HOLY COW!!‏

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net).
Sent:	Mon 10/07/13 8:50 AM

iHOLA!

 

Wow. I do not even know where to begin! This past week may have been one of the most successful weeks of my whole mission! And just one of the best! First off, we got transfer calls last night and I'm staying in Mechanicsville with Hermana Bingham!!! But Hermana Olsen is leaving :( We are so sad to see her go. She will be very missed! Her next area is very very lucky!

 

The Matamoroses baptism was AMAZING!! It was unreal! How did my horrible Spanish help that happen?? Ok, it was the Spirit, not the Spanish, but holy cow! The Spirit was so strong and they were just so happy! They wanted me and Hermana Chambers to sing so we did haha. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! We sang How Great Thou Art. One of my favs. After, Dina was already talking about a mission! She would be the BEST missionary. We knew that from the beginning of teaching her. She actually invited one of her teachers to come which I thought was really cool! I also had my first translating experience for Sister Wilson (Mission president's wife) which was stressful but good I guess haha. Overall, it was SO great. And it was so great to see members of that ward as well. Such a great group of people!

 

Filiberto has a baptism date!!!! We can not even believe it. Everything about him is a complete miracle, and honestly, at the beginning, he was near the bottom of the list of people that we thought would get baptized soon. Last Tuesday we taught him and asked him to be baptised and he said he was already baptized. So we kept talking a little bit more about it and then he agreed! He said in his exact words (translated into English), "How great would it be if I could go back to Mexico and tell my family, 'Hey family, I'm a Mormon! Let's go to church!'" We then showed him the font and such (because our lesson was at the church) and he then looked at us and with a huge grin and said, "So when is it going to be?" We were all pretty much in shock at that point and our member present was just dying! So he is set for November 2nd! He also came to both sessions of conference yesterday! He wanted to watch them in English because he is learning and understands pretty much all English. After the first session we had a short lesson with him and he asked about how to prepare for baptism and such. It was so great. OH! And on previous lessons he wouldn't pray at the end of the lesson. But after that lesson where he agreed to baptism, we asked if we could close with a prayer and he said, "Yes. I can!" And then offered such a sweet and sincere prayer.  

 

Ever is also changing his mind about baptism! Before he was having issues with authority because he was already baptized. But after we watched the restoration DVD his mind has started to change! He asked us if its ok to be baptized again and such. We have a member that lives in Ashland that usually comes to help teach him once a week with us. And after that lesson he was like, "What happened to him? His whole countenace has changed!" I am going to send a picture of him today. He will be the one that is holding a guitar.

 

Conference was AMAZING!! Holy smokes! I don't know if its because I'm a missionary, but that was the best conference ever! So powerful and so inspired! I was planning to tell you some of the things that I liked but I just liked so much that I don't know what to choose! Here are some of my favorite quotes: "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." (Pres. Uchtdorf) "It is your relationship with Heavenly Father that should always come first." (Elder Christofferson) "Every time we take someone's hand and introduce them to Christ, we will feel the Savior's love more for us and for the person's whose hand we're holding." (Elder Ballard) "Don't forget to look up." (Brother Ochoa) "Each time you look in the mirror, think of looking at your own temple." (Elder Nelson) And those were just a few of my favs! The whole thing was absolutely amazing! Padres, will you send me a copy of the conference Ensign when it comes out?

 

This work is amazing! I am so extremely grateful for it! I can't even believe how fast time is going. Mission time is unreal! But I am loving it and learning so much. We are so lucky to have this gospel to share with everyone in so many different languages! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you so much!!!

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.