My one year mark

Dear Family,

 

It's official.  I have been a missionary for more then 1 year now.  I entered the MTC one year ago last Friday.  I'm not really admitting that to many people yet but it has been a big shock to me.  One comfort is that I still have more then 6 months left.  My release date isn't until March 6th so I still have a few more weeks before I hit that downward spiral.  Anyway in commemoration of my one year mark I have embraced the the sister missionary frump.  Meaning I haven't worn any make-up for about a week now. I held out for a long time- but I just don't want to put on make up anymore.  Especially because we are in the hottest time for our mission right now and the make up just sweats right off.  Pretty soon I will have the desire to stop brushing my hair in the morning.  The sister Missionary frump is happening.

 

This week was kind of long.  We had a bit of a hard time getting our lessons, (But we got them!) and I pretty sure that because of the heat people are staying inside- hiding.  It has been hard to find any one to talk to.  On the plus side we have been outside a lot and my sister missionary tan lines are really looking good. 

 

I think my favorite lesson this week was with a less active that we have been working with named Eduardo.  We are trying to help him prepare to receive the priesthood, but first regular church attendance might be good.  Anyway, I just love Eduardo.  He is this really quiet middle aged guy who is just so sweet.  He just feels stuck must of the time.  Anyway, he likes us as well- or at least we told him that he does- but sometimes he is hard to catch.  We had dinner with his mom this week and he was there and the lesson about faith in Jesus Christ was really good.  We scheduled something for the next day, to talk specifically about preparing for the priesthood.  I don't know why but the spirit was there pretty strongly.  I know that Eduardo was feeling something to.  Well anyway, Church on Sunday I look back on the overflow and Eduardo and his mom come walking in!  I was so excited that he came.  The only down side was that he only stayed for sacrament.  Eduardo is a slow mover generally- but I have never seen him more so quickly when he bolted for the door as soon as sacrament meeting was over.  His mom told us after the meeting that next time he comes we need to stand guard at the door when we start singing the closing song.  Oh well.  Its a work in progress.

 

We also had a couple lessons with another less active family.  When I first came into the area I wasn't quite sure how I felt about them- but now I am really growing to love them.  I think that by the time I leave they will absolutely be in my top 5 favorite Del Mar families list.  This family is very VERY health conscious.  I mean- after having dinner with them I'm pretty convinced that the world, especially the food industry, is bent on making me personally die a horrible cancerous and toxic death.  Here I was thinking the world is a happy place.  WRONG! 

 

Another super exciting thing is that Alex and Maria, the ones with a baptismal date, came to church on Sunday.  Alex usually works on Sunday but he took today off special. I think he enjoyed it.  Anyway after he said he didn't want to get baptized we pretty much dropped the subject.  Sister Campbell and I always mean to recommit them but something else comes up and we never teach about baptism.  Well at our missionary correlation meeting one of the ward missionaries came up and said "So I here Alex has a baptismal date."  I looked at him suspiciously and said, "Who told you?"  The poor ward missionary looked a little confused and said, "Alex told the elder's quorum that he was getting baptized next month when he introduced himself." 

 

This is how all of our invitations go.  We asks him to read the book of Mormon- he says no- then the next day he has read 3 chapters.  We ask him to pray- he says no and the next day he is volunteering to say the dinner prayer.  I'm considering not talking to him about baptism at all and just holding the baptismal service with out telling him.  I'm pretty sure he will just show up on his own.  How can we do the baptismal interview without him realizing it?

 

Well, it has been a really good week.  It's been long but I have really seen the Lord's hand all day.  He gives us so many small blessings and quite a few big blessings. I'm grateful for all of you.  I love you!

 

Sister Allred