Rosa - We taught her last week and again last night. We taught her the entire first lesson about the restoration of the gospel and she nodded her head the entire time. At the end, we invited her to be baptized and she said yes! And then she said that she was already baptized into the Catholic church......we tried explaining it again and asked her if she would change if she knew the church was true........and she said no. She said it would be too hard to change. But there's a reason that we knocked on her door. We're going to teach her a little more and see if she has any desires to change. And if she's not ready now, someone will find her in the future.
It nearly broke my heart to hear that Rosa didn't want to change. I know that we can change because of Jesus Christ, and the purpose of life is to change and learn and grow! I'm learning a lot about that especially in the mission. I have to step outside my comfort zone everyday in little ways but I can't express how grateful I am for this time I have to serve the Lord and how it's changing me and others.
Paul is still struggling - but he came to church even though he was sick! He sat in the corner away from everyone, but he came. He's slowly getting there - we're working on focusing our lessons so that he can understand the very basics. It's taking time but we're inviting him to be baptized again this week and he's almost there.
VC story of the week - we met a family, a mom and her two daughters - from Brazil. They all spoke great English (which is good because my Portuguese is pretty rough). The two daughters are returned missionaries, they have a brother and sister who are about to go out to serve their missions, and their dad and mom (who was there at the VC with them) was called to serve as a mission president and wife in a brand new mission in Brazil! I love taking members on tours in the VC - it strengthens my faith so much and we taught each other so much. The Spirit really does teach the teacher and the student. (D&C 50:22)
I went on exchanges to San Leandro this week with Hermana Hill. She's in her 2nd transfer and doesn't feel confident in her Spanish so I ended up talking more than she did even though we were in her area. It was good for me to lead, but we taught in unity also. Exchanges are the best - we learn so much.
Friday - two dinners. Right in a row. Our ward mission leader said he only wanted us over for 30 minutes and was going to provide a small snack - which means rice, chicken beans and horchata. Not a small snack. I felt so sick. It was awful. Other than that, Hermana Ivey and I have been eating mega healthy and we feel great! It's so nice to eat fruits and veggies.
Saturday was the best day EVER. Because of the VC, we usually have appointments for most of our open time during the week. But we had a district activity on Saturday where we went contacting on one street and we also were contacting people in the street that night. It was a little sketchy - we got caught in a lengthy conversation with a man on drugs - but we actually got to get out and FIND PEOPLE TO TEACH! It was LOADS of fun. I used to be so scared of contacting, but I love it! That night, we talked to two brothers on the way to a less actives home. One of them was SUPER ready for the gospel - he was talking about how the Bible has been changed and that he didn't know why there were so many churches and it was so exciting! We testified and taught the Restoration but his brother was a staunch Catholic and that kind of got in the way of things. But there really are prepared people. This man didn't want us to come over, but the Spirit told us to give him a Book of Mormon anyways, even without contact information. We planted a good seed and we may not see it grow, but it will one day :)
La familia Lopez - Carmen is ready to be baptized; her husband is not. And they still haven't come to church. But we're going to have a lesson with them next Sunday at the VC right before church and then they can come right after! We'll see how it works.
Yesterday - we were able to do so much yesterday because we couldn't email. We went to Fenton's with the Berkeley sisters (which includes my old compy Hermana Sia) AND we went hiking in Orinda at Tilden National Park with our district. It was a blast. It's nice having a day to relax a little bit and prepare for the work. Thank heaven for preparation day.
Also - added a new investigator, Angel. Missionaries taught him in the past and he had a baptism date and everything. He's super busy with work because he doesn't have a secure job, but he's such a sincere, humble GOOD guy. We're excited to teach him. We're praying that he has work, but also that we can see him. We'll see how that goes.
That's the wrap-up for the week! We have transfers last week so we'll see what happens!!! Love you all!
Hermana Hunsaker
