"Hasty Lumbago" and Sunday Surprises

This week was definitely one of the best of my mission so far. We worked SO hard and we were SO blessed. We really focused on exact obedience and WOW, the lord blessed us immensely. One of my friends serving in Argentina shared this quote which is so true, "Obedience brings blessings but exact obedience brings MIRACLES". You bet we saw soo many miracles this week! Now, where to begin?

SUNDAY WAS THE FUNNIEST, CRAZIEST DAY OF MY LIFE! So first I have to tell you about Edgar, Oh Edgar... well he was our Miracle Monday! So we were out the door at 6 p.m. Monday night after P-day and if we would have been just one minute later we would have been missed him! So we met him, taught him a little (out on the street) and invited him to be baptized and he said yes! It was unreal, we were so excited. We have taught him a few times since and it was good but a little difficult (he is 62 and loves to go off on random tangents...haha). Well I did intercambios with Hermana White (so fun, love that girl so much) and it was soo funny. He told her at least 8 times that she was soo pretty (she is, can't blame him). The day he seemed a little drunk so we just stopped in the middle of the lesson and left. We are passing him off to the Elders to go teach just to be safe. But then . . . . he wanted to come to church so we had to find him a ride. So Sunday morning we call Jesus and ask him if he can help get Edgar a ride and he said yes! So we drive out there and Jesus is behind us in his car. We get there and Edgar is standing outside all ready for church and is talking to some other Spanish guy. We get out of the car and go talk to them. Edgar's friend was Gabriel. So I invited him to church and he said yes! Wait, what!? yes? that doesn't happen everyday! MIRACLE! so Edgar and Gabriel (this guy we don't even know) hops in the back of Jesus' car. Then Hermana Skidmore said, "hey we should call Alan (this little 14 year old we found tracting)." I was like ok! (I hate to say this but I didn't think he would want to come). So we called him and he said he wanted to come! wait, WHAT!? MIRACLE! So he also got into Jesus' car. Then they all went off to church and we went and got Francisco (remember him? he gambled and lost faith and hope? Well now he has now come to 3 baptisms and church once! And he is praying every night for help. Hopefully we can get him baptized real soon) and he followed us behind in his car. You know how when I am super happy I just laugh? Well on our way to church we just laughed the whole time because we were in awe of all these miracles and soo excited. We had 4 investigators at church!!! It was so crazy and great. Best Sunday ever! haha. 

We found a new FAMILY! Yay! We are now teaching Angelica (the aunt/mom) her daughter Esmerelda (13) and her cousins Cynthia (13) and Mari (13). Jose (the uncle) is actually a less active he was baptized back in Mexico when he was 9 but didn't understand why and lost this way. Well we LOVE them! We have already taught them the restoration and plan of salvation. Both lessons went almost perfect! We taught in such great unity (Hermana Skidmore is doing so well with practicing her Spanish), the spirit was so strong and they are all praying about baptism! They love having us over. Actually last time when we taught them the Plan of Salvation they all participated, asked great questions and loved it! So we said a closing prayer and got up to leave and Angelica goes, "Wait. Aren't you going to read from the Book of Mormon to us? We want to know how to read it and analyze it so we can start doing that as a family." WHAT!? CAN WE READ TO YOU FROM THE BOOK OF MORMON? OF COURSE WE CAN! So we read some of 2 Nefi 2 and talked about what the verses meant. They were just like thirsting for more. They said they want to do that all together every night. It was so great.

Well we had our first day on bikes and it was soooo much fun! We looked like children I am pretty sure. We were just laughing the whole time and said hi to everyone. It is a little tough biking in a skirt but we did it. Our area is pretty big so it took us a while to get to each appointment but we made it work. I am excited to bike once a week, but I wont lie. I am grateful we have a car and have so much respect for the missionaries on bikes everyday!

Ana started her family history and really loves it! The spirit was so strong and it was fun to hear memories of her family. She wants to come to Utah and visit all of you one day. Juan Carlos picked a date! He is getting baptized August 4th! We are so excited for the little guy. 

