Living the Dream: No Easter Feast for Us!

Wow, I can't believe its already Monday again. Time flies by! We had a great and interesting week here in East Sac! I hope you all had a great Easter and Happy April Fool's Day!! I bet you wished I was at home right now pulling my famous pranks on you! :)

Omar- Omar and his family took us out to dinner on Tuesday. It was really fun. We asked him about church and how he felt when he was there and he said, "I am so much happier. I want to be a better person now. I went to work on Monday and all my co workers told me I seemed different, happier. I want to be a member of your church!" It was like music to our ears when he said those last words. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! He is praying about April 20th. He doesn't know a lot yet, but he knows the gospel is true and that is start! I am so happy and excited to see how he progresses and watch his testimony grow.

Andrea- She came to church again! She is so excited for General Conference. When we taught her about prophets she loved it and said that would be amazing. I think that once she will be able to see President Monson talking to the world, it will become real for her and she will gain her own testimony through his love and character. I am excited. We are still just waiting for her to chose a date. We brought a calender and said choose a day! She said, "What about October??" we said, "No way!!!" we talked to her about April so she is praying about the 20th of April.

Ana- Ana is progressing very slowly but she is still showing progress. She loved the chapel tour but was unable to make it to church Sunday. We watched the restoration with her and asked her if she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. She said, "I don't know if he was a prophet but he definitely was called of God to share his beautiful message..." We are going to have a great lesson on prophets tonight to make sure she understands!

Thank you so much for the Easter package! The clothes are so great and all the fun letters and toys from Joce and Kandace were perfect. We got some great pics and then gave the bunny glasses to the kids at the ward Easter activity at the park on Saturday. It was fun and we (the missionaries) got to hide all the eggs haha. We have a fun and crazy ward. The pic is of my district at the activity! Also, Hermana White's mom sent her and I our very own Easter baskets. That was so nice of her!

This past week we went to the new missionary meeting! I got to meet back up with all the missionaries that came out to the field with the same day as me. We got to ask the President questions and have a testimony meeting. It was amazing to see how much everyone had grown in just one month. I was so excited to see Hermana's Pitcher and Hanson from the MTC! :) Also, one of the questions we got answered is super important. We heard all these rumors about email change and guess what!? WE CAN NOW EMAIL EVERYONE!! FAMILY, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, ETC. He told us to limit our email with friends but we can now!! Everyone was like jumping for joy they were so excited haha.

They are going to open 13 new areas next transfer and they announced sisters will start using bikes! I hear it will be English Sisters first so we will see...! Also next week is transfers (since I'm training we should stay the same) but I will email Tuesday not Monday.

This week I have really learned more about the power of pondering scriptures. By pondering and meditating over scriptures throughout the day we can receive revelation. I was reading in Enos about how he prayed with his whole soul, "struggling with the spirit". If we pray and labor with all diligence we can receive answer. This is very important as a missionary. When I study I am studying for the needs of my investigators Since I am thinking about them all day and how I can help them gain their own testimony, pondering what I read in the Book of Mormon can continually apply to them and help me know what to share to answer their prayers and questions. Que grandioso es my llamamiento! :)

I will leave you with a funny story. Hermana White and I went over to Herman Sanchez's house for Easter dinner. It was gross haha. I have never had something so yucky before in all my life but we had to eat it with a smile. I don't even remember what she called it but it was this huge fat meatball with an egg inside sitting in this grease soup stuff haha. We felt sick all night. But we just laughed about it after. I hope you had ham, potatoes and yummy stuff!

I am so grateful that Christ was resurrected so that we can return to live with God one day. I LOVE being a missionary and sharing this message with people. Most Hispanics believe in Christ so we just add onto their beliefs. We had a hard time finding investigators last week, but we have some fun plans ahead. I love and miss you all! I am excited for Kevin and Morgan. The wedding pics look great and I bet it was fun to have the Meier's up from Texas. Love you!

Hermana Thomas