Monday, August 24, 2015

Happy!

Familia!
First of all, this internet cafe is playing the song Hotel California, and yes, I am jamming in my booth. It's weird to think of how hot it is back home! Some days in the afternoon it gets pretty warm but the evenings are always freezing. I always laugh at Hermana Valbuena because she literally sleeps with two pairs of pants, a coat, two pairs of socks and even gloves! She then makes a cacoon of blankets and once she's in, there's no getting up. I'm glad Utah hasn't been hit by all of the wildfires! The smoke in the air probably looks a lot like our sky. It's pretty but I miss the stars. I don't remember if I mentioned it before but we always say that the lights in the cerros (hills) are like our stars. I am so jealous of your fresh peach and raspberry jam and pies. I would kill for some of your bottled peaches! 

I'm happy to hear you guys are getting up early to read scriptures together every day for a couple of reasons. First, it makes my waking up at 6:30 every day not seem so bad haha Second, the scriptures are so important! I've always had a testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, is true, and contains answers but ever since being out here I've gained a TESTIMONY testimony of that book. I want you guys to read the introduction, especially the last two paragraphs. There is a promise that if we do three things, we can receive three answers. I know that this promise is true because I've seen it in my own life, specifically in the last two months. There are countless examples, stories, testimonies, conversions, and pure gospel truths contained in the Book of Mormon that can and will bless your life every single day if you allow it. 

The new reservoir looks so nice! Along with the stars, the color green is something I miss. It's funny because when we ask people in the streets how they have seen God's hand in their life, many people respond with family and the naturaliza, or nature. I laughed because I thought to myself "man if you even knew!!" but there is a lot of beauty here. Like the forget me not flower talk you sent me last week (thanks by the way!) there are a lot of little things that anywhere else would be completely overlooked. 

Please tell CJ good luck for me and give Vanessa an extra big hug! Also, I'm so sorry to hear about grandpa! I didn't know about his hand but hopefully he will heal quickly.

In response to your questions: I have my first cambios TODAY. After internet we will all meet together and read off the list of who is leaving. I don't think that Hermana Valbuena and I will have cambios, at least that's what I've been praying for for the last week ;) But I am sad that my district will be changing! Two of the Elders (Elder Narvais and Elder Miranda) are entering their last 6 weeks and Hermana Valbuena and Elder Espitia only have 12 weeks left, or two cambios.  Since there are so many people leaving soon, presidente will want to bring in new people to start learning the area before they leave. I love my district! 

In other news,
I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM THIS WEEK! I wanted it to be a surprise and it was so so good. Her name is Nicol and is 12 years old. She and her sister Kaysei were both supposed to be baptized next week and long story short, Nicol was baptized on Saturday and Kaysei is... difficult. She has days where she wants to be baptized right now but then the next day she is scared to change her religion. This is in part because in the school system here they learn about catholocism and she doesn't want to do anything against her friends and really change. But she is very prepared and all in the Lords time, will eventually come to be baptized I just know it! Nicol is an angel. She participated in the ward talent show this week and the stake choir, loves young women, and when they interviewed her for her baptism, the zone leaders said that she said: "Estoy mas de seguro. Estoy super bien!" At her baptism the whole district sang I'm trying to be like Jesus. It sounded awful but it was really spiritual. In one of the talks during the service Elder Espitia asked Nicol how long we have to endure. The correct answer is to the end, but she responded "till Navidad" which Elder Miranda jokingly taught 3 weeks ago. NO worries, we cleared that up before she was dunked! ;) It was a great day.

In other news, the ward talent show was really good. Hermana Jessica, a recent convert surprised everyone and sang acapella a song from her other church that was... interesting. When she stood up unannounced Hermana Valbuena turned to me with huge eyes and said "Do you know what she's doing?!" it was a surprise for everyone but hey, you've got to admire her confidence. Also, I finally went to immigrations! If you thought my passport picture was bad, you should see this one. Let's just say I have rice cheeks (insert sad laughter here) We had a last district lunch with lasagna, cocacola, fries, and oreos to celebrate fulfilling our goals for this transfer. I'm going to miss everyone. As far as our other investigators go, we are working hard with Nicols family. Her mom is ready to accept the gospel but she first needs to get divorced to her ex husband and married to her current husband before she can be baptized. We are also working with some other ladies very special, but they all need to get married... Their names are Celia and Ana (a mother and daughter) whose hearts are pure gold. On our first lesson with them, we mentioned that we like papas juankayeenas (honestly I have zero percent idea how to spell that but this is how it's pronounced) and for our next visit, there was a hot plate of it for each of us! They have a lot of complications but we have faith! If there is anything you can pray for, pray for the husbands of these people. THose darn husband are a big complication for almost all of our investigators.

I am doing well and thank you so much for the letters and package! I am having fun distributing the treats! (minus the almond joys of course which I am hoarding and carefully distributing so I don't eat them all at once and can enjoy them for a longer amount of time!) This week we have a special conference with Elder Bednar on Thursday with Lima East! I am so excited to hear from an apostle (AND IN ENGLISH HALLELUJAH) and hopefully see Ekins! Love you guys a lot. Thanks for the prayers and the love. I can feel it :) :)

Love always,
Hermana Savannah Stone

Nicol xoxo

Pardon the crazy hair but I was very excited to receive this!!
Some of our Zone

Noche de Talentos



Choir, Los Angeles



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