Whenever we leave in the afternoon to go out and proselyte Sister Schow says "Hasty Lumbago" haha. She is so cute. Its kinda of like Hasta Luego right? :) Well I love all of you so much and hope you have a great week. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I am so blessed. I get to work so hard, do crazy things, talk to crazy people and invite others to come unto Christ. You could say I am living the dream :).

Con Amor, 

Hermana Thomas

Living the dream riding our new bikes!

Hermanas Skidmore and Thomas

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

Missionary Bunco Night

Juan Carlos Age 9

 

New companion and District

Hermana Skidmore from Kansas City, Kansas

Humbled and Grateful

 Mi querida familia!!

This week just FLEW by! We were SO blessed. I am truly so humbled and grateful for the many miracles and blessings we received this week. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY :)

ANA GOT BAPTIZED on Saturday!! It was a beautiful crazy day. Ana told us that she really wanted sandwiches at her baptism. Sandwiches, really? For some reason Latinos LOVE sandwiches. So what did Hermana Sharp and I do? We made so many sandwiches Saturday afternoon! We had a fun time and just laughed about it. Saturday evening at the baptism was such an amazing experience and the spirit was so strong. Best day on mission so far!. She was so excited and ready. She was just gleaming and had a smile from ear to ear. She was touched by the spirit and was very emotional during the baptism. She kept saying how wonderful she was and how happy she is. She understands and is truly converted. I feel so blessed to have been able to be involved in her conversion process.  We kept asking her to invite her family but she was nervous and said maybe. Saturday morning we were with her doing some service and she said, "Gurls (she has the cutest accent when she uses English) can I bring my family to the baptism tonight?" OF COURSE!!! We were so excited. Her two young daughters (13 and 9 years old) and her sister attended. It was so great to see them all there and you could tell they were touched by the spirit. Now we will work on getting them baptized too! :) haha. What a joyous day it was to watch one of Heavenly Father's choice daughters enter into the waters of baptism.Guess what!? For the month of June as a mission we had 93 baptisms! The Lord is truly blessing our efforts out in the greatest mission ever (California Sacramento). What a fun surprise to see the Dallin, Lex and Karissa at the baptism. Everyone was in love with Karissa and her Spanish (just returned from Argentina Mission). It was fun to say goodbye to Dallin (leaving for Blegium/Netherlands July 24th). He will be a great missionary.  Lex and I had no words, favorite cousin, lots of giggles.  I am glad they got permission to come and surprise me, it made it that more special. I have the best cousins in the world and for a moment with me in Sacramento!!!!!!!! Thank you President Lewis.

 

Transfers... I have been called to TRAIN again! yahooooo :) I am really excited and looking forward to learning and growing from my new companion.. Training is such a blessing. I will be picking up my new companion from the mission office tomorrow! We will be living at Sister Schow's house again and staying in our area. It's a good thing I love East Sac and can't ever imagine leaving!!

We had a specialized sisters training meeting with all the sisters in the mission this week. It was so great! President taught us as well as the 5 Sister Training Leaders. We talked a lot about how the Lord requires our ALL. That means our HEART, MIGHT, MIND and STRENGTH. We also talked about dress, conduct and companionship unity. That was a very strong and spiritual breakout session. We all could really feel the Lord's love and someone shared 1 Nefi 11:22 which is such a great scripture. 

One thing that I have really pondered and tried to apply this week is a quote from Preach My Gospel (page 11). It can apply to anything, not just missionary work, but is SO powerful to missionaries. "Your calling gives you authority, keeping your covenants gives you power". How true is that? We were able to go to the temple this morning and is was so powerful. The 4 of us sisters were going with a YSA sister. Some how none of our alarms went off this morning (super early, the missionaries alarms) and we woke up at 6 and we were freaking out. She waited outside for us and we were able to leave to go the temple a 6:30 and arrive at 7. We missed the session but had the wonderful opportunity to do sealings as daughters. It was wonderful and I realized how blessed I am to be sealed to our family. After we witnessed a lady sealed to her deceased parents then a live sealing of another sister sealed to her parents. The spirit was so strong in the room and made me so much more grateful for temple work. The sealer said that we were "Saviors on Mount Zion" today. Such a tender mercy from the Lord that we were able to be apart and witness those sealings today.

