Week 2 in el campo de misional
Hola familia!Como estan?! Man, this week has been magnifico. I'll cut the chit-chat and get right to it. We added 14 new investigators this week! And we've invited all of them to be baptized and almost every single one of them has said yes! We have a few with a baptismal date already, with hopefully more after tonight. Haha I am taking advantage of that authorized gift we are given as missionaries to invite people to be saved. The baptismal invitation is a beautiful thing. It helps the investigator know why we're here, and it gives them a goal to work towards. There is so much work to be done here! It was hard at first opening this new area with no investigators. But our finding has really paid off.
I don't know if it's just me, or if it's because I've been set apart as a missionary to serve here, but I automatically fall in love with every Mexican person I see now! (the appropriate kind of love. Don't worry, parents) But I really do love the people here! They are all so kind, humble, and giving. I have never been fed so much Mexican food in my entire life!! Every single thing I've eaten has been so good, too! I better be careful or you might not recognize me when I come home... haha no, I'm learning to eat slower because otherwise the people just keep piling the food on your plate. It's actually really funny. The first meal I ate at a member's house, I was so hungry because we hadn't eaten all day and made the mistake of inhaling my first plate of food... the next thing I knew, I had two more plates of food coming my way. I was full for like 2 days after that. Haha I'm working on eating slower though. It's just so hard when the food is just so good.
So I went to my first Zone Conference last Friday in Poway and it was AWESOME!! I love zone conference. My mission president is a spiritual powerhouse. One of the counselors', President Morgan's, wife's parents are in the Springville stake (Brother Brown, the secretary I think) so we had that connection the first time I talked to him. Anyway, he called me up at the end of zone conference to recite the Missionary purpose and bare my testimony about it in front of EVERYONE!!! It was almost 100 people (3-4 zones) plus President and his wife! Ahh!! I didn't know my heart could beat the fast until that moment. The spirit definitely helped me remember the words though, so that was a blessing. Haha. I was the youngest, shortest missionary there! It was a great experience to get me out of my comfort zone, as I'm sure there will be many more experiences to come.
My Spanish is starting to come along more each day. It's still slow and broken, but the people are patient and always willing to help. And they love learning English! We teach an English class every Thursday at the church and we actually get a pretty good turn-out. Members and investigators come, so it's been a really great finding tool. Anyway, my companion was pretty much fluent in Spanish before her 2nd transfer so I'm working and praying really hard for the gift of tongues like she did. It's so awesome to see the expressions on people's faces when they see two short, and super white, blonde girls walking around speaking Spanish to everyone they see. My companion and I really do look like sisters. Every single person we talk to asks us if we're sisters. Every time. It's so fun being companions, we get along super duper well. She's the best!!
Wasn't that World Wide Leadership training amazing?!?! Oh my goodness! I had chills running through my body the whole time. It would've been cool if I had still been at the MTC for it, but I'm happy to be here in Ramona right now. You guys need to be doing just as much missionary work as I am! Haha I know it's kinda hard in Utah, but there are all kinds of ways to be a member missionary. Do it!
Pues, muchisimas gracias por su apollo en todos aspectos en mi vida y la mision. Ustedes son la mejor!! Tengan un buena semana! Les quiero tanto!!
Hermana Barnes
