Hi Family! This week was really good. My companion, Sister Lewis, came on Tuesday and we did the little orientation which is actually pretty long. I'm pretty glad now that I didn't do the whole normal orientation. You are just soooo tired and there is waaaay too much info to process.
That night we just had a dinner appointment and a lesson with Leticia, our recent convert, so hopefully it wasn't too much for S. Lewis the first day. She's really nice and willing to give suggestions to me, so I like that. Mostly I just want her to feel like she can say what she does and doesn't like the way we/I do something. She's from Sandy, UT and mostly has worked in a medical office for the last couple of years and taken some classes at SLCC. She's really great and really just wants to be able to share the gospel. It frustrates her that she doesn't feel like she can speak the language. It's an interesting thing to see someone who has just come and kind of see where I used to be. I haven't forgotten how it was frustrating in the beginning, to actually be able to communicate with people, but still, I guess my Spanish is a lot better than where it used to be.
Since S. Fatkin has been here the past week and maybe that was good to ease S. Lewis into the Spanish teaching because she didn't have to do as much. She mostly bore her testimony, said MTC style prayers and shared the first vision. But after Wednesday when S. Fatkin's comp comes in, it will just be the two of us. I'm not worried about her; I know it will take time to learn the language, and lots of patience. This is a really good area to start off the mission I think. This ward is amazing, I really love the people here but then that's what 6 months in one area will do for you.
Emily and her favorite MTC instructor, Sister Alexander
Leticia was confirmed Sunday and that went really well and she just really gets it. She truly is an example of someone who was prepared for the gospel and really wants to learn. I love it! We also found 6 new investigators this week and that was amazing; we didn't find any the week before. And we set a baptismal date with this young guy named Freddy. He asks really funny questions. He asks us where we heard things like living as spirits before we came here. Then we tell him we know from revelation and the scriptures, and he just accepts it. He didn't make it to church though, so he's not exactly solid yet. But we are putting out the commitment to be baptized with a hard date, on the second visit, so not everyone is actually very solid at that point. But if it's right, they will be!
Also, this week the Lopez family came back to church. Silviano (the alcoholic), Nicandra, and the kids. We had dropped them to give them a little time, but were planning on going back this week. But our ward mission leader never understood why we weren't still teaching them, and he called them this week and invited them to his house, and then to church and they came. It's a miracle because that's exactly what should be happening. Members should be involved as friends and continue to fellowship investigators even when we can't be doing the teaching. And it shows that when you have faith to “drop” someone, that you can be blessed for doing it. When Silviano saw us at church, he was very attached to us and kept asking us to come back and that they missed us. You always hope that people notice a difference, but we didn't expect such a reaction from him, because he always used to say that he didn't understand us. He did though. So we're going to go back tonight and eventually start teaching them again. I still believe this family will be baptized, I just don't know when.
Irvine: Shellie's baptism
It's interesting being at the halfway point in the mission; I feel like I finally get it. I get why people love being on missions. It took a while, but I really do love it and also get why missionaries start to think they don't want leave their missions. There's definitely some safety here. Everything's going really well and even though I don't know what will really happen this transfer, I think it will be great! Thanks for everything mi familia!
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