Thank you so much for the package! I have the greatest family in the world. Sister Sharp loved her Timp tennis shirt. She said she is going to wear it every day! haha. The pics you sent were the perfect ones and I loved all the special notes. Thank you so so much.

Isidro got back from Mexico on Monday so Thursday we went over to taught him and Socorro. It was so great. The spirit was so strong and we invited them to be baptized. He said yes after he learns more and she was super quiet. Finally she said, "I don't want to be baptized because then I can only talk to my family on the phone 2 times a year! I LOVE my family and that would be too hard". hahaha. She was so confused. We told her as missionaries we can only talk to our families twice a year over the phone and she thought all members of the church had to do that to show their faith haha. It was so funny and we were all laughing. So Sunday Isidro came to church! He LOVED it and said he wants to keep coming back. Learning little by little.

There are a lot of great things happening in this area. I am sad to see Hermana Sharp go (she is going to South Sac with Hermana White and Hermana Cardullo) but It will be so fun to train and get this new missionary LOVING her life in East Sac. I love and miss you all. Have a great week!

Con Amor,

Hermana Thomas

Best Week Ever Doing the "Work of Salvation"

This has been the GREATEST week ever. I am soo blessed. Sooo many great things and blessings happened but I will just mention the most exciting!

Ana is GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!! We are soo excited. She truly is converted to the Lord. She hasn't had any coffee since Wednesday (almost a week). We were able to take her to a YSA baptism a few days ago (she understands English as well) and it was the best thing that could have ever happened. She was so nervous, but loved it all and is so much more confident for her own baptism this week. The young man (25?) that got baptized is named Frank. The spirit was so strong. He is from Africa and speaks Portuguese as well. So they had a cute RM sister give a talk on the Holy Ghost in Portuguese and I could understand it all!!! So could Ana, she was just loving her life. It was so cool. Sitting there in that baptism I was so full of love and gratitude for the Savior, for the gospel, my testimony, my love for Hermana Sharp and Ana and my life and the wonderful opportunities I have right now. I don't think I have ever been happier in my life. WHO KNEW THIS MUCH JOY WAS POSSIBLE!!!?? And can you imagine what it will be like when Ana gets baptized this week? If I can feel this much joy and love for others, imagine what my Father in Heaven and brother Jesus Christ feel for me!? I am beyond blessed.  Ana came to all 3 hours of church and just soaked it up. We are going over tonight to plan her baptism. So excited. Thank you for your prayers for her. Christina (an older investigator) also made it to church and it was such a miracle.

I had the opportunity to do exchanges with Hermana White this week! We had a blast and worked so hard. It was just like the old days. We taught in perfect unison and just spoke Spanish all day. I am grateful for all the great things she has taught me and the dear friendship we have developed. We had a great day.

I taught a little training in District Meeting this week on obedience. It went really well and I learned so much from preparing! I love in Preach My Gospel where it says "Obedience is an act of faith". What I am really learning is EVERYTHING is dependent on faith. There is no time to be weak or not do the great things to strengthen our faith. Hebrews 13:17 is a great scripture on how we can receive joy by being obedient and listening to our leaders counsel. 

I hope you all were able to see the "Work of Salvation". Was that not the greatest broadcast ever? The spirit was so strong! I had chills the whole time and just thought about how we are all working together to bring our brothers and sisters into the gospel. "Everyone is a missionary!" I loved when Elder Nelson said, "Actions motivated by love" and when Elder Anderson said, "He works in us according to our faith". Of course I loved everything but those two phrases really stood out to me. And how fun was that to look up and see my dear friend and fellow missionary Sister Jessie Beck (serving in the Tampa, Florida mission)! She is so amazing and great example. 

