Hello everyone, this email probably won't make it to you until Saturday at the earliest because my entire family is at Lake Powell, so my dad can't forward it on. So all this will probably be old news by the time you read this, pero está bien.
This week started out with a solid service referral from the zone leaders. Her name is Libby, she has a fun little southern accent. :) She had us build a temporary fence so her dogs couldn't get out; and it was most definitely the most ghetto looking fence of all time. We held that sucker together with zip-ties, but Libby seemed really satisfied. She was super funny, she worked along side us, and talked to us the whole time; and at the end she even asked us if we wanted to pray with her! :)We also did service for Polly again this week. She had us take out some garbage right when we first got there, and IDK what died in her garbage can, but something most definitely did! It smelt as though death and sin had a baby, and then didn't want it anymore, so they left it in this women's trash can. Hermana Peterson and I were gagging and a few times, I thought it wasn't going to be gagging anymore. The wildest part was that the trash can was practically empty when we got there...so I think this smell is a permanent fixture on this
trash-can...
We had both zone conference and exchanges this week as well, so the week feels like it was only three days long. I yet again had the honor of doing exchanges with Hermana McLean! Yet again it was a good time. This time we we stayed here in Garden Valley, and taught English Connect together! :) McLean is the most adorable human, below you'll see a picture of us post rocking out to "Change" by Taylor Swift for the fifteenth time. I'm honestly thinking she might even be more of a Swiftie than me. Our Mondays consist of us sharing news from our "sources"-aka her mom and my cousin, Abby. 15/10 would recommend! Plus we got to spend 10 minutes teaching our English Connect homies how to say "fork"! :)
Our lesson with Jose went SO good! We talked about about Jesucristo and his mission while on this earth. His comments were on topic and he shared a lot of his insights! It was awesome, but the coolest part was when we asked him if he had done the invite from last week (read Alma 32). He said yes, and that he read Alma chapter 30...so, he sort of did. We asked him what he got out of his reading. He started out by explaining that he only had had the time to read it once, pretty much preparing us for him to have no answer...then he POPPED OFF! He went on for almost ten minutes all about Korihor and Alma and said the entire story in INCREDIBLE detail!!! Hermana Peterson's jaw and mine were on the floor. I've never been more impressed by someone's reading comprehension in my entire life. This week we invited him to read 3 Nefi 11, so hopefully he'll do the same thing this time, except read the right one.
Our lesson with Karla also was so cool! Monsterrat was sick. :( So we only met with Karla, Hermana Masner ended up calling us and asking if we wanted to have the lesson at her house! So we went over there, and spent some time with Karla and the Masners! It was so fun, and Klara seemed so happy, and more comfortable than when we meet at the church! Hermana Peterson and I even treated them to an AWE-INSPIRING number on our dollar-tree kazoos! ;)
During the lesson we asked the Masner girls- ages 7 and 9- about Jesus' time on the Earth. AND THEY POPPED OFF! They bore there testimonies is some intense Spanglish and Karla had this small smile on her face! It was so powerful, primary kids are so amazing! I think everyone almost cried! :) Hopefully, this can help give Karla that little nudge she needs. She's been taught everything, there's just a little doubt we need to overcome! Give it time and she'll join her mom and brother as the third Latino member in the Roseburg stake! :) Pioneering the Spanish work here is so cool! It's crazy to think that no one was working with these people until a few months ago, soon enough we'll have our own branch here though! ;) We might need to have some members that aren't all related first though!
Speaking of this amazing family and the future Roseburg Spanish branch. The stake president here is 100% convinced that Javier (Monserrat's dad, view diagram we drew on the board to explain things to our district leaders below) will be our first Branch President (like him and Brother Smith fasted for Javier to have an experience to bring him to the gospel). Which is probably straight revelation, and I agree with him. The only issue is...Javier is not a member, in fact he's never even had a lesson; but our stake president simply said change that; so we're we're pretty much having planning sessions to figure out how to get in with Javier!
His family would be the key for sure though! He's a manager at one of the local vineyards, so he works around a lot of other Latinos. And pretty much every Latino I know is already taking lessons with us...so we need some fresh blood. Luckily his daughter Monsterrat, is already being taught, and just had an incredibly spiritual experience at girls camp! To quote Hermana McLean, "I think the Celestial Kingdom will be like Girls Camp. It was so spiritual." - and honestly I think Montse agrees.
Anyway, moving on from that mess, here's another mess. Haylie. Haylie as we all know is getting baptized NEXT SATURDAY!! Say what? Only issue, we don't know into what ward. Here's the predicament, she's taught by us- Garden Valley Ward-, attends Sutherlin ward EVERY week, and lives in North Umqua Ward...yeah...these last Sisters really left me to clean up a MESS. The Stake President is still yet to reply to us about this issue, but he had a lot to say about my man Javier. Oh well! All will work out, God is on our side; but if it's not Sutherlin she gets baptized into she just simply will never attend her real ward. She LOVES that ward, and that ward LOVES her! I think we might have to have a standing section at her baptism with how much of that ward that's asked if they could be there! :)
Anywho, those are my current small issues! But the work of the Lord is amazing, God is good, and Roseburg in the promised land. Til next week, which by the time you receive this email might be three days,
Hermana Shelton! :)
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