Well, nothing too exciting happened last tuesday except that Hna De La Cruz emailed me to tell me that she is engaged!!!! No worries, I will be home in time for her wedding.
Wednesday I was on exchanges with Hna Young, who came wout with Hna Stevens. I went to Chula Vista with her, so that was fun. Somehow usually on exchanges I stay in my area, so it was nice to see a different area. We taught a lesson to a woman named Cindy who they haven't been able to get with a date. Sometimes it's nice coming in without knowing a lot about the person you are teaching because you can just be bold and not worry as much about the outcome. We invited her to be baptized and she told us that she didn't want to set a date. I explained about the restoration of the priesthood and everything and then she randomly started telling us about some major concerns/problems she is having in her life with one of her kids and her husband. I figured this was stuff the other sisters already knew, but I listened and then invited her to be baptized again. She finally said that she wanted to get baptized soon, but after the date we had suggested because she needs to know for sure first. We finally wrapped up the lesson because we had their district meeting to go to. When we got in the car Hna Young was freaking out because it turns out that they didn't know any of the things that Cindy had told us, so I guess the lesson was a success even though she didn't agree to a date.
After that we went to district meeting, which was a little strange being in someone else's district meeting, but it was good. Then we tried to visit a bunch of people who weren't home and then went to the mormon battalion in the evening. The Ricks were there visiting (mom, you will remember that sis ricks called you a while back). It was fun to chat with them and catch up. Apparently two other sisters from the battalion besides Hna DLC are also engaged. So strange.
Thursday was kind of a funny day. We went to Hna Rosales' house for breakfast at 11. We shared a message about eternal families/the proclamation to the world. It turned out her husband was home - he is usually never home because he worked all the time. But he just quit his job at a restaurant and is going to work at outback steakhouse, which is great because he will have sundays off!!! We talked about preparing to get sealed in the temple, which is their goal (mostly her goal). They were asking what you normally wear to a sealing, so I showed them a picture of the Morales family at their sealing. They got way excited because it turns out they were in barrio 20 a couple years ago and Lalo (the husband) was taking the temple prep classes with hno morales. he said that when they were in the class hno morales wasn't doing so well, so he was glad to see he had made it to the temple. I think it gave him some encouragement that he could make it too. Lalo made us breakfast, which was excellent because he is a chef. It was huevos con chorizo and french toast. Exellent. They were pretty chatty, so we were there for quite a while. After that we visited a less active named Ana. We just talked to her about prayer and things like that.
We were at the battalion at 3, but Juan met us there and we taught him while we were on shift (aka in our pioneer dresses). We had a great lesson which ended up taking forever because we talked about the gospel - especially the holy ghost. Hno Chavez came too, and he is super long winded, but it was a good lesson. Juan agreed to keep preparing for the 10th to get baptized, but he wasn't positive yet because he is still waiting for an answer.
After juan left, we dragged hno chavez back into the room and taught him sabbath day. He likes to bring the missionaries jamba juice somtimes on sunday, which is definitely not ok. haha. It turns out he was never taught the commandment before baptism, so good thing we decided to teach it.
After that I gave a few tours and then called it a day.
Friday morning wasn't too eventful. We had zone leader council for most of the morning, when all of the zone leaders/sister trainers report on the baptismal goals for their zones and talk about what to do to move the work forward. The best part was that they fed us lunch. haha. After that we weekly planned for a bit and then headed to a lesson with Isabela. The lesson was not great. The kids were super crazy, so I had to keep drawing them pictures of animals while we taught. She didn't seem super open and when we invited her to be baptized she said she was happy being catholic and didn't really have time to be learning more about other churches right now. We talked a little bit about the plan of salvation and asked if we could come back sometime and explain more about that and she said maybe if she has time.
After that we had group meeting, which was excellent. As I was leaving the battalion Sis Lee came and brought me into the resource room. I nearly cried when I saw Eric there with Giovani and Mani and Hno Silva and his kids. WHAT???? I invited the young single adults to come to the battalion every single week and they always said they would come and never did. I'm so glad they finally came! They were excited to see me. Eric and Giovani both broke up with their girlfriends. Giovani and mani are both praying to see if they should go on missions!!! So excellent. That was one of my big pursuits in barrio 20 - to get Giovani, Mani, Carlos, Fidel and Luis on missions, so hopefully they will decide to go. They said they would come back sometime when I was working and bring Fidel and the others.
