Hola familia!
Elder Nelson came and dedicated the Visitor's Center this week! He came by on Friday, and my companion and I had a the special opportunity of meeting him personally. All of the Visitor's Center sisters were supposed to be there at five for a special meeting with Elder Nelson, and so we decided to go over at four so we could eat our dinner over there. The doors were all closed and locked, so we sat on the steps by the back entrance eating our panda express when all of the sudden Brother Lusvardi, the head of all of the church Visitor's Centers in the world poked his head out the door and asked, "Excuse me sisters, can we get by you?" We turned around and saw Elder Nelson, followed by our mission president coming out the door. Brother Lusvardi introduced us briefly to Elder Nelson and he shook our hands and left. It was such a shock and a blur that I didn't have time to think anything of it, except that Elder Nelson has really beautiful clear blue eyes. He then came later that night and spoke to all of the Visitor's Center sisters. They called on me to say the opening prayer and I was so nervous to pray in front of an apostle. He is so smart and incredibly spiritual. You can tell that he clearly sees the big picture and has the eternal perspective. He talked to us about seeing the bigger picture of helping these people reach salvation and exaltation. That night there was a special meeting with dignitaries and representatives of all different faiths from Los Angeles, and he offered the dedicatory prayer for the building. It was a really neat experience. I feel so blessed to be here during this time in this mission, to be able to witness all of these amazing things that are happening. The Visitor's Center is such a good tool for missionary work. We have every talk, scripture, video, and resource of the church all at our fingertips to share with and teach these people. Its so amazing, I love it.
The other highlight of my week was that Mirna was baptized! Finally! :) The other family that was going to be baptized wasn't. They aren't quite ready yet, but they will be baptized soon too. Mirna is the mom of the family I found and taught in my old area. She was waiting to be baptized because she wanted to do it with her husband, but he was completely unreceptive, so just the three teenage kids were baptized. We found out close to the end of my time in that area that her husband was actually baptized in Mexico when he was twenty. His membership information came up when they were entering the records for his kids. We were told that we couldn't tell her, and so we were hoping that she would make the choice to be baptized on her own out of faith, but she wasn't ready yet and we were transferred. The elders that took over were able to teach her and she decided she was ready to be baptized even without him, and then the elders got in with her husband and she finally found out that her husband is also baptized, so now they all know and there aren't anymore secrets and drama, so the novella is finally over! Now that she is baptized they can all get sealed in the temple a year from now. We are so excited for them to be a happy eternal family, and that we were able to help and be part of it.
We also had transfers this week, but nothing really changed, which I am very happy about. I'm still with Sister Garza in Olympic. We just moved in to an apartment that is closer to our area and the temple. Its a really nice apartment, but from what we've heard its a pretty ghetto area. That's ok though, I kind of like living in the ghetto.
Hey! I just barely found out that I'm in the Visitor's Center news spot that the church made. You should check it out: http://beta-newsroom.lds.org/#noid
Well, I'm out of time, but I love you all! Have a great week! :)
Hermana Dansie
