Linda's Baptism!

Thursday: We had a super cute couple come into the Visitor’s Center today!! They met at her family reunion when she was 15 and he was 19 but her parents wouldn't tell him how old she was XD She wrote him the whole 2 years of his mission but then things didn't work out after he came home and they went their separate ways. Then, years later, when both of their spouses had died, the girl's mom reached out to the guy and said she was lonely and he sent her a letter and now they're happily together again! Not married yet though :) I got hit on the head with a basketball this morning at sports with my zone. Then we had an adventure driving the Oakland 8th ward sisters to and from the mission home because they locked themselves out of their house and didn't have their car keys. Because of that, we were late to our Visitor’s Center training. But that's ok :) Linda had her baptism interview today and passed!! When we were leaving the Visitor’s Center we saw sister Xiao helping someone fill out a referral and apparently the Asian guy she was helping had just walked in and wanted to be baptized! That's something you hear about happening in Mexico, not here in California! In the teaching center, I'm keeping in contact with a teenager who sent in a request for a copy of the Book of Mormon. He is a foreign exchange student and he wants to get baptized before he goes back to his country in June! So cool! Then we had a lesson with Theo, who is the former investigator who lives in our apartment complex. Brother and Sister Grow came with us. Theo is a talker and we were only able to get through half of the restoration with him. After that we went to contact a referral we got from Head Quarters and it turns out the person said his friend did it as a prank because someone did it to his friend. :P But Sister Shkapich and I set a new rule that we have to at least knock on the doors on either side of the referral's house. We did that and we also knocked on the house across the street which turned out to be someone who was raised and baptized LDS but has also gone to other religions and isn't very religious anymore. But hopefully our stopping by did something. :) Our only light in our bathroom went out too. But that's ok, we're making due with the hall light and candles :)

Friday: Happy Birthday to my bestie Shayn!! She's 20!! We showed a group of members "God's Plan" (I think one was a new member because she said she didn't have her temple recommend yet). When we went to close the tour, she was sobbing. I know how powerful these exhibits are and I'm so glad I get to use them as teaching resources! On outside tour I used a huge umbrella and I thought I was going to get blown away by the wind! We had a lesson with our recent convert Mike. He's going through a hard time right now but Sister Sexton (a senior couple sister) shared a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants; D&C 22:7 which talks about how we will go through adversity but it will be for our good and that we will gain experience from our trials. We have a possible service opportunity thanks to the Oakland 8th ward Samoan sisters!

Saturday: LINDA'S BAPTISM!!!! This day was really crazy. We found out the Oakland 8th ward was having a member baptism for an 8 year old that morning. It was scheduled an hour before Linda’s baptism so we couldn't go early and set up in the Primary room. So instead, we set up in the Relief Society room. But when they finished with the baptism for the 8 year old, they started draining the font! We got that sorted out and then we had some problems with the baptism and the 1st councilor came in at the last second for the bishop. But despite all of the craziness, Linda was SO happy when she came up out of the water! She had a HUGE grin on her face!! And the rest of the day went ok. We found a potential investigator while visiting a former investigator and we plan to go walking with him on Saturday and share a message while walking with him. :) While we were visiting the former investigator who ended up not being home, we knocked on some of the other apartment doors and one lady opened up and said she had family from Utah over. She invited us in and we found out they were members and were in town for their brother's funeral. We shared a message about The Plan of Salvation with them. We don't think they're active but we don't believe in coincidences. We found out a recent convert in our ward went to the temple and loved doing baptisms!!

Sunday: I studied about learning to recognize the promptings of the spirit in the Doctrine and Covenants; specifically D&C 11:12-30. What's interesting is that Sunday I learned a lesson about doing the Lord's work. A member came in to our ward to get our phone number because his less active mom wanted us to come over for dinner sometime. I found out that I had actually talked to him at the Visitors Center back in December about his mom. He wanted us to help reactivate her and I thought she was supposed to be in a different ward and forgot about it. I am so glad that the Lord gave me a second chance to help them. :) Linda had her Confirmation today!! And it was just what she needed! 

Monday: TODAY WAS AWESOME!! We went to get Thai food with some of the elders and sisters in our zone and then we went to Daiso. It’s a Japanese store where basically everything is $1.50!! After that we went down the kiddie slides in the pouring rain in our skirts. xD SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!!! I love you all!!!!!!!!!