I'm glad to hear about Stake Conference and that it went so well. I just
read an L. Tom Perry talk yesterday so it looks like I was in tune to
what was going on there without even knowing it! It made me smile and I
had to tell Sister Chavarri that you watched the District. We watch it
every day in training :) Which ones did you watch?
You are assuming
correctly...transfer don't come until the first week of October...the
Tuesday right after Conference I think. We are thinking that this is
probably our last transfer together so we have some plans to really make
the most out of these last three weeks. I'll take your advice and I
will keep on smiling :)
As for my week, it was another
good one! Started out with us trying to visit an investigator who we
haven't been able to contact in a while. She wasn't home, but her
husband and another older man were. We were getting ready to get back on
our bikes (putting our helmets on, situating our skirts, typing the
next address in the GPS, etc.) when the old man came out and the first
thing he did was walk right to the chain saw that was behind me and
tried to turn it on! He wasn't trying to get us (at least I'm pretty
sure about that!), but we biked away pretty quickly just to be safe
hahaha.
Thursday was crazy busy. After
our lunch we went up to Gilbert, pretty close to the most northern part
of our area, parked the car, and biked around. We biked to a less active
lady's house and she let us in. The first things she asked us is if we
wanted a napkin to wipe our sweat off...yeah, I think that probably
paints a pretty good picture as to how hot it was and how sweaty we got.
She also gave us this really good juice that was made from the Jamaica
flower. We left her house and biked back to our car. Then we drove 15
minutes SE to our members house to pick her up for a lesson and drive
back to where we just were. We taught the lesson and then drove her
home. Then we had dinner, then met the Elders to get the Stake Report,
then we had a meeting with the Relief Society President, then we got a
surprise referral and had to drive all the way back up to Gilbert
AGAIN!!!! By the time we got back home we had used 84 miles!!!!!! As a
reference point, we generally need to use 35 to have enough for the
whole month. Let's just say that we've been biking a lot more recently.
Teresa and Francisco are ready
to be baptized! We finished the lessons and they had their interviews
Friday night and everything is good to go. They are getting baptized
this coming Friday. Should be a great night! We are having FHE with them
tonight and going to the Visitors Center tomorrow. They are just the
greatest! To save miles, we biked to their interviews which were at the
church. But they lasted so long, that we couldn't bike home in time
because it was after 9. Luckily they had their truck, so we just loaded
up the bikes and they gave us a ride.
Saturday we had dinner with the
cutest couple. They are expecting their first child in November. She
invited us over early to learn how to make Horchata because last time we
had dinner their I told her how much I wanted to learn. It was fun! I
had a little mishap with the vanilla though haha it ended up all over my
skirt, Sister Chavarri's dress, and the floor...Oh well!
Now let me back-track to
Saturday morning. We woke up early to get ready and to get to the Chapel
at 7:45 to practice Praise to the Man. Practicing went well and I felt
ready enough. We got all organized for the pictures and then he got
there and we took them. Then we each got to shake his hand as we went
into the chapel. Praise to the Man went well and I only messed up once,
but apparently no one noticed! Elder Andersen was great! And he was
really funny! He looks different in person though! He talked a lot about
the reason he choose to come to our mission and speak with us (because
his assignment in Arizona was in the Tempe mission boundaries). He
basically said that our mission is a prototype mission. We are the
smallest mission with the highest concentration of missionaries in the
world. He said that the point of this is to really know the wards we are
in, to stay in them for very large portions of our missions (like 10
months) and to really, really, really work with the members. He said
that it is up to us to make it work, and if it doesn't, then the Gilbert
mission will be dissolved back into Tempe. Don't want that to
happen!!!!
That's it from me! Hope to get a letter from you in the mail this week.
Con mi amor,
Hermana Baria
