Double the Thanksgiving, double the fun!

What a crazy week! I love being a missionary for weeks like this one.

First of all C is a rock star- I sent a photo of us and her (in pink dress) right before her baptismal interview! All is well and she is going to be baptized this Thursday! I love her so much- especially her love and understanding of the Restoration. We asked her what the significance of José Smith being a prophet was for her and she just testified that because of him we truly have the truth- that we can receive revelation and that we know that Jesucristo (Jesus Christ) has His church on the earth today- sooo good.

I love helping people prepare to be baptized because I can see how their lives change through living the gospel. How much happier they are and how they find a purpose to their lives through their knowledge that they are children of a loving heavenly father.

Last week I mentioned R and A. This week we went back and asked if they had prayed and what they felt- they said they understood it and felt good. But they wanted to know about the Book of Mormon (which was our lesson plan!) so we went through it and they have such great questions. We again invited them to keep praying to know and they really have started understanding the restoration. We have another lesson with them in a couple hours and I am pretty stinking excited.

However, he works every Sunday morning so we have to see what we can do about helping them come to church... prayers please! :)

So a crazy thing happened, I made a contact and it was awesome- so we invited her to the ward activity in 2 days and went from their hoping to see her again. Then the crazy thing- she actually came to the activity (its hard enough to get the members!) then that Sunday she came again with her 3 kids. She is awesome! The only thing is she also has a problem- that is that right now we can’t visit her in her house because it’s her aunt’s house. But we have plans to visit her in a member’s house this week. Honestly she is so cool.

Ok, lets see here- also we have been teaching J and his sister P. P came to church! Then we had a lesson with them, and their mom and brother (23 yrs.). They are an awesome family- but like I said they live way out in El Campo. So it’s hard. Hah, the other day we had a lesson and we couldn’t find a bus so we were late and then we had the lesson but it's late at night and have no way to get home. 

So we called a member to come find us. So they live about 15 mins walking from the main road through cow pastures and dirt roads to their house. So we called the member and then just take off hauling through the dark to get to the road. Ha-ha we got to the road and just start walking down and its dark and pretty late. So the member finds us by this sketchy little light- hauls it back into Rio Bueno and drops us off 2 minutes before 10 o’clock curfew. Soo crazy. But the lesson was sweet.

Then the coolest thing- we had that activity on Friday night and P and J ended up walking to the church to come, which was about an hour walk. Then on Sunday they and their brother D came to church.  They are soo good. J has the baptismal date for the 20th of December and we are way excited.

I feel like I have 10 more cool little lesson stories from this week- we had close to 30 lessons! But I have no time! The last is A. So she was a contact from a couple weeks ago. We talked to her and I felt really strongly we should give her a Book of Mormon even though honestly she didn't see that interested. So we did and let it go there. Then we tried to visit her at her house a couple times and nothing. They yesterday we were in the rain and thought we should stop by- we had such a sweet lesson. We asked her if she read the Book of Mormon, if she prayed and knew it was true and knew this is what God wanted her to do- if she would be baptized- all that jazz. And she explains she had been baptized before (like everyone else in Chile.) but that she was a baby. 

We explained how that must be a big blessing in her life that her parents chose to have her baptized her to grow in faith. We talked about Jesus baptism and the difference of hers and His. Then invited her to make the decision for herself and be baptized as He was. She accepted to have the 27th of December as a goal to work towards! I am so excited because I know if she does the work- then she can know. Hopefully si!

We had so many crazy good lessons this week. Seriously so good. I love teaching! This week we also had two activities. The first was Friday night where we had a little lesson about how the sacerdocio (Priesthood) is like a cupcake shop- then ate yummy cupcakes. And played a game- "do you love your neighbor"- sooo fun. It was crazy because we had a ton of investigators come- 7! Which was so fun!

Then we had another activity with the youth where we made "soy Mormon" video. (I'm a Mormon) We had them come with a talent and we recorded them and interviewed them- then we asked them and did a little interview about a spiritual question. It was a crazy success! The videos turned out so good. The elders are edited them right now then we are going to have an activity to watch them with their nonmember friends and their families. But a couple of the talents were siiick. Like crazy skateboarding and parkcour, beat boxing, typical Chilean cloth painting and one girl does crazy finger nail painting (definitely thought of megs) but like the cool pinterest ones. Such a fun activity.

Also every Monday night we have a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) with president Matus and his family and investigators. I loooved it. Its one of my very favorite traditions of the mission here in Rio Bueno. (Mom just for you to know they are the family I am in with H. love. photo attached)

Also (ha-ha) this week we thought it was Thanksgiving. So we had a huge noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) with one of our favorite inactive families (pictures included). Whatever ha-ha, looks like we will just celebrate it again this week. But we planned with a lesson about being grateful with the Mormon message "gracias a el" and all this sweet stuff. 

But the sweetest part was them literally pulling out all of the food they had- emptying the fridge and drawers with all the little packets of stuff or cans so we could have a feast. It was so humbling. I love these people so much. It is such a truly good culture.

This 2-week thanksgiving (ha-ha) I just have double the opportunity to think about all the things I am so grateful for. And it all comes down to knowing I am a daughter of God. I love, love, love this knowledge because of I have the happiest family, an eternal family, I have the book of Mormon and I know who I am- which is why I am a missionary.

I love you muchly. Xoxxo Hna Ball