Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is kind of a half-pday so that we can email, because our actual pday is Thanksgiving. I can't wait! There are now sisters all the way out in our zone, so we are going to go over to their house in the morning and make pies for our dinner with the VC sisters. Next week's email will be much more exciting than this one, because I will get to tell you all about how crazy Christmas lights are. They set up the room full of nativities early so we have already opened it. It is my favorite room! I love it so much! You would love it mom, it has some of the coolest nativities from around the world that I have ever seen. There is a really cute one from Nepal. I will for sure send you pictures of all of them. This week has mostly been getting ready for the lights in the VC and finding new people to teach in our area. Hna. Lopez and I are going through all of the former investigators missionaries in this area have had and are trying to contact them. Some have moved but a few have told us that we could come back. Hopefully they meant it. Christmas transfer is the transfer of miracles and with some baptisms coming up we need to find new people to teach. (That is one way to lose investigators, baptize them! Granted it is the best way to lose investigators...) But nonetheless we are working hard and enjoying it. The elders in our area actually help out a lot because they are out in the area all the time so when they meet Hispanics they tell us. Just keep praying for my area, it really helps!

We took Rosalva and Juan Carlos to a baptism on Saturday so that they could see what it was like. Rosalva is so excited, she turned to us afterwards and said "I'm ready." She has more faith than many members. She told us last night that she really feels like Satan is against her, she can't sleep at night, when she does, she has bad dreams, her family is starting to say things, etc. We are praying so hard for her. However, the good thing is that she knows that it is just the adversary, and she knows he is doing it because she is making the right decision. I am so happy for that little family. It is amazing how much love one can develop for these people. We just stepped into their life and for some of them they didn't even accept us in it at first. But even when they didn't accept us, we still loved them and still hurt when they didn't accept us. Now that they have accepted the gospel it really is like D&C 50 (I think, still working on references) but "we both rejoice and are edified together." There are a few of our investigators that have kind of distanced themselves from us. The other day we passed by Mirna and Eliseo's apartment and the door was open so Eliseo invited us in. Mirna turned to see who it was and didn't even greet us. She was cooking but she stopped cooking and took her son and said that she had to go to the store. After talking to Eliseo for a few minutes we went to another investigator in the same complex and she asked if we had been to Mirna's. We said that we just left there but Mirna had left. Herlin said she was waiting for Mirna to take her to the store. Clearly she hadn't left, because Herlin was still there and her van was in the parking lot when we left, but we don't know where she went or why she was acting like that. We saw her yesterday and she told us she was busy. But we are patient because we know it all happens in the Lord's time and we also know that everyone has their agency and can choose whether or not to accept. It is sad when people think that they don't have time for God or for his gospel, but that sadness can't even compare with the happiness you feel when someone changes their life and accepts the gospel and have the wonderful blessing of being baptized and confirmed and opening the door to thousands of other blessings.

We have very little time in our area this transfer, but our companionship has been blessed with 7 nights in our area during Christmas lights. That is more than any other companionship so while at first I was afraid about being able to fill that time, I have since realized that it is because the Lord knows that there is that much work available in the area and he is ready to help us find it. He has blessed us with so much time and so now we just have to work hard and follow his guidance. Hna. Lopez and I are looking into getting bikes (I know...) so that we can talk to more people on the street. It gets really tiring pulling over the car and getting out every time we see someone (plus, they usually have time to escape), but as missionaries we have committed to Talk with Everyone, and we are trying to be exactly obedient and do that. There have been a lot of sisters that have learned how to ride bikes on their mission and I figure there is no better time to relearn than while I am under the most protective arm the Lord has to offer. Plus, it will be good exercise to balance all the meals during this time of year (We ate 2 dinners last night plus tortillas...it was also the first time I ate tamales and they were super good.)

I'm sorry I don't have more to write, nothing super exciting has happened this week. I hope that you all have a very wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday. This is my favorite holiday of the year and I can't wait for it. It seems like as a missionary I have so much more to be thankful for that before, but the actuality is that I am just noticing more all of the blessings that our Father in Heaven gives us. Like in Mosiah 2, we can try and try to thank Him, but we will always come out of it unprofitable servants because He will continue to bless us just for thanking Him. I challenge you all to try and do as the prophets have encouraged us and remember to thank Heavenly Father in our prayers. Have some prayers this week that are purely in gratitude. I promise you that those ones will be answered with more powerful and needed blessings than the ones where we are asking the Lord for what we think we need.

I love you all!

De Mesa Con Amor,
Hermana Ladd