Shaelyn in Chicago: "Can you PLEASE come over right now?"

3-26-2012
Familia,

Well, I survived transfers! I get to stay here in Cicero with Hermana Veliz for at least another 6 semanas. These next 6 weeks are going to be interesting. I finally have gotten a litle bit of a teaching pool going on, and now there are some people that should be ready for baptism, if I could just teach them consistently. So this tranfer the focus isn't going to be so much on finding new people but on having consistent citas with those that I have already found. It has been pretty regular with the people we're teaching for them to disappear for a few weeks and then reappear. not okay. So we'll see if we can start having more regular citas and if people will start progressing more.

Due to people disappearing, this was another week with not too many investigator lessons. But the ones that we did have were AWESOME. Firstly, we have a less active member in our ward, who is awesome. She is just less active because she has to work Sundays. But we meet with her pretty regularly, and ultimately she wants to be able to go on a mission. Well, the other day she texted us and asked us if we had time to meet her that day. We said sure, of course. And she told us she had a surprise for us! She said that we wouldn't be going to her house, but to her neighbor's, because she had a friend that wanted to learn more about her church! So we go over to her friend's house and we meet Sonia and her 2 year old daughter Alicia. Sonia is "catolica" but told us she doesn't really have a relationship with God, and wants to learn more. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said it made sense, and that she felt a peace about it. We talked to her about that we wanted to be able to come back, that we had lots to teach her, but that it would take work on her part in order to really learn. That she would have to read and pray and attend church, and she wants to be able to do all that because she really wants to know! She told us she wants to be baptized when she finds out its true! We have another appointment with her tomorrow. Hopefully she doesn't turn into one of the disappearing investigators.

We also had a lesson with Beto and Yeni this week. We called to confirm with Yeni, and she told us she was in the hospital with her dad and she wasn't sure if they would be out in time for our cita. So we called Beto and rescheduled for the next day. Then, as we were on our way to try another person, Yeni called us and told she had just gotten home, and could we come over? We told her it was okay, we had rescheduled and we could come back the next day. And she was like, "No. My dad will be gone tomorrow. Can you PLEASE come over right now?" So, obviously we went. And I can just tell you, I am so glad we did. We taught Beto, Yeni, Beto's mom, and Yeni's dad the restauracion. And Yeni's dad, Pedro, LOVED it. We would ask questions like, why do you think we need a prophet? What did Christ do when he was on the earth? And he KNEW THE ANSWERS! When I asked him why there are so many different religions he told me its because people are trying to follow Christ, but they don't have the right guidance, so they are just making their own churches. He told me that what Christ did when he was on the earth was establish his church. He helped explain the apostasy to Beto and Yeni. And he totes LOVED learning about the Book of Mormon. He knew everything we were saying was true. Immediately. And when we gave him a Book of Mormon, he turned to Yeni and said, "Mija, will you do something for me? Will you read this book? Because I know it will make you better. And if you are better, that will help me to be better." Oh man. GOLDEN. We could have even set him on date to be baptized right then. Except for one thing. He lives in Indiana. DANG IT. I guess I get to give his information to some other lucky missionaries. Ah well. . . :)

This week we have also been spending a lot of time visiting Ana Maria in the hospital. She is doing so well. She is eating more and more, we got permission from the hospital so that someone could bring her the sacrament. And she just got another surgery on her hands, and has starting wearing a special mask on her face to help the healing. But just like before, her spirit is strong. She is great. She loves to ask us about our work, and we tell her about whats going on. We brought her the movie The Testaments and watched it with her. Its good. She's amazing.

Well, I think thats about all I've got for you this week. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying spring!

Les Quiero,

Shaelyn

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