End of transfer 1

So here it is TRANSFER NEWS: I'm getting a baby sister! Yep, not only is Hna. Blades training again, but we are both staying in the area, so we are going to be in a trio for the next 6 weeks. That is really unusual, but this was a hard transfer for President, I'm sure. There are 4 Spanish sisters coming in tomorrow, and of the 10 Spanish VC sisters we have now, 4 of us have been here for 2 transfers or less, so it was hard to have enough trainers.There are 2 training trios this transfer, mine and then Hna. Cochran is in one as well, but her trainer is leaving and a new one coming in. We found out officially how it was all going to work out Saturday night, but we had some clues since Wednesday. For example, we knew we would be in a trio, because we live with members and Elder Willis the housing coordinator called us to get permission from the members, see if we could fit 3 sisters, etc. And then on Thursday he called us back and told us for sure there would be 3 sisters. There were still a lot of ways it could have happened, so Saturday night was greatly anticipated. Hna. Blades is pretty sure that this is her last transfer in Ensenada Park, she is going on 7 months there. Our guess for next transfer is that she will leave me and the new sister in the area, but again, you never know!


One thing that has amazed me on my mission is that I have seen the Lord use us as his instruments, even when we didn't know. To clarify: of course on your mission there are times when you get spiritual promptings that you need to go somewhere specific or see someone specific, but the Lord uses you even when you aren't as in tune with the Spirit as you should be. Last night, at around 8:30 we were unsure where to go. We hadn't contacted enough people that day, so we decided that that was the priority, just contact. Usually we pull over whenever we see people and talk to them, or park far away from our appointments, but I really hate doing that at night and I was driving so (probably out of laziness) I just decided to go to an apartment complex that we have a lot of investigators at and figured we could talk to them and some of the people in the parking lot. I can honestly say I felt no inspiration or prompting to go there whatsoever. When we got there, we found Mirna outside her apartment. She looked really upset and when we asked her what was wrong she just started crying. We stayed and talked to her for the next 40 minutes. I didn't understand everything but I could tell she is dealing with a lot. Her brother's girlfriend's family is trying to have him deported, because he is poor. Eliseo still can't work because he is still healing from his burns. She doesn't work but has to be the support of her little family, her two brothers, and her brother-in-law. She said that none of her neighbors have been helping her, even though before the accident Eliseo was the first person they would turn to for help. She has been so impressed by our little branch, who ran to her aid even before they knew her. She has so much faith. She was saying that she doesn't need luxuries, she just needs necessities for her family and God. When her brother's girlfriend's family (they are wealthy and proud and citizens) was treating her horribly, I think one of the things they said is that her family is so poor that they are gonig to end up like dogs, eating food from the garbage. In response she said, if God allows me even that much food, then I will be grateful. I know that we were sent there at that time by the Lord. This is his work, and he uses many ways to accomplish it, even my laziness at times. Right before we saw Mirna we were with a less-active member. He was saying the same thing. He and his wife had been struggling in the past, and about 2 weeks ago they were fighting again. Right as it was getting really bad and he was talking about divorce, the executive secretary called saying that our Branch President wanted to meet with them right then. Their home teacher also called. He said that on the way to the President's office, they were in shock, as to why that happened right then. We had been trying to contact them all weekend long. We were started to get worried, because we can usually get a hold of them some way. That same night, we had gone over while they were meeting with president, and got home right after we left. Their neighbor told them and so they called us and we turned around and went back. We didn't know about all of the fighting and the calls until last night. Again it is just miracle after miracle. Miracle that president wanted to see them (that one I'm sure was inspiration), miracle that their neighbor was still out when they got home (he was waited for his ride to work). I love seeing things like this, because they I know that even through all of our human weaknesses, the Lord can still use us to accomplish his work. When I was at the MTC I was worried about things like this, will I recognize the promptings? will I know what to share? will I know where to go? I have found that when we don't know what to share, the Lord opens our scriptures. When we don't know where to go, the Lord knows where we are. It is the Lord's work and glory to bring to pass the immortaliyt and eternal life of man, not ours. Our work is just to obey the commandments and be worthy to be his instruments.


In the VC they set up one of the theaters so that we could watch conference. I was able to watch almost all of the sessions, except half of the Saturday afternoon, because we were at our stake center and had to go to the VC. Yesterday morning our investigators were the first ones there (after us) and the members that came to the stake center we all late (way to go investigators!) Then there was a branch potluck in between the sessions. I like almost everything that I've eaten here. The members know that we gringas usually can't eat very spicy foods, so they put the chile on the side. I can eat spicier than I used to be able to though. One night when we were with a member, she had just picked some chilis from her backyard. She had some tiny red ones, about as long as a dime, and some tiny thin green ones, about as long as a quarter. Just to say we did, Hna. Blades and I each took a little nibble from the green one (family, think smaller than Erin-sized nibble). I thought that my tongue was going to fall out. My mouth was in pain for the next 30 minutes at least. There was not even really any flavor, just pain. The smaller the chili the hotter it is. I think I am going to stick with the bigger chilis.

Anyways, after that little tangent (I think I forgot I was talking about conference). I really enjoyed conference. I have never been good at remembering who talked on what, so I will make more comments when they come out in the Ensign. I will never forget Elder Holland's talk though. It was great! I wish I could carry the recording around and play it for everyone we contact in the street who says "well I read the Bible" "The Book of Mormon can't be the word of God (keep in mind they've never read it)". Last night we even had a woman say "Well I read the Bible to learn about Christ. I read a few pages of the Book of Mormon, and I just can't see how it talks about Christ." Our answer in our heads was "what book are you reading!?!?!" I have a new love of 2 Nephi 29.


De Mesa con amor,
Hermana Ladd