Living the Dream: The Blessing of Training with Hermana Skidmas!

Best week! Each week just gets better and better. How is that even possible? Oh wait, ANYTHING is possible! Are you ready to hear about it?

So I have the best new companion ever! Hermana Skidmore! She is just the greatest. She is 19 years old and from Kansas City, Kansas. She is so fun, has such strong desires to learn, grow, work hard and she is helping me so much. I feel like she is training me! I am so blessed. One thing that is so great about her is that she loves to talk to EVERYONE! It truly has been such a blessing (since I have a mindset of usually just Spanish people but it's true, we shouldn't let one person go by!). We have been having so many cool experiences and getting lots of referrals for the English missionaries. I love her and am already seeing so many blessings! :)

The 4th of July was pretty fun! We had district meeting, weekly planning and then from 6-9 p.m. we had a zone activity! We played sports and games. The Zone Leaders were all like, "K Zone we are going to play a fun game now. It's called Bunco!!"/ Hermana Skidmore turns to me and said, "Isn't that a Mom game?" hahahaha. I was laughing so hard. It was hilarious. We all played it and had a lot of fun. I won the award of "the least amount of points" so I got some fake mustaches as my prize.

Isidro is progressing! He keeps wanting to learn and grow. We are going over tonight for a great lesson, can't wait. We are going to try to commit him to a set baptismal date. Herman Skidmore extended her first baptismal invitation to Romy and she said maybe! Her faith is continually growing and she told us she has peace when she is with us and wants to continue to grow and learn. Hermana Bustos came to a lesson with her last last night and it was perfect. The spirit was so strong and they really relate with each other. Having members present in lessons is so such a blessing.

Have I told you about Juan Carlos yet? Our little 9 year old that we are working with to get baptized at the end of July? Cutest and sweetest kid ever. His family are members but no one has ever invited him to get baptized so now we (missionaries) get to make it happen! He is so excited and has the purest heart. I can't wait! Ana Mata is doing so great. Still just gleaming and acting like she owns the ward haha. We have started teaching her 9 year old daughter Andrea! Ana brought her to church this week and she LOVED primary! We are so excited. We are starting to work with Ana on the temple and family history work this week (your favorite mom! :) ). She is so excited and is just loving her life. We were able to attend the elders baptism of a 14 year old boy this week and Ana came and went up and bore her testimony of all the blessings she has already seen in a week just from her baptism (her brother-in-law finding a job, her finding a small job, the relationship with her daughters increasing, etc). How great is this gospel!?

Well I did it! I was asked to translate for Sacrament Meeting (the Spanish talks/testimonies to English through a microphone and headset for all those that come and speak English). I was so scared and nervous at first but it went really well and was such good practice. I had to really concentrate and focus on everyone's testimonies. I really learned a lot and the spirit was very strong during the meeting.

I will leave you with a funny story. Remember how Relief Society is my favorite because it is so funny and you never know what is going to happen? Well the piano player didn't show up so they all looked at me to play (I wish I could have practiced more before the mission. Sister Schow has a piano and it looks like I will be playing a lot more so I better start practicing! :) haha). So I tell them what hymn we were going to sing and start walking over to the piano. Hermana Cifuentes (a hoot) raises her hand and says, "Yo puedo tocar el piano". Some people are giggling because you would have never guessed that she could. Well she says that she will in all seriousness play and moves me out of the way and walks over to the piano. She then touches the piano and rests her hand on it and says, "Si? Puedo tocar el piano". Wow.... haha. She just touched the piano and then sat back down. She thought she was HILARIOUS and everyone was laughing so hard. haha gotta love it.

Well it has been a great week and there are so many great things to come! I LOVE being a missionary. The best scripture to describe my life right now is 2 Nefi 33:3. I have the blessing to be continually praying for these wonderful people I love and teach. I am praying that God will hear their pleas and answer their prayers. I know he will answer them, but how great is it that I get to spend all my time thinking and praying about others? I am so blessed. I hope you all have such a great week. I am glad to hear it was a fun 4th of July. LAS QUIERO! :)

Con Amor,

Hermana Thomas