Eriberto's Baptism!

Monday was a very relaxing day for me  :)  After cleaning the apartment, dropping off the laundry, and eating lunch, we came back to the apartment.  While Hermana Mora did some organizing of her things (I have no idea how she's going to fit everything in just 2 suitcases) I took a nap.  It was raining, so I slept like a rock - and Hermana Mora even video taped my snoring! haha  Then we taught a couple of lessons in the evening.  We explained the importance of prayer to Alejandro and that effective prayer requires great effort.  We can't just repeat the same "memorized" phrases and then expect answers from the Holy Ghost.  We must pray sincerely, with real intent, and then patiently wait for answers to come, while living the gospel standards.

Tuesday's district meeting went smoothly.  Right afterwards we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders.  I stayed in my area with Hermana Ridge, who is a sweet missionary from Provo , Utah.  She only has a transfer less than me (so she goes home in July) and will also be going to BYU Provo - where her dad is actually a professor!  We had a really fun day together and got along like the best of friends.  We contacted, taught some new investigators, and less actives, and walked a ton.  At some points I had to refer to the map, because sometimes I still get lost in our gigantic area.  :)

Wednesday morning Hermana Ridge and I were still together until about 1:30pm.  Then Hermana Mora was by my side again, just like always, and we finished the day by teaching Eriberto and confirming his baptism plans and going to Morelos.  I love the bus ride to and from Morelos, because it is truly beautiful and in between the town and city are wide open pastures / fields and pretty much farming communities.  The sky was like a canvas smeared with lots of pastel blues, yellows, pinks, purples, oranges, etc.  And I'm realizing more and more just how much I'm going to miss it here.  I love Mexico.

On Thursday we ate with the Santoyo family (a very wealthy husband & wife in the ward).  And everything in their house but the ceiling was wood!  Wood flooring, wood walls, 2 wooden pianos, wooden picture frames, wood table & chairs, etc.  It was a pretty cool house (I'll take a picture next time!)  We taught the super great investigator, who is 80 and received the sad news that he is going to work in the mine again and be gone for months at a time  :(  It was a bummer because he really understood all that we taught him, but he said he was going to bring his Book of Mormon and continue reading.

Then, while Hermana Mauricio made visits with us in the evening, we encountered a new investigator named Marsce with her 3 young children.  The lesson went really well and it turns out that she has a close friend who is mormon and had been inviting her to church!

Friday was just a smooth day - with lots of lessons and contacting.  Leopoldo is now in Mosiah and loves reading the Book of Mormon.  He told us, "I'm reading about the King Noah who was wicked."  I love seeing people read and understand the Book of Mormon!

Eriberto's baptism!!

The highlight of the week was Saturday!  Eriberto was finally baptized!!  It was so incredible!  The program went well and many people attended.  After he was baptized, he literally looked like a different person.  I could feel the Spirit so strongly, and have never seen someone change so drastically.  Eriberto was beaming and happy and laughing as all the elders gave him great big hugs.  Afterwards, Eriberto and we bought ice cream.  :)  The perfect day.

Sunday was an excellent day too.  Christina and Jose and their 2 little children came to church!  They are the family that we've been teaching in Morelos and drove all the way from Morelos to attend.  :)  The talks were inspiring and the classes were great.  After the 3 hours, Hermana Mora and I searched and found 4 new investigators to start teaching.  There is a lot of potential here in Zacatecas and I love finding new people who are anxious and waiting to hear the gospel.  God is truly preparing the hearts and minds of His children.

We WALKED the BUFA today [Monday April 20th]!! My legs are going to be pretty sore ;) haha But it was a lot of fun!

A quote that I liked this week was, "Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them."  It is so true!  When we are willing to work hard, opportunities will present themselves and we may find success and happiness in our lives.  Like Alma counseled his son, Helaman, "teach them to never be weary of good works" and "the time is at hand that all men shall reap a reward of their works, according to that which they have been."

I hope we can all work hard and never tire of making the right decisions.  Satan temps us with "taking the easy road", but the road is rarely easy to any place worth going.  I love you all and hope you have a marvelous week!

Hermana Eliason



[More pictures from the hike today]