"A good weird . . . I think that was the Holy Ghost."

Welp... long time no talk verdad? haha but yeah it was good to talk with you all on the phone! How is Chelsea doing?! Say hello to everyone for me!!! Is Chelsea back there at home? Wow that is crazy that Jon hit a deer. I'm glad he is okay! Here is part of an update I gave to President Trayner about the people we are teaching: One of our investigators is reading a chapter per day in the Book of Mormon and I know that is helping her testimony grow tremendously. We met a young single mom who wants to change her life so her kids can be proud of who she is. Last night she knelt down and said her first prayer out loud. She asked God for help and guidance in her life. She asked if she should be baptized January 22nd. Afterwards we asked her how she felt. She said "Good...a little weird." We asked her "A good weird or a bad weird haha?" "A good weird... I think that was the Holy Ghost." She received her answer from God that she needs to make this step. I know that because of the revelation that she received through prayer, that she is going to press forward and be baptized. ... then Christmas night we went over to the Russell's to eat dinner. It was sooooooooooooooooooo yummy!!!! They even bought gluten free dessert just for me :) QUE SIMPATICO. Okay I'm going to send some pics :) Some are from Christmas eve when we went to eat at Obispo Torres' house. Tamales and Pasole!!!! Yum yum and empenadas for dessert. They gave us missionaries towels with our names engraved (...haha not engraved, but you know what I mean). It was super nice of them.

This is the first time I've got to see every member in the family be baptized. What a special experience the Lord gave me.

ME TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I AM EXCITED TO TALK TO YOU ALL AGAIN! I can't believe it has already been a year since last Christmas...fastest year EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay I'm planning on calling at 4pm my time...which I think is 2pm your time? I'll call Sarah's house phone. What?! I didn't know Jay was going to Brazil? That is cool! What an adventure he has ahead of him. That is very very exciting about Chris and Debbie! But I'm sad they are moving to Hawaii. Por que? I thought they were coming back to Washington?? Okay so my other "daughter" as they call it in the mission lingo is Sister Giles. She is from Bountiful Utah :) She is super cute and has a lot of great ideas about the work. She was able to experience a good ray of miracles/disappointments this week. I felt bad because by now, I think I've pretty much adjusted to things falling apart all the time haha so this week wasn't as difficult for me as it was for her. She is such a trooper though and is excited for this next week and all the miracles we are going to see. HUGE MIRACLE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JAVIER GOT BAPTIZED FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the first time I've got to see every member in the family be baptized. What a special experience the Lord gave me. So we hadn't seen him ALL week because he was working so much. On Saturday we called and they couldn't meet with us because it was the only time for them to go buy groceries (que bueno que entienden la importancia del dia de reposo!). I was medio freaking out inside because I wanted to follow up with how he was doing on the Word of Wisdom because the baptism was the next day... so we had to wait until Sunday morning for church. We called and no one picked up... church was already 15 minutes into the meeting and they weren't there. BUT then Javier showed up on his own with the girls. YES! I talked to him afterwards and asked him if he "stayed strong" this week. He shook his head and said "Sister it has been a hard week, I have had to work A LOT. I've been so tired." I thought "oohhh no... he shook his head, that isn't good." But then I asked him specifically "have you smoked or drank?" "Oh Sister of course not, I CAN'T! I have to stay clean and strong." YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! He did it! Later that evening he got baptized and it was one of the most spiritual/powerful I've witnessed. Sonja (his daughter that just got baptized in October) gave the talk on Baptism. She talked about what it meant to her and how she was happy because her dad getting baptized is how they are going to go to the Temple in a year. I look over and there are tears streaming down his face. I've never seen him cry - he is very much a macho man kind of guy...but there he was crying because the spirit was so strong. It was beautiful and a blessing to be a part of. Some random homeless man I invited to come to church came too! That was fun :) Thank you soooooooooooo much for everything. I love you and will talk to you Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sister Bricker

Claudia's Baptism

I'M TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

HAHAHA I can just imagine Anna and Andrew with the deer!  That is awesome!  I love the Bricker Christmas party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love how Vicki always has the goodie bags afterwards stuffed with cool/yummy things :)  It looks pretty cold there!!!!!  That is cool that Rogelio and Steve's girlfriend came too.  I wish I could've met Rogelio!!!!  Is anyone new scheduled to come in?  Yay for decorating!  We decorated too!  I should have taken pictures.

