Maywood: Semana Tres 2/22/10

Hola Familia!

I can't believe how fast this transfer is flying by- it is already practically half over! I am doing really well. This Sunday I am going to have my first baptism- a really sweet nine year old girl from Mexico named Ariadne. Her grandma is a member, and she moved here with her Grandma and Aunt about two months ago so she can go to school here. She is so smart and understands everything we are teaching her, even with all of my mistakes in spanish. We have come up with a lot of fun little object lessons and games to teach her. She loves having us come over and teach her.

We are also teaching two brothers named Ivan and Isaac who are around twenty and twenty two, and at first they didn't seem like they would be that interested, but we have had some really amazing spiritual lessons with them and they have been coming to church with us and going to the young single adult activities. They are still a little confused though about what it means to be a missionary, because they asked us why we didn't come to the young single adult activities with them. We're trying to get that cleared up, and I'm really hoping that they can recognize the importance of the gospel for them in their lives as more than just something interesting or social. They are excited to get baptized, but they still have a way to go to learn and understand the purpose and importance of everything.

Saturday my companion and I got to run the Information center in the afternoon. The Information Center is a room at the Mission Home that looks like a living room where they show the Joseph Smith movie to investigators, so it is kind of like a mini Visitor's Center. It was really neat to watch the Joseph Smith movie again. I got to see it in the MTC, but for some reason this time it was even more powerful for me. I realized that I really do have a testimony of Joseph Smith, and I am so grateful for all of the things he went through to establish the church. I love how in that movie it shows a lot of times where he doesn't really know what he is supposed to do, or what is going to happen, he just knows that he always needs to trust in the Lord. That movie also made me think about how incredible it is that our church is so up to date in modern technology, and it helps you remember that the reason we have new and modern technology is to build the kingdom of God.

We have been blessed with a lot of opportunities to teach people. We had a neat experience the other day where we came back to visit an investigator and at first she didn't want to let us in, but then she did and we taught her and she said that she was really glad because she knows that this is what she needs, and she recognized the spirit, because she had been taught by other sister missionaries a couple of years ago, and she said that she could feel that same way with us as she did with them.

We taught another family that has two handicapped twin daughters that are teenagers, but that are severely handicapped and are like little children. When we came into the house and taught them it was amazing how strong the spirit was. We sang "I am a Child of God" for them. We are really excited to teach them the Plan of Salvation and about the resurrection. I can't imagine how hard it would be to devote your life to helping and taking care of handicapped children. At the same time you can see how blessed and what incredible people they are. I really hope they will let us keep teaching them.

It really is so sad when people just don't feel like they have the time, or have some other excuse to not pay attention to us. Sometimes I feel like it is my fault, and if I were just better and more effective then maybe they would want to learn more and they would realize the gospel is true. The more I think that the more I end up realizing that it isn't really about how good I am at persuading people. The Lord calls the weak and uses simple things to bring to pass his work. As long as I am living obedient and bearing my testimony, those that are ready will be willing to change and recognize that as missionaries we are representatives of Jesus Christ, even though we don't know that much. We get a lot of people that try to prove us wrong, or teach us what the bible really means, or we even had a really intellectual woman tell us that maybe if we had approached it in a different way and learned how to better express and present ourselves she would have been interested. I know that I have a lot to do and improve to keep becoming a more effective missionary, but really I know that it isn't about me- it is about having the spirit work through me.

I love you all and am so grateful for your support, your prayers, and your love.

Tengan una buena semana! Les amo.

Hermana Dansie