The baptism this Sunday was one of the most spiritual I've been to on my mission

The baptism this Sunday was one of the most spiritual I've been to on my mission. Long story short, our investigator and her boyfriend are going to get baptized next month on the 20th. The kids didn't want to wait, so the two girls got baptized last night with a man that the Elders were teaching. It was interesting to see the huge contrast in their situations - an 84 year old man and two 8 & 11 year old girls. Everyone at the baptism was really well behaved and reverent. Another investigator came and actually gave the opening prayer! It was awesome. The older man went first and then it was the 8 year old's turn. While she was waiting, Sister Cortes told me that she came and gave her a hug and started to cry... "I'm getting baptized!" She felt the spirit and started crying. It is amazing to me how her little spirit, even though she may not understand EVERYTHING yet, knew that this was a special moment. She knew what she was about to do was something that God was really proud of. Both of the girls were just beaming and beautiful afterward. Their Mom and her boyfriend are going to buy their license this week for marriage and we are going to teach him the Word of Wisdom. We had an amazing lesson with them this week! We also had interviews with President Trayner this week. They were really good :) I love talking to him. YAY I'M GOOD TO GO FOR SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have time, could you check at the BYU-I nursing program and see when the deadline is to apply for the nursing program? I know it is really hard to get in there but there is no hurt in trying... if God wants me there, things will happen... but if not I'll just head down to Dixie after that! That is good that school starts in April because it will give me a little time to work and save up some money before I head off for adventures in school. MY DREAMS CAME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I GET TO STAY HERE WITH SISTER CORTES FOR ONE MORE TRANSFER! I have a feeling it is going to flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy by! We have too much fun together. I'm going to try and print pictures today! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't even think about what happened this week because I'm so excited about little Jacob!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JACOB IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET HIM! Aww! That is awesome that she did it all natural with a mid-wife! She needs to tell me all about it! I've decided I'm going to be a mid-wife someday... maybe haha... because that is such a special experience to bring one of God's little children into the world. I loved all of those pictures, but I think my favorite was the one with Sarah and her ice cream feeding Anna... she has her crazy face on :) I can't even think about what happened this week because I'm so excited about little Jacob! I shared all the pictures with Sister Zamora (old companion) who was sitting next to me. Okay welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll this week we find out about transfers... so I'm probably leaving as usual haha. The time is going by SO FAST! My investigator family had their baptismal interviews. We made the kids little flash cards of the commandments so they could remember them. One of them is EXACTLY like Gracie... in personality and looks for the most part as well - always making friends, always playing and into mischief :) The other is more like Taylor - super smart, very mature. I was talking to her on the way to the interview and I asked her how the flash cards went... she said "Good - the easiest one to memorize was CHASTITY!" haha it made me laugh, I'm glad she likes the law of chastity. They all are ready for next Sunday :D YAYYYYYYYY! We are so excited. We were able to meet lots of great people this week. I just love being a missionary and see the hand of the Lord working in my life each day. I'm learning a lot about the power of faith as a missionary. Nothing can happen without faith on our part...it is against the laws of God to work miracles if faith is not present. Faith is a principle of power, not weakness. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN I JUST TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED THAT PACKAGE?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NICE OF YOU! I loved every single thing in that box... funny story. One of the first things I pulled out were the orange things in the plastic bag marked "pumpkin marshmallow." I saw the title and thought to myself "no way!!!!!!!!!!! pumpkin marshmallow, that is so cool! Mom knows I love pumpkin and must have found them somewhere cool." So I proceeded to open it and put in my mouth what I thought was going to be a pumpkin flavored marshmallow... but as I started to put it in my mouth I realized something wasn't right haha and then noticed the "sentsy" symbol and thought "oooooooooooooooh it is a candle!" Sister Cortes and I had a good laugh haha... WELL LOVE YA! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

When God starts working on a family, He works on the WHOLE family.

Wow what a cool sacrament meeting!!!!! That sounds like it was very spirit filled and wisdom filled! I'm excited for Ayana!!!!!!!! She has so many good times awaiting her. Your picture looked AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! I loved that you caught them in action! I loved the white van in the background haha did Dad really buy that? Thanks for the song, that was beautiful. This week was pretty good :) Surprise we got a new sister from the Nauvoo mission. She will just be here for the winter, and then return back to Nauvoo mission in the spring. Her name is Sister Cooper and she likes to run so I get to run again in the mornings - YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! My body feels so much better :) Tomorrow I get to see Sister Lichfield again!!!!!!!!!! Yay! I haven't seen her since June so I am excited. This month is going by so fast, I don't know what is going on. Our investigator and her family is still going strong :) We went by on Saturday and we finally got to talk with the Dad, for a little bit. He invited us in to eat for a little carne and tortillas :) We invited him to church and he came with the rest of his family!!!!!!!! She was beaming. Funny story is... when God starts working on a family, He works on the WHOLE family. We went to their house for our lesson and all of a sudden the cousins run up to pick up their daughter to go spend the night at her house. The cousin said "we need to hurry up though because the people from church are coming soon - we need to clean the house!" We were thinking to ourselves maybe the Jehovah's Witness or someone else was visiting them... but when we asked the cousin, she was like "no they are the same from your church." We were stunned :) The Assistants to the President are teaching that family too and we didn't even know it! So at church they all got to sit together. God is so good and His gospel truly blesses families. Hey guess what?! I HAD MY FIRST PIECE OF PUMPKIN PIE THIS WEEK AND IT WAS HEAVENLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND BETTER YET SISTER CORTES DOESN'T LIKE PUMPKIN PIE AND SO I GOT TO EAT HER PIECE TOOOOOOOOO! haha someone needs to work on charity right? :) I would have shared if she liked it - promise! Well I'm looking forward to anything and everything pumpkin that awaits this season. We are having a trunk-o-treat and we get to go because we have investigators!!!!!!!!!! Yayyyyyyy! It will be with four wards too so it is going to be crazy. I know the Savior lives and wants each and everyone of us to return to live with God. I love being able to relay this message to the people. Yay for south Texas!!!1 LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! I'M GOING TO THE OFFICE NOW TO SEE IF YOUR PACKAGE IS THERE :)

