Querida familia!
It was so good to talk to you all and see you all yesterday!! Everybody looks great and I can't believe how big the kids have gotten! :) But I guess that's what happens when you've been gone for over a year... I hope that you all had a wonderful mother's day and I'm grateful for the impact you've had on my life. Yes, that includes you dear brothers :)
Well, we've had another busy week here in Warden, so let me tell you about it! Charmain Halverson: We had a couple lessons with her this week and we were able to take a couple of the women from the ward with us. I think Charmain likes having a couple of older women come with us. They bore the sweetest testimonies and you could tell they touched her. She went out of town yesterday to go visit her mom, so we weren't able to see her at church, but she's starting to read the Book of Mormon over again, so we keep praying that will go well. La familia Reina: It's a mom, dad, and three sons in this family. The elders were teaching them but from the looks of their teaching record, the elders have had a hard time getting in contact with them the last couple of months. We were able to go and read with the whole family and to talk to them about faith and the importance of acting on our faith to help it grow. They all came to church yesterday and loved it. They participate and the branch is small and very welcoming, so they feel right at home. We just have to work on them getting married... Silvia Solano: So, Silvia is awesome! She is a single mom with five daughters and they are the cutest little girls! She is a former investigator, but we didn't know that when we tracted into her. She met with the missionaries a couple of months ago, loved it, came to church and paid tithing when she came to church, and then all of a sudden, decided not to meet with the elders anymore. I guess it was kind of sudden. Well, we had a chance to go in and talk to her and she seemed kind of indifferent at first, but then we got to talking and we talked about faith with her as well. (We have a sweet object lesson that is great to do with kids, so it's a really good fallback lesson). After that she opened up to us and asked us if in our church we had to be baptized really fast... I guess she felt really pressured from the past elders to just get baptized. She said she wouldn't mind, but she just wants to learn more and to go to church and to learn first. We told her okay and told her the importance of acting on the things that we will ask her to do. That will help her more than anything to learn about Christ and the things we teach. She said okay, and is willing to meet with us twice a week. Her daughters are cute and we didn't meet the older two, but the younger three are 10, 6, and 5. We're excited to go back and to help her learn more. I have no doubt that as she acts on the things we leave her, and as she prays and reads the Book of Mormon and attends church, that she will have that desire to be baptized and to show Heavenly Father that she's willing to serve and follow him. In Mosiah 21:35 it talks about King Limhi's people and how, "they were desirous to be baptized as a witness and a testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts..." That's our job as missionaries. We're here to teach people and to help them realize the importance of following Jesus Christ. We're here to help them have that desire. And when they have that desire, they're not scared and they realize that they are prepared. Sis. Ziegler and I are excited on how things are going here so far!
Speaking of Sis. Ziegler, I forgot to tell you the most defining thing about her! She has chronic hiccups!! It's really funny to go into a lesson or into members homes that don't really know us and she hiccups and they're like, "What is that?!" But she's great and has a good sense of humor about it.
Well, I think that's about it for the week! Go out and help somebody today... That's the best way to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope you all have a great week!
Love you all!
Love,
Hermana Haws
Sharing the Gospel in the Washington Spokane Mission
