1 June 2010

Well this preparation day probably started the best of any in my mission (besides the ones where we go to the temple) but this morning for our zone activity we all went and played laser tag! It was so much fun. Some elders in the zone live with the members that own this huge place called Golfland, with tons of different things to do. It was double fun because after we played laser tag we got to do service and helped them fix a few parts of the terrain and wash everything down. It was a blast for sure.

The work is going great as usual. I know it probably won't happen but I would looooove to stay in this area next transfer. There are so many of our investigators who will be ready for baptism then and that is so exciting. Last pday was the first one of my mission where all three of our pday appts were there, which was great! Wednesday we had our last interviews with Pres. Bassett. He is such a great leader for the mission, but I am excited for the Ellsworths to get here to see how the work continues to progress. The Zambrano family is finally complete. Of course I can't remember everything I've said, but we have been teaching both Daniel and his brother-out-of-law Juan, which I know I've talked about. Last week we went to find Juan at an appt. He wasn't there, but his sister Perla was. We have been wanting to teach her before, she is such a sweet woman, but Daniel kind of answers for her when we ask if she wants to listen or if he will go invite her to join us. Neither Daniel or Juan were there so when Perla answered the door she said "do you want to come in? I don't know why I've never invited you in before..." We sat down and talked to her and she opened up about how Daniel drinks and is a bad example for their 3 year old. She also told us they weren't married and that she used to be meeting with missionaries about 5 years ago. (Daniel had told us he doesn't drink and that they were married...) We are actually thinking about dropping Daniel and Juan because they promised to come to church but didn't show up, which has happened a few times before. We are going to start focusing on Perla and maybe she will be the one who can bring the whole family around. When we dropped Daniel we started visiting Juan and Daniel saw and kind of came back from disappearing all the time. Now when we drop them both and pick up Perla we are hoping her example can bring them both back and help them keep commitments. She is super sweet and just seems like a really good person. She wants the best for her son like any mother and has so much patience with Daniel. When we found her she was watching cartoons of stories from the Bible. Her son Danny had fallen asleep to them but she kept watching even after she put him to bed. Rogelio is coming along great. We left him 2 Nephi 31 to read to be prepared for when we taught the lesson about the gospel and when we followed up he pretty much taught the lesson to us. He is on track for his baptism June 12th. Emilio and his daughter Estrella came with us to a baptism which we are hoping will help Emilio accept a baptismal commitment. The baptism was also a great miracle. We thought it was going to be 1 woman, but it ended up being 1 woman and 5 children. The elders have been teaching a family with 4 children for months and they are still waiting on the father's divorce from mexico so that the parents can get married and baptized. They were going to have the kids wait to but then suddenly they decided to have them get baptized. The son of the woman also got baptized. The Spirit is so strong when children get baptized, because they are young, but have still felt the influence of the Spirit and understand the necessity of what they are doing. After the baptism Estrella who is 9 said "I wish I could get baptized like that, but I already got baptized when I was a baby." I happily told her that she could get baptized again when it was in the right church. She excitedly told her dad that she could and wanted to get baptized again. I love it when the children are the example to their parents. Children are so close to the Spirit sometimes.

In VC news, they just opened up and new Exhibit in the center. It is "Our Heritage of Faith" and is a collection of some of the winners from the Church's art competitions over the years. They are all original and it is really beautiful. You can feel the Spirit so strong through art, which is one reason I love the VC. They even have works from two of my very favorite church artists, a painting of Esther by Elspeth Young and a painting of Jesus learning carpentry by Walter Rane. Another piece that I love is called Duet: Mary and Martha. It is a sculpture (bronze I think) of Mary and Martha back to back. Their dresses swirl into one fluid movement. Mary is holding scriptures and looking up and Martha holding food and looking down. The artist says it is to symbolize the noble traits of both women. Mary looking up as if to the Lord, strengthening her faith, Martha looking down to those around her, serving them with charity. It is a really beautiful piece. Ky, you would love the Exhibit! I'm really glad that I will be going back to that at the VC. The whole exhibit just seems so conducive to teaching our special message.

I love you all and I love this work and I am glad that this transfer is so busy it seems sometimes that there is too much to write!

Desde Mesa, con amor,
Hermana Ladd