Week Fifty-Seven: Julio Got Baptized!!

Area: Arvin Spanish Group
Companion: Hermana Luquette

Hello! This week was pretty good. We have been seeing a TON of miracles and the work is really progressing down here in Arvin. The Lord has been blessing us a lot and we are living the life.

Biggest news of the week: Julio got baptized! I never would have expected him to have gotten baptized when we first started teaching him. At the beginning of the week, we went over to Julio's house to talk to him about baptism again. He told us that he was finally done waiting and that he wanted to go through with it. The entire time leading up to the day was full of miracles. From the very beginning attempts of trying to set Julio with a day to be baptized, he always told us that he didn't want to be baptized when it was cold outside. He made it a little hard for us, but we told him that if he set a date to be baptized in January or February, he would see a miracle with that. As we started this week, the weather was beautiful. It has been raining pretty much nonstop for the last couple of weeks and it has been cold and miserable outside, but on the day of the baptism, it was unseasonably warm and the sun was shining. The spirit was so special at Julio's baptism and you could tell that he felt excited (even though he was trying to hide it) We asked him how he felt after he was baptized and he told us that he just felt warm. It was so sweet!

We went over for one of our last lessons with Julio before he got baptized. Despite looking for one of the sisters from the group to come with us, we couldn't find anyone. We ended up just going, knowing that we wouldn't be able to go inside his apartment. When we got there, Julio invited us to go inside and we told him that we couldn't because of the mission rules. He got super sad and told us that he had gone to Bakersfield to buy pots and plates and then had walked all over Lamont to buy groceries in order to make us mole. He was sad because he thought that we wouldn't be able to eat it with him because there wasn't a table. In a sudden moment of creativity, we decided to turn over a couple of cardboard boxes form a table and we ate the food there. It was the cutest lunch/dinner ever!

At Julio's makeshift table eating rice and mole.

Speaking of our investigators, we started teaching a person named Luis. He is young man who recently returned from serving a mission for the Catholic church. We started talking to him after we saw a dove in a cage on his porch and he let us hold it. We have had a couple of lessons with him and he really liked reading in the Book of Mormon. This Sunday, we invited him to come to church, but we didn't really expect that he would come. Imagine our surprise when he walked into the church building right after it started! He was wearing a giant cowboy hat and told us that he had walked all the way to the church building. He also was friends with one of the members and her nonmember brother who we are also currently teaching. We went over for a lesson after church and he said that he really liked it. He tried to pay to take one of the Gospel Principles books home so that he could study it, but they ended up giving it to him for free. 

At the Mission Leadership Council.

This week, we started the exchange season again. We had two different exchanges, but both with new missionaries. Our first exchanges were with Hermana Wright and Hermana Melendez and I went with Hermana Wright. She is such a good missionary and has a strong testimony. We were able to teach some good lessons and find some cool people to start teaching. Later this week, we went on exchanges with Hermana Latimer and Hermana Perdomo. I was with Hermana Perdomo. She is from Honduras and has been living in the United States for the last couple of years. It was super fun to be able to practice my Spanish with her. Plus, both she and Hermana Melendez knew Laney from the MTC, so we talked a little bit about her. That was really strange, but it was fun to be able to talk to them!

with Hermana Wright

with Hermana Perdoma

That is just about it for the week. We have been seeing the Lord's hand in the work and I am more and more grateful everyday for the chance that I have to be a missionary here. I love that I get to study and teach about the Doctrine of Christ every day of my mission and that I have the opportunity to truly change people's lives. I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Blau

Frozen yogurt we got during some extra time on P-day.