Week 62 Friendship Knows no Color October 17, 2016

I asked Hermana Sepulveda to caption this one. She said, "Friendship knows no color" Amen!

Week 3 of transfer 11 was off to a good start until I lost my balance while carrying the boiling pot of water to heat my shower and spilled it down my thigh. My borderline 3rd degree burn really rained on my parade.

Yesterday Hermana Susanna claimed that I only took her out to do visits with us so that she could lose weight with all of the walking we do. Since I love going along with sarcasm I said "how did you know?!" and then grabbed her by the arm and started running. After that we did some high knees and then a light jog. I sure hope she will come out with us tomorrow. (;

Toni as of now is our most progressing investigator! His family is coming up right behind him. His baptismal date is officially the 5th of November! I'm super excited.

The Talara Zone

I'm pretty satisfied that week 2 came to a close. This week we had the most amazing multi zone whose theme was "being disciples of Christ". I feel like I may have enjoyed it more if I didn't have to do two musical numbers and a class. But nonetheless it was fun! In preparation for our class we spent a few days asking everyone we came in contact with 3 questions:

1. Why is it important to repent?
2. What are the blessings we receive when we repent?
3. Do you believe those blessings apply to you personally?

What we noticed was that the vast majority of people see repentance as a bad thing! I could hear the crickets chirping when we asked question #2. Wait blessings? For repenting? Yes! Did you know that repentance is actually a good thing? Did you know that it's an essential part of God's plan? I have learned more fully what repentance is on my mission. Upon arriving I had very high expectations for myself. I had this idea that I was going to be the next closest thing to perfect. Boy, did I get a wake up call. I quickly realized that that is impossible. The entire system is set up in such a way that you could never possibly go a day with perfection. You could never rely on your own talents and abilities. You will always fall short. We are constantly being reminded of the Higher Power in whom we rely on.

Photo credit: President and Sister Rasmussen ;)

Yesterday was awesome. We had 9 investigators at church! I feel that if the branch and the leadership was a little more involved in missionary work these people would already be baptized. I think one of the biggest reasons this branch has been a branch for 35 years is because there is no retention. You baptize someone and later on they become less active. How sad! It's not uncommon for us to visit a less active and hear a story about a member or leader offending them. It's pretty unfortunate that they feel that that is a valid excuse. Think of Judas! He was an Apostle of God yet he betrayed Jesus Christ. He definitely offended a lot of people in the making. Does that mean the disciples should leave the church and Christ because of the mistakes of a leader? Are we justified for leaving? When Christ extends his invitation to "come and follow me" that means follow him no matter what, forever.

I know that as we strive to learn more about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his teachings and example will become engraven in our minds. It will effect our thoughts, feelings, actions, and our character. We will become true disciples of Christ.

Con mucho Amor!
Hermana Ingram

The ever-so-lovely Hermana Rasmussen

Las Hermanas

The vultures that eat all of the dead dogs...