Well I am out of time now but I love you all so much. I hope you had a great week. His work is great and we are being blessed. Les quiero! :)

Con Amor, 

Hermana Thomas

Had a little haircut

Exchanges with Sis. White

What a week! Where should I even begin?

Hola mi querida familia! What a week! Where should I even begin?

Well I had the most interesting meal of my life this past week. We were fed fish. Not just fish, but fish from a bag, put  in the microwave... it tasted...yucky haha. I was just laughing so hard inside while trying to eat it. So funny. I also got to play Mexican bingo with the Aleman's and won! I also got some Pine Sol and Bleach in my eyes this week..haha. Smart huh? We did a lot of service and cleaning and so I have been washing my eyes out A LOT and wearing glasses. Yep, just rocking the glasses haha. Don't worry, they don't burn as much anymore :)

We had a special zone training with President and Sister Lewis. President shared Mark 9:23 where it talks about how anything is possible through believing (faith). Then we focused one 3 main things. How to become 1) Believing, 2) Bold, and 3) Baptizing missionaries. I really learned a lot and it helped change my perspective. I have faith, but its not enough. I need to believe with everything and put my trust 100% in the Lord. There is no room for doubts here and there. Not in the Lord's work. So my goal is to continue working on increasing my faith and  attitude. That is one of the greatest blessings of a mission. You realize you have a lot of weakness and things to work on to become more like Christ. We have tools to help us, we can change and become like him. What a blessing.

We got to go to the elders baptism of Marta y Mario Friday night! It was so great and the spirit was so strong. Hermana Sharp and I sang a duet while they were changing. ME? SINGING A DUET? I know, pretty funny huh? Well it was in a Spanish ward so I sounded good to them! haha. We messed up a little and Hermana Sharp's face went BRIGHT RED. But we made it through. A funny memory for sure.  We are moving Ana's baptism from June 22nd to June 29th. She needs a little more time preparing to live the Word of Wisdom.

I went on exchanges with Hermana Cosby this week! We had so much fun and went out in her area (so part of my old area). The rich, whiter area is a little more challenging looking for Spanish people. Lots of the places we tracted reminded me of Park City! We met some cool people and had fun experiences. In one lesson I prayed after and the lady (a less active) just looked at me like, "that was nice, but not good enough" so she just started praying again...haha.  We ended the night going to the Beltran's quincenera for our dinner hour. WOW. It seriously was like a mini wedding. So much dancing, food, dresses, etc. We sat with the Bishop and Sister Woodland and it was so funny. Sister Woodland was having a hoot.

So I told you that I have been reading conference talks in Spanish. I just read the talks from priesthood! I really loved this quote by David L Beck, "Tenemos el deber de ministrar donde sea que estemos. Ministrar no es solo algo que hacemos, sino que define quienes somos." That is such a great quote about the priesthood but I feel like it also applies to missionaries! I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, yes it's a title but it also is WHO I am. What a privilege. I feel so blessed to be able to strap on my badge each day. I wear it with love and pride. We will see if President McGinn can get me to take it off one day... haha jk.

Yes, we have finally heard all about the "Work of Salvation" with the mission presidents and get to attend! I am so excited to watch it and see how everything works. I am excited to be able to talk about with you and mom after as well.  Thank you for your love and prayers! I love and miss you all :)

 Homemade chicharones

 Exchanges with Herman Crosby

Father's Day at the Bishop's Home

IT IS SOOO HOT, time to cool people off in the waters of baptism :)

I hope you have a great fathers day daddy! I am so blessed to have the best dad in the world. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my best little friend Stratton! I can't believe you are turning 5 now. This week was soo hot. It reached 111 on Saturday!!! How is the weather at home?

