Why, hello again!

Well, here I am again, writing another post, the last full week of the transfer. We should be receiving transfer news next Sunday so I'll be sure to mention if I'll be staying here or going in my next post. I hope that I stay here to be quite honest but, I'll go where Heavenly Father needs me!

We had a very successful week this past week despite some hurdles we had to jump. The end of P-day last week was a bit slow. The appointments that we set fell through so we spent the rest of the night trying to contact potential investigators we found. In the end we just ended up dropping most of the ones we contact due to lack of interest OR they didn't live there anymore.

Tuesday was our interview day with President. It went VERY well. A little bit longer than usual but we were able to get a lot of necessary things accomplished. My interview with President was fairly short again but it was still very good. I feel like I set some very promising goals with him that will really push me hard this next transfer. But, I'm really looking forward to it. The rest of the night we tried to salvage some of the plans that we had. We ended up having an extremely good lesson with our abuelita Norma and are 1000% excited for her baptism next week.

Wednesday was a very interesting day. We had a district meeting in the morning that, like interviews, went a little bit longer than usual. As a result we had to change around our schedule. We ended up doing the same thing we did Monday night but experienced quite a bit success. We have some people that we feel are ready and willing to listen to the gospel and, this week, we will find out how ready they are to accept it. We took a late lunch at about 3 or so then went and helped the Zamora kids with their homework. We rode out a ways to dinner that night but it was definitely worth it. The hermana that we had REALLY knows how to cook. After dinner we rode to our new investigators house for the lesson we missed earlier in the day. Their names are Jorge and Maria Hernandez. We planned the night before to teach them lesson 1 and brought a Book of Mormon along to give to them to read. I won't go into specific details but I will say that the lesson we taught was one of the best lessons I have taken part of. The spirit was so present in the lesson. Both Jorge and Maria recognized it and were just so excited for us to come back. We set up our return appointment then got out of there as soon as we could so they could feel the difference in spirit.

Thursday was a pretty normal day, we went and visited Norma again with Obispo Rivera and finished teaching her lesson 2. With this we completed all of the pre-baptism lessons. It has been a really cool experience to teach her because we have seen such a change of light in her eyes from the first time we met her. And honestly, she feels like one of my family! :)

Friday was an awesome day. I actually went on a split with Elder Grayson (one of the Spanish Assistants) and served in his area in (I believe) Phoenix North. They are part of the Monte Vista ward of their and, honestly, have an awesome area. My day with him really opened my eyes to the blessings that I have down here in South Phoenix. I really came to appreciate just how many Hispanics there are down here and, really, how many of them are ready to accept the gospel. I loved serving with Elder Grayson for the day and learned an incredible amount. However, while I was up there, Elder Giles and Elder Clarke (the other Assistant) had an awesome meeting with a referral named Francisco where they taught all of lesson one and left a Book of Mormon. His story is so big I'm going to have to share it another time. The craziest thing though happened that night when, once again, we went to see Jorge and Maria. Long story short, they have a baptismal date set for the 20 of March. When I heard this I felt so incredible...that really when the spirit bears testimony of the veracity of the gospel, people will have a desire to change.

This week was filled with incredible experiences that really changed my perspective as my purpose as a missionary. Our ward is starting to take control of our recent converts which has allowed us to use more of our efforts towards finding, teaching, and baptizing. The work has just taken off here recently and we are looking forward to the future.

Well, I know this is a bit shorter than usual but I'm about out of time. I wish I could write all the experiences we had but, I guess that will just have to wait for another few months :). Thank you (yes all of you!) for the prayers that you offer in behalf of the missionaries. I wish I was able to express how much they are felt and appreciated. But, I hope that you all are alive and well. Know that you are in my prayers. But, until next week, Hasta Luego! :)

PS. Sorry...no pictures this week. I should have more next Monday. Nos Vemos!