I also see them change together and see the fulfillment of the statement "the gospel blesses families"

Wow... what happened with the pictures sounds familiar haha. I remember doing that in high school in Viscom. Pero, SI SE PUEDE MAMA!!!!! With practice I know you will be sending me beautiful pictures in no time :) That sounded like quite the birthday party! I LOVE EXTREME SPOONS! Yay for the primary program! Every time I see blonde kids running around at church I think of little Anna and Andrew. I hope they remember me when I go back :O We have been teaching a mom and her kids. They are all soooooooooo cute. I LOVE teaching families because I feel at home while I'm there :) I also see them all change together and see the fulfillment of the statement "the gospel blesses families." She came to church with all her four kids this Sunday :) You should have seen them! They all looked so spiffy in their dresses and the little guy in his sweater vest. While we were walking up, one of them grabbed my hand to walk with me and it made me miss all my nieces and nephews!!!!!!! I love kids! I know that being here is preparing me to be a better mom someday. But she is very prepared for the gospel. On the ride home, she told a member that she loved church and it answered all of her doubts/questions. Wooooooo hooo! By the way she needs to get married to her boyfriend too... so pray for her! ANOTHER WEDDING!! We also got the cops called at us this week haha. We had been parking our car a little down the road to save miles (apparently Jon is worrying about that too hah)... but somebody thought our corolla was suspicious and called the cops on us. We had it taken away from us for a little bit but we have it back now thankfully! It is cold today!!!!!!! 75 degrees :) Hopefully it stays that way! I hear there is lots of drama about Mitt Romney running for president. I don't know what is going on - we usually just change the subject because politics is not our message. Hmmm okay what else is going on here? I have lost hope in losing weight before I go home haha. I'm just going to go climb lots of mountains when I get home. I do have a jump rope though! If you find any exercises I can do with a jump rope - let me know!!!!!! I LOVE YA MOM!!!!! thank you so much for your prayers :) I get to talk to you sooooooooooooooooon! Can you believe how fast time is going? Say hello to everyone as always! Oh and I'm excited for my package :D

It was a testimony to me to hear Him say that He had people prepared for us . . . and then to go and find them all that night was a special experience

Hahaha!!!!! I loved your story Mom!!!!!! It made me laugh here in the library. I think you are where I get my "I don't care" attitude about looks. Sometimes other girls complain about the way they look (even my companions) and I've just never joined in on that... and I think it is because I had a great mom that didn't worry about all that! Haha I can just picture you in your yoga clothes and boots walking to class... AWESOME. I'm trying to think of a funny story to repay you with... but I can't off the top of my head... because we're always laughing. Sister Cortes says it is my fault that she has gained weight these past couple of weeks because she is never stressed with me (when she is stressed she doesn't eat)... haha I explained to her that I hate being stressed and so I'm never stressed! I have just learned on the mission that whatever happens is going to happen. We as missionaries do our best and I know that God always takes care of the rest. So my mission philosophy is to go and work my hardest with the Spirit and don't worry about the rest :) We had a pretty good week. A lot of our appointments had been falling through towards the beginning of the week and it was rough. On Friday we decided to fast so we could have more of God's help. While we were fasting... our one solid person, called and said she is going to start going to another church :( We were sooooooooo sad! Then about an hour later Sister Cortes got a blessing because she wasn't feeling well. The blessing was so nice and brought the spirit super strong. In the blessing, God told her that "There are specific people being prepared for you Sister Cortes, and Sister Bricker... that only you can touch." We felt such a ray of hope and faith and like a burden was lifted off our shoulders. Then about 30 minutes later our investigator calls us saying that she wants us to come back and teach her daughter too. She had read all of her reading and understood that Alma 32 is saying that faith is not to have a perfect knowledge :) Her AND her daughter came to church on Sunday THEN later that night we had a lesson with this family and they all want to get baptized this month!!!!!!! I truly know that the Lord does fulfill all His promises. It was a testimony to me to hear Him say that He had people prepared for us... and then to go and find them all that night was a special experience. CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot was about missionary work and I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo blessed to be here serving the Lord. I'm always grateful for you Mom/Dad/Grandmas/Grandpas for helping me be here. I'm working hard and loving it!!!!! Thursday we had to stay in our apartment for a while... our mission President gave us a call saying that there was something going on with the police there... so we went upstairs and made a map of all the people we wanted to visit. Everything turned out okay though. We see the cops all the time - there are definitely some not very good things going on here. I'm grateful for the Lord and His protection. I love you ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!