Week 21: Mormon Hispanic Time

First off, about the title. On Saturday was the ward fiesta for "el dia de accion de gracias" or Thanksgiving. It was scheduled to start at 5:00 pm but since Hna Browning and I were in a lesson we didn't get there until 5:45. We pull into the church parking lot and there are four cars. FOUR CARS. Slowly, people start to show up. We said the blessing on the food at 6:30, but it really wasn't until 7 that most of the people showed up. Two hours late! That is what we call Mormon Hispanic Time at its finest.

Hermana Browning was sick this past week, so we spent all of Tuesday in the apartment. The poor thing literally slept all day. Some days when I'm super tired or super discouraged all I want to do is go back to the apartment. But never again. It was sooooo boring to be there all day. But it was good we took the day off because the next day Hna Browning was up and running again and we kept the work moving forward.

This week was New Missionary Training where Hermana Browning finally got her driving privileges and iPad! Yay! Finally!! At the meeting they talked a lot about extending commitments and making goals. Those are two things that missionaries do every single day, so it's best to get into the habit of doing them (and doing them correctly!) as early in the mission as possible.

Hna Browning, two kids from the primary, and I did a musical number in church yesterday. I played piano, one kid on the violin, and Hna Browning and the other girl sang "Grande eres Tu" (How Great Thou Art). It went really well!

I think in my last email I mentioned Erika, a lady we knocked into who let us right in! We had a super awesome first lesson, but then later that week she texted us saying thanks for our time, but she was going to stay Catholic. And we were so sad! But this past week we went back over anyway, and she let us in again. We found out she had told us to stop coming by because her husband is very Catholic and doesn't want their family changing religions. But Erika and her son Christian still were interested! So we taught her the story of Esther, and then fasted and prayed with her one day. She went to talk to her husband again at the end of the fast and..... He still hadn't changed his mind :( But we are not giving up! No way!

Welp, we don't have any investigators at the moment who are really progressing towards a baptismal date. The two progressing investigators we do have have some special circumstances where we can't set a date with them yet. But they are still doing great! And I hope that this upcoming week we can get a couple more people to start progressing in their knowledge and understanding of the gospel.

My ponderizing scripture this week is D&C 98:1 "Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks."

Isn't that the perfect Thanksgiving scripture?! There is so much to be grateful for, yet so much that we take for granted. So here's my little simple gratitude list for the day:

-The Book of Mormon and how simple it lays out the true doctrines of Christ

-The pleasant weather outside. It's perfect out there!

-The package from my family :)

-The Chick-Fil-A down the street and the workers who know us by name

-And most importantly the chance that I have to share the gospel, which has brought me so many blessings, with everyone that I see!

We are entering into one of my favorite times of the year. The holidays seem to bring out the best in everyone :) I hope you all have a great week! Love you so much!

Hermana Baker

This is Luis's cat. He let us missionaries name her! The elders tried to give her the name Adolf because of her mustache, so we ended up compromising and calling her "Addie"

This was the best smile I could get out of Luis.

I sure am grateful for these two and at how much they've continued to progress after their baptism! And also for Hermana Browning. She's so cute. :)