WOW!! I LOVE being a missionary. This week was amazing! We worked really hard and the Lord blessed us. We had really hard days that turned out to be our best! We surpassed all of our goals and really lost ourselves in the work, it felt so great!

I was able to finish the Book of Mormon Challenge. So when I first came out to the field President and Sister Lewis gave all the new Missionaries a book of Mormon with a 6 month challenge. To read the whole thing and mark all the doctrine in blue and then every time Christ speaks or his name is mentioned in red. Wow, my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much more. I really was able to see, feel and understand how it really is another Testament of Jesus Christ. My testimony grew as I really studied and didn't just read. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I LOVE the opportunity that I have now to share it with my fellow brother and sisters. After I finished reading I said a prayer to know if it was true again. I felt this grand love and comfort in my heart and then a little voice whisper, "you know it's true". What an amazing, strong spirit I felt. I will never forget it and my love for the Book of Mormon and for my Savior increased beyond what I thought it ever could.

This week was a week of following promptings. There are 2 experiences I want to tell you about. One, we were tracting and saw this lady and said "hi" and walked by her. She didn't really say anything and was walking her dog so we just kept going. We were around the corner and I said "We need to go talk to her." Hermana Sharp looked at me like ok! So we went over and talked to her. Her name is Irma and she has a medical problem so it is hard for her to speak and understand everything but invited us to come back and share a message about Christ. Normally I would have just been scared and kept going, but why should I let someone go by when I have the greatest message to share? 2nd time. We have gone to this street to tract a lot and we always knock on this door but no one answers. We were about to leave again but then I felt like we needed to knock on the garage door. Hermana Sharp thought that was so weird, and I did too but i thought, "hey, what could happen?" So we did and a sweet lady named Romy answered! She was so impressed we could speak Spanish she let us in right on the spot. We got to know all about her life, testified of Christ, gave her a Book of Mormon (Hermana Cosby was with us as well on exchanges so she added a lot to the lesson) and then she told us she had a dream that night that people would come to her house and teach her about God. WHAT!? MIRACLE!! How great is that? So she is a seamstress and a client stopped by. She can speak a little English to do her business so she was talking to this lady. Come to find out she is a member and had just returned from the temple. She said she had a prompting to go visit her now instead of tonight like she was supposed to see if her dress was done. She bore her testimony and I translated. Look at all these great things that happened from following the spirit? DON'T EVER BE SCARED AND FOLLOW PROMPTINGS INSTANTLY! We are so blessed to have the Holy Ghost, and I am learning that more and more each day! So Romy is one of our great new investigators and we hope to make a lot of progress with her fast. She is ready! Thank you for your love, support and prayers. They do not go unnoticed! 

Anna had to work this week so she was going to miss church. yeah right! We had a solution for her.  She understands English and can speak it really well so we took her to an English ward at 9 am so she wouldn't miss church! She loved it and cried during a talk on being spiritually prepared. I am so excited as I watch her feel the spirit and progress. There are a few baptisms this week by the elders so she is going to go and see what hers will be like! We still have a lot to review with her but we are so excited! It felt so weird to go to church in English haha. I had to concentrate a lot more.

Ready for the funniest story ever? We stopped by to visit Carmen and Ricardo to see how they are doing. Well she invited us and gave us all this stuff! She said she made me nightgown.. haha. She made Hermana Sharp this skirt and blouse. Then greatest part, Mom she said that since the first day she met me she has been working on making you a sweater for the winter. She made you a sweater "from her heart". She ignores us for weeks, doesn't want to talk to us but then makes us all these clothes? She was so excited to give them to us, she was crying and kept telling us she made them from her heart, love us like her daughters, etc. It was so sweet of her. So of course when we got home at night we dressed up and took pictures :) Hope you enjoy.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week :)

con todo mi amor,

Hermana Thomas

 Clothes by Carmen

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

Hermana Sharp and Hermana Torres Relief Society President

Emergency Preparedness Fair

Sacramento Fire Department