A Step in the Right Direction 8/4/2014

Guess what?

This week was awesome.

We got two more baptismal dates!

One is with our friend Yolanda. She doesnt speak English and so our lessons with her are always a good time. We taught her the first half of the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. Well...at least we think.. haha. The language barrier is a problem. We can't decide if she really understands or if she is just pretending. Although we've come to the conclusion that her face just looks confused all the time. haha. Her friend is a member and translates at our lessons, but she doesnt actually translate. hahha. Yolanda will ask a question and Sister Fuentes will just answer it in SUPER fast mexican-spanish and Sister Alder is totally oblivious and I can get about 70% of what is being said, and so I thiiiiiiink that Sister Fuentes is telling her the right stuff. haha. 

We asked her if she'd get baptized if she came to know the church was true and she said yes, so we set a date to work for. Its set for the end of September. 

The other date is for Alberto! He is a SUPER golden guy. We met him last week when we were trying to contact a less-active sister in Watertown. I saw him and two other Mexican guys outside their house down the street and the Spirit said, "Go use that Spanish you've been working on!" So I did. My companion didnt want to, but the cool thing about staying sight and sound is that she had to follow me. haha. They really didnt seem interested. I actually didn't understand a single word one guy said to me...and he was speaking english. haha Something about aliens and Jesus...? We gave Alberto a Libro de Mormon and set up a return appointment.
So we went this week and he didn't answer the door! :( We started walking away and we pass a car and wave at them like we always do and we realize it was Alberto's friends! So we turn back around and lo and behold! ALBERTO! 

We taught him the Restoration and it was hands down one of the best lessons I've had on my mission. The Spirit was so strong. He was not interested at first, but the more we gave him, the more the Spirit testified, and the more honest questions he had. He felt the spirit and recognized that God speaks to us through feelings. We talked a lot about how the feelings we have will help us discern truth. The Spirit was super strong, so we were able to point it out. It was awesome. We invited him to be baptized on a date on the first lesson and he accepted! He said he would read and come to church and wanted to help us help someone move later in the week. We invited him to pray at the end of the lesson and ask if the things we had talked about were true and he did and he prayed in Spanish (which is the prettiest way to pray, btw) and it was awesome and sincere and powerful and when he closed, he looked up and said, with misty eyes, "I feel weird. .....Kinda like I want to cry..." And we about fell off our chairs and I was like, "THATS THE SPIRIT!" And we all smiled our faces off. 

And then he came to church yesterday(((((:

OH heck! Guess what?

I got a Hmong name!!!! (: I have been waiting all year to get one! I was so sad when I served in a Hmong area but never got one.

On Wednesdays, Lake Mills has the cutest farmers market. We stopped by this week to help Sister Vang set up her stand. She is the cutest. They are less-active and are practicing Shamanism now, but they are awesome. She gave us a million and twelve vegetables of various kinds and told me to come back in a few minutes when her husband was there so he could give me a name. He looked at me and thought long and hard and wrote down my name on a sticky note. 

Nkauj Hnub
Its pronounced "gao nou" for those of you that don't speak Hmong.

He said it means "sun" or "sunny" or "sunshine" and then Sister Vang was like, "Oh yes, "Sunshine"! Perfect!" 

So. Thats me. (:

We did lots of other things. We helped someone move in Watertown. We knocked on lots of doors. We went to church. We did a church tour. We set up appointments. We went to district meeting in Wales. We straight chilled on Pday. We had dinner with Sister Lords. I cuddled LOTS of cats. I almost got attacked by a dog. We marveled at the corn fields and the millions of fireflies. If only I could show you how indescribably beautiful that is... Its ridiculous.

Oh. We were invited to the ward pool party. Most awkward time ever. Like...that was just rude. Our investigator Jaysin came, so that was cool. But it was just super weird. All four of us were just kind like, "........" the whole time...in our jeans...sitting in the grass....trying to block out the worldly music blaring into our eardrums....

Don't invite the missionaries to your pool party. 

Its just not worth it. 

haha

We had some really awkward times talking to people about their personal lives. Something about the nametag must SCREAM "Quick, tell me everything awkward about yourself and your past and your current temptations!" because...we get that a lot. Missionary work is a lot like counseling. People tell you all their crazy problems and expect you to listen, be okay with it, and then fix them all. Its a good thing it's the Lord's work, cause there is NO way I could do it on my own.