Okay so this week I got some exciting news.  I'M TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'M SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!  That is what I wanted was to train this last transfer so I could just pass down everything I've learned.  Tomorrow we have transfers and I get to go pick her up :)  I'm also excited to stay here in Mission.  I'm sad to say goodbye to Sister Cortes, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED working with her...but it's not too bad because I'll see her every Monday. 

Other exciting news!  Claudia got BAPTIZED yesterday!  The Lord has really been blessing us to find the prepared people.  I have loved working with Claudia because she has just guided her own conversion with the spirit.  We asked her when she thought that God wanted her to be baptized... she told us "before the end of the year" and picked a date and prayed about it.  She also told us of when she gained her testimony - she was pondering on everything that we had taught her, she read the 13 Articles of Faith and she said it just hit her "I believe in all these things.  It makes sense.  I know it is true."  She was so smiley and a lot of her family were there to support her.  Obispo Torres baptized her.

MORE exciting news!  Javier said he wants to get baptized the 18th (aka this weekend!) Orale!  Andale!  The field is white already to harvest!

I know that the Lord's hand is in this work.  He loves us soooooooooo much. 

Thanks for the alpaca scarf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That sounds like it will be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It has been pretty cold lately.  Sister Cortes and I have been walking a lot because we don't have miles... so we walked from our appointment to the church and she was FREEZING - especially her hands because she doesn't have gloves.

I'm trying to come up with something I can send you all for Christmas... but it will probably be something made with love haha because I don't have money...it will be one of these gifts this year:

 

"We all enjoy giving and receiving presents. But there is a difference  between presents and gifts. The true gifts may be part of  ourselves--giving of the riches of the heart and mind--and therefore more  enduring and of far greater worth than presents bought at the store."Of course, among the greatest of gifts is the gift of love..."Some, like Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens's A Christmas Carol,  have a hard time loving anyone, even themselves, because of their  selfishness. Love seeks to give rather than to get. Charity towards and  compassion for others is a way to overcome too much self-love" (James E.  Faust, "A Christmas With No Presents," Ensign, Dec 2001, 2-6).

 

LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO FOR ME!

Edisson's Baptism

First off... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow Congrats Mom you are almost done with school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! 5 hours in the darkroom sounds intense and like it would make you sleepy :) Scan your pictures so I can see them!!!! Wow St. Helen's sounds like it was beautiful. First off... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It hits me sometimes that I only have 7 weeks left being a FULL TIME MISSIONARY...it is weird. I'M WEIRD! ..not that anything has changed there but, I don't know how to talk about things other than the gospel anymore haha. I went to single's ward (because we had to help Edisson our investigator adjust) and everyone was flirting haha and it makes me feel really awkward. So prepare to have an awkward daughter!!!!!!!!!!! These past few weeks have been really challenging to find more people to teach. A lot of people are actually pretty grumpy, which is sad. They just don't understand what we bring :( I was kind of down and Sister Cortes as well because things aren't working out very well with one of our investigators...but then I went to church and all my worries/stresses/questions were calmed with the spirit I felt during testimony meeting. I know that each meeting in church is inspired of God to help us grow spiritually and receive revelation to our questions. It doesn't matter if you are the Prophet or a recent convert, church is something that was set up for all of us to remember the Savior and receive help and guidance. We saw many miracles yesterday and good things are to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edisson got baptized and it was beautiful! A lot of the people in singles ward came to support :) He also got his interview for the Priesthood and will receive it next Sunday! Life is good!!!!!!!!!!!! Just working away like crazy down here!!!! I hope it snows! haha Oh and hey don't worry about getting me anything for xmas!!!!!!!!!! You coming down is a present enough! LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!! GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING!