An Update From Upper Valley

I am going to be staying in Upper Valley with Hna Gomez for at least another 6 weeks!! We are both super psyched!! We were both really worried one of us was going to be leaving and going up north, but nope. We are both staying!!! Hoot hoot! We both wanted to stay because our area is just starting to pick up. It was pretty much dead when I came in. I think we only had maybe one or two investigators but now we have 6 that are progressing and several more really good potentials.

We saw the Perez family this week. They are doing great! Mariana is the most ready out of the family. It is amazing to see how fast she catches on to what we are teaching her. She is really good at applying the scriptures to herself. Carlos has started a night job so we have not been able to see him very much this week. We have tried to go during the day but that is when he is sleeping. Alma, the mom is doing well too. She had been sick and she said she has not able to sleep at night. We asked if she wanted a priesthood blessing the next time we came. She agreed to have one. We also explained to Mariana that she could have one too if she wanted. She said she would think about it. So, the next time we came we invited Elders to come with us. Before the Elders came we had a lesson on priesthood blessings, so they could have a better understanding of what was going to happen. As soon as the Elders came in, they brought a chair in the room and were ready :) We were only expecting Alma to receive a blessing but all three of them wanted one. We hadn't even told Carlos about it and he was getting ready for work when we were teaching Alma and Mariana about the Priesthood. We could hear him rushing around trying to get everything ready for work but as soon as he had his blessing he said he felt peace, and not stressed. It was interesting seeing him search for words to describe how he felt because Carlos is not a person that normally has to search for words.

We had an awesome lesson with Alma and Mariana when we watched the Restoration video. We also invited them to a baptism that was this past Saturday. Alma expressed she really wanted to go because she wanted to see how baptisms were done because she wants to be a part of this church. She feels like it is where they are supposed to be. When the night of the baptism rolled around we sent a text to check up on them. Mariana said they weren't able to go any more. Instead of answering back we went to their apartment. Mariana was truly sick. It showed in her eyes. They felt bad they couldn't come. We were sad they couldn't go too.

We also had a great lesson with Javier and Francisco. We asked if they believe the Book of Mormon is true. They both said yes! Javier has been reading a lot. He is in 2 Nephi and he has been praying. Javier is still wanting to learn more before he is baptized.