"CAN THE VISITOR SAY SOMETHING?"

A nice "after study snack"

"Yeah, that's hot sauce on there!" (to which mom said "no... that's PB&J!")

Hola Mi familia! Ojala que su semana fue muy bien!

Okay, well this week for me was a good one with some nice Exito on the side! We were able to find some really good new people to teach, and help in a couple of different ways. 

To start with, I got sick on Wednesday night and woke up throwing up and all sorts of other things...for the whole night. And my companion was right beside me sleeping in her hammock...sleeping.  She didn’t even flinch the whole night while I was running to the bathroom every 30 minutes.  Finally she woke up when the alarm went off and found me running to the bathroom. She just looked really confused after I told her what kind of night I had, ha-ha - she felt bad she didn’t wake up, but it was just funny.  The rest of the morning I just lay in my not-so-comfy hammock (it’s fine when you’re not sick) while she did her studies.  Later at 9 we went to the doctor and I got ANOTHER shot.  It was the same lady and she was like “oh, I bet you’re just ready to go home now aren’t you!” I just yelled “NO!” Ha-ha, I think she thinks we are crazy because we are always walking and never have a real break from the work. So after that we went back and my companion went on splits for half the day and worked in our area with another Hermana and I stayed with a member who had AC and a king sized bed! That was the first time I’ve been in a bed in 7 months and boy, was it weird. I couldn’t go to sleep for like an hour because I wasn’t used to the bed, but it was really nice and I slept for like 3 hours there. Her little grandson was on the other side of the bed sleeping and at one point he woke up and thought I was his mom and then came right up next to me, trying to cuddle, and I was like “crap, this has to be breaking some kind of rule!”  He was only 1, but still.  I tried moving to the other side of the bed, but he followed and had his head in my back. Then I moved him over and he sprawled out in the middle, and I was in the corner in the wall, ha-ha.  But after like 45 minutes of that his mom came in and took him. I’m all good now - I think it was just a little bit of bad food. 

This week we have had some really good lessons. We had great lessons with Vicente and he’s coming along well and is progressing. He came to an activity with us on Friday. It was an FHE for the ward. In the end we all were getting up and saying advice for a missionary that is leaving tomorrow. Vicente can’t hear very well so he didn’t really know what was going on or what they were talking about so I had to explain it. When it was all over and the Hermana was about to say the prayer he yelled  "CAN THE VISITOR SAY SOMETHING"… So he rolled on up and said that he loved coming to the church and he is very content here and that he loves everyone. And he ended with: “you have a new brother and his name is Vicente" then after a loud “AMEN” he wheeled off back to his spot. He is just so great and it is so great to see his progress! 

On Saturday we were able to watch the women’s conference and it was really great! I was nervous because the last conference I didn’t understand a word because I only had like 3 weeks here, but it was fine and I was able to understand it all and it was so great! I really like how the one talked about trials and how if we haven’t experienced all of the hard trials like others, that we can learn from them and help to support those who are going through hard times. On Sunday we spoke in church, with the missionary that was leaving. Oh, and know what? All they have to do is give their testimony!  It was really short so we had a LONG time to talk.  I only took like 10 minutes and Hermana Bailey took like 15, so it worked out well. I had to talk about autosuficiencia.  It’s a hard word for me to pronounce and I had to say it like 10 times. By the end I got it down pretty good, ha-ha.  I’m pretty sure it went well because all of the members came up to us after and told us how we either need to marry their child or how we need to and deserve to marry someone really, really great! Ha-ha, so yeah, it was a little weird how many people kept saying that ha-ha!

Sunday we saw some really great progress with the Family Foster! We were able to have a lesson with the WHOLE family.  They have one son that has been really hard to talk with. Last night we passed by their house, and he was the only one home so we kind of just invited ourselves in for a lesson, ha-ha!  It went really great!  I thought he was going to be kind of a punk kid but he was actually really nice, just shy.  After about 20 minutes the rest of his family came home and we had a lesson with them all.  We read together in Moroni 10.  It was really cool - it reminded me a lot of when we used to all read together at night!  They all liked it and we were able to end with a kneeling prayer and those really are the best.  It was cool because my companion and I came into the lesson not knowing what to teach, and then we both just got the same little promptings here and there during the lesson.  It was just cool, because it just started off with us teaching the parents and now all of the family wants to listen!  I’m pretty sure their daughter Jessica will be getting baptized in the near future!  It will probably happen in the next combio!  It’s okay if I’m not here to see it, I'm just excited to see them continue to progress!  I really do love that family with all of my heart!  I’ll get a pic with them in this week so you can get a face to the name!  I love you all so much and hope you all have the best week and keep being thankful for all that you have! 

GO AND WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE! 

All of the sessions, not just one or two ALL OF THEM! 

Do it for your sister! 

Les Amo! 

Hermana Velasquez