Monday, December 17, 2012

Baldwin Village Week 14

Hello Everyone!
 
This past week was good and flew by, especially because of Thanksgiving! It was quite a day for us....we had 3 dinners which we spaced out during the day, and by the end of the night neither Sister Morgan or I could move haha! But the funny thing is that I didn't have too much traditional Thanksgiving food! Our first stop was at the USC institute. A bunch of the families and students were staying for Thanksgiving so they had a potluck dinner at the institute. They invited us to come and we were glad to! all of the food there was really good and traditional, but we didn't eat very much of it because we were trying to pace ourselves and I knew that if I got seconds I wouldn't be able to make it. Then from there we went over to one of our recents convert's house. He is from EL Salvador and so we had an El Salvadorian twist to our Thanksgiving. We had turkey tortas! They were so delicious! I don't even like turkey, but those were juicy and covered in delicious I don't know what. And, traditionally they are served with hot chocolate - abuelita style :) it was pretty much really filling and really yummy. I even took pictures to show everyone, but I left my camera at the apartment so I'll have to send them next week. From there we went to our last dinner of the night. It was traditional too, but there wasn't a ton of food and so it was nice to not be obligated to eat a ton. However, that was where we finally got to eat dessert. The family we ate with had a guest staying with them from Italy, and she made tiramisou (without the coffee). It was BOMB. The only thing missin was pecan pie :( nobody had it. Maybe if I keepy my fingers crossed I'll be able to see some at Christmastime...
 
In other missionary news, this week we had a MIRACLE! His name is Lxxxx. we received him as a referral from headquarters which said that he wanted to be baptized. Now, it's sad to say but when we get referrals saying that people want to be baptized we get a little skeptical. But, we both felt strongly that we should contact this person right away. So, we gave him a call that afternoon and he was SO excited to hear from us! He said he was on the bus and that he would hurry home so that we could meet him just for a few minutes. So we did! And it turns out that he had taken all of the missionary lessons in Arcadia about 2 years ago and wanted to be baptised, but he had to take care of some personal business before that could happen.  So, he's moved here to LA and has a job and was wanting to come back to church but didn't know how to get back in contact with the church and the missionaries. And then we called him! He's super sweet and so ready to join the church! We also found out that he didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving and so we asked Rxxxx, our El Salvadorian recent convert, if Lxxxx could come eat with us and he said yes. And it was just an awesome fellowshipping experience. We set a baptismal date with him after dinner for the 23rd of December - right before Christmas. He really is our holiday miracle! He came to church yesterday and has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday. The only stumbling block for him is that he still smokes. Not a lot, but every now and then and he's really trying to quit. He's doing so god though - since we met him last week he's only had 1 cigarette! We know that the Lord is definitely behind him and will help him to quit, he definitely has the desire. It's pretty amazing to see.
 
This Sunday was also great because both Sxxxxx and Txxxx were confirmed! The Spirit is so strong during confirmations and I love being present for them. Sxxxxx's gave her strength to be a light and example to her family, and Txxxx's aluded to him serving a mission. It's experienes like these and the one with Lxxxx that make me so happy and proud to be a missionary. It makes all the hard times worth it. I love the Gospel!!
 
Well, I think that's all for this week! Love you all!
 
Sister Hensley

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