Hey guys! I hope you are all doing well. This week we have had lots of cool experiences.We taught a new investigator on Tuesday! His name is Antonio and he is from Guatemala. He just moved here 3
months ago and he loved the first lesson about the restoration. He understood everything and wants to learn more! We have another cita with him tomorrow.
Our clase de ingles is going really well. It is super cute when the students sing hymns or pray in English. :)
This week we were walking around Newhall, when a school bus pulled up and dropped off a bunch of kids. All of the sudden we heard "THE MISSIONARIES" and eight kids were hugging us. haha. They are the Corona and Chavez kids. They love us so much and hug us every time they see us. It makes my heart melt and makes me feel pretty famous. We are so glad that they love going to primary and that their parents can see how much they love church. It is really helping in their reactivation. We are teaching two of them, Peter and Rebekah, because they haven't been baptized yet. It is super fun to teach them and it is so different than teaching adults. Last time we went, we talked about prophets and taught them the song "Follow the Prophet." They loved it! And then we got to test our math skills by helping them with their homework. I was having a hard time remembering how to add and multiply different kinds of fruit... haha. Oh the life of missionaries.
Chavez and Corona Family kids. We love them so much!
This week we knocked on the door of the COOLEST family ever. La familia Nunez. We were able to teach them the first lesson and they loved it. They are all siblings and they are living together while their parents are in Mexico. Their names are Jorge (21), Marily (15), Youseli (13), and Rosie (11). They have other family members that live there too, but they weren't home. They are so awesome. We shared the Joseph Smith experience and Jorge said "Wow. I feel it in my heart. This really happened." Marily told us that God put us in each other's paths for a reason. IT WAS SO AWESOME! And Jorge and Marily came to church on Sunday! They asked us to come to church. Seriously, these guys are the best. Marily loved young womens. We got to go with her. It was so weird to be back in young womens again. Our rama combines with the English ward for primary and the youth programs, so it was also weird to have class in English. haha
Speaking of Church, guess what??? I am now la organista de la rama.... yup! It is so hard! They give me the songs right before the meeting starts, so playing them is really hard. I make lots of mistakes, but I hope that I get better over the next transfer. We also met with Jesus and Jose. They want the church to be true super bad. They feel like they need to learn more before they decide for sure. We had a long talk about reading the scriptures and praying to know if it is true. They promised that they would. Jesus told us that he asked God to lead him on the right path and then we came and started teaching him! We told him that is an answer to his prayers. It was a cool experience. Also, Jesus has ran a marathon before! And he did it with only two weeks of training. He is crazy. But he showed off his medal to us!
We didn't get to meet with Gustavo this week because he got sick, but he did make it to church this week! We have a cita with him tonight! Jose P. was able to come to church too! (This week we had six investigators and two menos activos families at church. The congregation was doubled!). Gustavo is progressing really well and he told us that God answered his prayer and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who restored the true church to the earth. Yay! We are super excited. He also loves the Book of Mormon and reads about 10 chapters every day... yep. He is showing up the missionaries on studying. haha. He tells us he prays for us everyday.
We teach in both Spanish and English. We only teach in English if the investigators want to attend the Spanish branch for the culture, which most of them do. Most of the people we contact only speak Spanish though, so I get to use it quite a bit. Most of the Spanish speakers live in San Fernando. Santa Clarita is mostly English. I am still learning Spanish pretty quickly though!
And guess what! Elder Carlson from the seventy is coming to do a mission tour Thursday and Friday. All of the Spanish missionaries get to have a conference with him all day Friday. Hermana Francis was asked to sing and I am now accompanying her. AND we were able to find a cello for Elder Linford to play for us! Our musical number is going to be super pretty..."Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."
I love you guys so much. I hope you have a wonderful week! I pray for you everyday. Remember to pray and read your scriptures! We had zone conference this week and we talked about how the scriptures are like the Liahona. A compass to guide us through life. In Alma 37:44-45 it says "For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point you a straight course to eternal bliss . . . For just as surely as [the liahona] did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." I love this promise. If we heed the word of Christ in the scriptures, we will be happy and know that we are on the right path.
Amo el evangelio de Jesucristo muchisimo. Se que esta iglesia es verdadera. Las escrituras contienen la palabra de Dios. Si siguimos las ensananzas en las escrituras seamos felizes! La experiencia de Jose Smith paso, el restauro la iglesia de Jesucristo, y por eso, tenemos la verdad y sabemos el camino derecho. Te amo!
Hermana Buxton