Saturday we had district meeting and then served at the temple in the evening. We talked to a lot of people who were mostly not interested. One girl from Taiwan and one boy from Iraq each wanted a book of mormon though, so that was eciting. We also had some nice conversations with member families.
Sunday morning we served at the battalion because our church changed to 1 o clock. It was surprisingly busy. I gave 2 tours - one to some members and one to some nonmembers. Both of the nonmember families referred after the tour, which was awesome. They were both awesome families who just loved the story of the mormon battalion.
At church it was testimony meeting, which was great. We were meeting in the chapel for the first time ever, so we looked small in numbers, but it was really powerful. Oscar (the returning less active/husband of our investigator Isable) was sustained to receive the priesthood and then bore his testimony, which was great. Then Lalo bore his testimony about wanting an eternal family. It was just a good meeting. While we were sitting there Oscar leaned over and told us that Axel wanted to be baptized with his mom, Isabel, on saturday.
This meant that during sunday school we pulled Isabel and Axel (who is like 11) into a room and went over the baptismal questions/taught them everything they needed to know so they could both get baptized on sunday. It was awesome. They both have a super strong desire and are really ready. We scheduled their interviews for monday morning.
After church we went to a break the fast party at Hna Lock's house. Juan came (even though he didn't come to church on sunday). After we ate for a while we pulled him aside with Hno Marquez and taught him tithing. Then the lesson turned into a two our discussion of the gospel/baptism. It was really good. He still seems hestitant to get baptized on saturday because he hasn't received a specific answer, so we just told him to pray that night and call us the next day to tell us when he wanted to get baptized.
Monday morning we were at the battalion and it was pretty busy for labor day. Isabel and Axel came at 11 for their interviews and then we gave them and their family the tour. They both passed! So so far everything is set for their baptism on saturday at 6:00. Pray hard that everything will work out!!! After that I gave some more tours and then we headed to our area.
First we had to meet up with our district leader to give him some papers. While we were pulled over and hna lewis was explaining something to him, the phone rang and it was Juan, so I answered it. I can probably count on my hands the number of times investigators have called us on their own, so that was exciting. I asked if he prayed and he said yes. I asked if he felt anything and he said yes, he felt "something different". I asked if it was different good and he said yes. I asked if he wanted to get baptized on saturday and he said he would tell us on wednesday. So I asked if he thought he wanted to get baptized on saturday and he said "i think so". So I asked if we could do the interview on thursday and he said yes. We were pretty thrilled when I got off the phone and told them what he had said. So pray for him too. We are going to see him on wednesday and hopefully he will want to go through with it.
After that we saw Hna Roman and taught her the gospel after we did her dishes for her. We used water/cinnamon/soap to explain it and she seemed to understand. We invited her to be baptized on saturday too and she said maybe, if she has time. haha. She is really busy because her husband is in a wheelchair right now becuase his leg got infected, so she is always taking him to the doctor and things like that. We talked about sacrifice and she said to call on saturday and see if she could get baptized that day, so we'll see what happens with that.
Next, we went to teach Ivan (the guy I was teaching in Barrio 20 before). We taught the 10 commandments/sabbath day/chastity. It went pretty well. He seems to be at a point in his life where he really wants to change. He is going through some hard things and has a court date on wednesday. He asked us to fast with him today, which of course we are doing, so we will see what happens. I hope everything works out with him. I told eric when I saw him on Friday that we were teaching Ivan again and he was sooooo excited (Eric is the one who introduced us to ivan clear back in january or something).
Next, we went to see someone named Nancy, who they have been teaching. As we were driving there I was confused, because we were headed right to my old area. Yup, it turns out that they were teaching someone in barrio 20 area, but Hna Lewis didn't realize that's where she lived because she has only served in one area and doesn't know the boundaries super well. We talked to President about it and he said we could visit her and see about handing her over to the other sisters. She wasn't home, but she lived in a complex I had visited several times. A woman walked up while we were there and it turned out that she was the woman I had been trying to find before - ana martinez. She remembered me and told us to come back sometime in the evening, so we gave her as a referral to Hna Lee and Stevens. It was a pretty random miracle. Hopefully she is prepared.
So good things are happening here in san diego. Pray hard that things will go well on Saturday!!!!!!!! Oh, and if you are wondering what happened with Jessica, Hna Lee said they went to visit her and she said she wants to wait until she is 18 to get baptized, so we'll see what happens with her.
I love you all!!! Have a great week!!!! good luck with school!!
love,
hna Livingston
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