Here Comes the Sun

Well first off, this was the first week in months that there was NO SNOW! Finally!!! It was still kinda chilly but the sun was out and I didn't have to wear my heavy coat all the time so that's a start. I just hope the weather keeps getting better from this point on. 

Tuesday we had Zone Meeting. And when transfers happened a couple weeks ago, Sister Stone got moved to the same zone as me so I got to see her!! We missed each other so much! I'm so excited to have her so close by and get to see her more often!

On Wednesday there was a mission conference with the whole southern half of the mission. We had a speaker who had been a seminary and institute teacher for 35 years and knew basically everything there is to know about everything. He spoke to us about what is referred to in the scriptures as "baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost" and how it's an ongoing process throughout our lives and it's not enough to merely be baptized and think that's all we have to do. 

Funny story of the week: On Friday we went to a house looking for a less-active guy who lives there. A guy we had never met before opened the door and said he wasn't home (seriously every time we go to this house, we meet a new person who we didn't know lived there. So many Hispanics live in one little house it's almost unbelievable). We talk to him and find out his name (Francisco) and ask if we can teach him. He does the typical "Oh I'm busy right now... come back another day" So we set an appointment for the next day. The next day, we show up and park in front of his house about ten minutes before the appointment, and we see him sneaking out of his house with a guilty look on his face. We just started laughing because we could tell that he was purposely leaving his house ten minutes before he thought we were going to be there so that when we showed up he wouldn't be home. Then we just walk around and contact people in the area and we end up in this little Mexican grocery store with a tiny restaurant inside. And who do I see sitting eating in the restaurant? Francisco. What a booger! He actually saw me and turned his head to make sure it was really me, and then slowly turned his head back towards the window hoping I hadn't noticed him. Then we leave the store and walk past the front of it (he was eating facing the front window) and we just smiled and waved at him through the window and the look on his face was so guilty and embarrassed! 

After Francisco left, we got tacos at the little Mexican restaurant, and while we were eating the manager sat by us and asked a bunch of questions and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he kept saying that we were just another church and he didn't need religion and all that stuff. Then we got up to pay for our tacos and find out that we didn't have any cash and the restaurant didn't accept cards (I should have known...) so the manager ended up paying for our tacos and said it was to pay for the Book of Mormon was gave him! It all happened so fast and he seemed pretty skeptical about what we had to say but hey we got free tacos out of it!

But something happened more important than getting free tacos: Nestor was baptized yesterday!! Teaching him has been different than what I'm used to because he has Autism. But he is really high-functioning and is honestly one of the smartest 14-year-olds I've met. He understands the scriptures so well; we even gave him a copy of Jesus the Christ for him to read! His family is great. His sister Maggie was baptized in November and his brother Andy was baptized three weeks ago. There are six kids in the family and Nestor was the only remaining one over the age of eight who hadn't been baptized yet. The parents love the Gospel and want to get baptized but can't at the moment because they are not married, and they can't get married at the moment because the dad doesn't have a passport and they can't get a marriage license. It's a difficult situation but we have faith that it will all work out somehow. At Nestor's baptism yesterday, his mom bore her testimony and said that she knows the Church is true and she is so proud of her three older children for being baptized, and that she hopes her younger children can be baptized when they are eight and grow up in the Gospel. She also talked about how she hopes her and the father can find a way to get married soon so they can get baptized. 

Our other progressing investigator William was doing really well this week. He has bad eyesight so he was unable to read the Book of Mormon until we finally got a large-print copy to give him this week. He read a couple different chapters this week and learned so much and loved it! But then on Saturday he slipped and fell down the stairs and cracked his skull and broke his shoulder. He's in the hospital right now and is not sure how long it will be until he gets out. So prayers for him to be able to heal and come back fast would be greatly appreciated!

<3 Hermana Harris

Nestor was baptized by Brother Titmas, who is in the English ward

​Us with Nestor, his mom, and his sister Maggie