Living the Dream: El Espiritu es tan PODEROSO!!

Wow, this was SUCH a great week! Trial after trial lead to blessing after blessing. The Lord is truly watching over Hermana Sharp and I. Thank you for all your prayers and fasts. The Lord answers righteous desires!! :)

Karissa is engaged!? What!? Wow. I am so excited for you! That is weird you didn't want to wait for your favorite cousins (Elder Holt and I) to be back for it??????? CONGRATS!! :)

Happy Birthday to the best sister in the world! I hope you have a great day Kand! Also, my best friend Shay Shay is getting married this week? SOO crazy! I am so excited for you and that you are getting married in the temple. You will be blessed so greatly, I can't wait to hear how it all went. I got your invitation last week and you look gorgeous!!

So about our great week. We had a Spanish Missionary Training this week out in Elk Grove for all of the Spanish speaking missionaries. It was awesome! The Spanish numbers in the mission have been decreasing so we got some great instruction on how to improve. President Martinez (in the mission presidency) shared with us a bunch of scriptures to help us understand how important the Latinos are in the gospel. He shared Alma 37:18-19 and then said, "You are fulfilling the mercies and promises of the Lord to these people". Some other scriptures you can go read are D&C 90:11 and my favorite Helaman 15: 12,16. He really helped me understand how important my calling is and gain a deeper love and desire for them to come back. They were once a covenant people. We talked about using members more for referrals, finding when we teach, etc. One thing he said really stuck out to me. "YOU are as special as the special people you teach". Could that have been explained any better!? Loved it! In one of the training segments they picked Hermana White to do a role play. She got to pick a companion and chose me! So we did a role play in front of everyone in Spanish on the restoration lesson. I was soo nervous but it went really well and Everyone gave us great comments and things to improve on. President Lewis encouraged us all to become CEO missionaries. Cheerful, Enthusiastic and Optimistic. He said not to just be "busy" but be focused on your purpose. It was such a great training and got me excited to work even harder!

Ready for the best miracle every!!!?? So Saturday night we had the privilege to attend a Spanish fireside (charla fogonera!!) and Elder Mark Bassett of the 70 came! Wow, it was the greatest thing ever. We decided to invite Ana Mata (remember how Hermana White and I used to teach her. But now Hermana Sharp and I have been doing service for her). Well she wanted to come! So Hermano Pallares picked the 3 of us up and we headed out to Elk Grove. Elder Bassett is an incredible speaker and has really good Spanish! He really focused on FEELING the spirit in your heart. What that meant, what we need to do, etc. He read a bunch of scriptures from 1 Nefi about the desire for the spirit and pondering promptings. He helped me realize that reflection=pondering in your heart, not just your mind. I seriously felt like I was sitting in the Celestial kingdom. We were surrounded by members, investigators, missionaries and church leaders. Elder Bassett included everyone and asked questions to where it was more of a discussion, the spirit was so strong and it was all in Spanish! I have never felt happier, the spirit brilliantly so strong. It seriously was like a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Being instructed spiritually by great church leaders. I was edified in my heart and mind. He said, "Yo no se todo, pero se como siento". That is the mindset we all should have! Ana Mata was loving it. She felt the spirit so strong and was crying. She has been taught by multiple sets of missionaries and most of them were at the fireside so it was great for her to see them. On the way home she just kept talking about how great it was and how much she loves our church. She talked about baptism so I gingerly asked, "when is yours?" and she said. Yes, its time now. I know. WHAT!!!?? GREATEST THING EVER! So we invited her to be baptized on June 22nd and she said yes!!! AHHH :) We were so excited and she is too. This was that push she needed. The spirit brings miracles and I am so grateful!

We were at the emergency preparedness fair this week to translate and met the firemen! So I talked to them about all this EMT stuff and they asked questions about missions. It was a neat experience. Well I love you all so much. Thank you for your example and love. Have a great week! Les quiero!

Con Amor,

Hermana Thomas