and I were about to go into an appointment and it was about 630. She asked if we could go get chocolate at sees candies (right by our apartment) after the appointment but I told her no because it closes at 7. She said "ahh man. Well the natural man in me is hoping that our appointment isn't home then." We both laughed about it but then sure enough, our appointment wasn't home! So we decided to drive over to sees candies and get some chocolate before our next appointment. *side note: we had vacuumed the car a few hours earlier so that it would be spotless for the conference with elder cook* So as we were driving over to sees sister baird told me that she really needed to use the bathroom and she didn't think she could wait. I told her to think about something else....like how good the chocolate was going to taste. Then, out of no where she screams, "I'm paying!!" but I thought she said, "I'm peeing!" and I said, "You better not be!! We JUST vacuumed the car!" We had a good laugh about that one!
Well that's it for this week! I hope everyone had and has a good week and a happy valentines day! les amo mucho!
con amor,
Hermana Billings
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