This week has been so great! ROCIO WAS BAPTIZED!! She was interviewed on Tuesday and said she wanted to be baptized right away so we made it a Friday night event. I don't know if I have talked about her before...but she is amazing. She has completely given up her lifestyle to follow Jesus Christ and has such an amazing testimony. A couple of Elders found her a couple weeks after Sister Lake and I got to the area and taught her one lesson then passed her off to us since she is YSA age. She couldn't stop talking about the way she felt when she was baptized and then confirmed- you could really see a change of countenance with her. She invited 2 nonmember friends to the baptism and another one of our investigators that came invited his nonmember friend, and they all talked about the spirit that was there. One of them also came to her confirmation and seems interested in learning more about the church. She got her temple recommend right after church (our Bishop initiated that and was so on top of everything!) so hopefully we will be able to go to the temple to do baptisms with her in the next couple weeks.
We got the best text in the entire nation from a less-active on Tuesday. So background story. We went to his house about a month ago because he was a name on the ward directory that we didn't recognize and had never seen at church. He wasn't there but his family was and we had a nice visit with them. His mom told us what time he would be home so we could come back, but said not to call and make an appointment with him because he would tell us no. So that was reassuring. But we came back about a week later at the time he would be home, and his mom was frantic and told us they had no idea where he was- he had ran away and didn't want anything to do with the church. The next day was fast Sunday, so we offered to fast for him with the family. We didn't go back to follow up with them for another couple weeks, but when we finally got around to it (a couple weeks ago) he was home! We met with him, and he told us he would come to church on Sunday if we got him a ride. I was so amazed. At church, he didn't have a hard time making friends and seemed to really enjoy himself there. That's not even the best part though. The best part is when he texted us on Tuesday and told us he wants us to help him prepare to go on a mission!!!! AHHH!! Guys. The power of fasting and prayer is REAL. If you are willing to give up a little food and pray your heart out for someone, God really does pay special attention to it.
I went on a couple exchanges this week and learned a ton. As always. I spent a day in the stake near the temple and there are tons of Hispanics. In fact, almost everyone we talked to on the street spoke Spanish. Somehow, I had a 15 minute conversation with someone in Spanish and found out she is living here alone, her husband is in Mexico and she came here to make money in a tiny Mexican restaurant. Apparently the gift of tongues is a real thing. I was able to get her information and send her off to some Elders that speak real Spanish. Also, we are obsessed with riding our bikes around since we are baptizing or dropping a lot of our investigators (dropping is the worst thing in the world by the way) so we find people on the street and do service for them. We have realized that people are so much more willing to listen to what you have to say if you serve them first, so that is what we focus on. And Heavenly Father caught on to our plan so there are always tons of people around us that need help lifting or carrying something...or just anything. We even rode around this lady's neighborhood looking for her pitbull named Doody who had ran away. I can imagine that was a sight to see- two sisters yelling out "Doody! DOODY!" in that neighborhood and at the nearby park, but we were able to teach her a couple days later because of it. Hopefully though it helped us burn off a few of the calories we gained at Anna's this week. She made us fried chicken and cornbread with some homemade mac and cheese. And i ate enough to last me for the summer. Oh boy.
I love you all!! And I don't want to think too much about the grilled sandwiches you are going to make at Great Harvest. They sound like a dream.
Peace and Blessings
Sister Stoker
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