rafaela week 18 - Dec 7

¡Hola familia!

Well i bet your just dying to know what happened with transfers…..so i'll let you know…I am leaving Rafaela, and will be going to a city called San Nicolas. It is in Buenos Aires (the province). My comp. is Hna. Morales…she is from Chile. Another Latina! This is so good for my spanish you don't even know. To be honest, i am really excited. I felt like my time was done here in Rafaela. But i've heard that San Nicolas is a hard area. I guess the Catholic church is really strong there, and they are hard core believers in the saints... so we'll see how that goes. I think i'll be learning a lot of patience....

So this week....this week we concentrated our efforts a lot with the less actives and recent converts. Guillermo talked with us about that this last week....he said that the Lord is not going to bless us with new people if we aren't taking care of our old ones. So that's what we did....and the Lord blessed us with a baptism!!! So we had Norma and Nora planned this week...to be baptized the 4th of Dec. But Norma already told us that she needed more time. Then when we talked with Nora at the beginning of the week, she said that it was a little fast for her too. Well, as a companionship we were praying a lot...if we should move her date or keep it for the 4th. We didn't really get an answer, but i felt like we should ask Nora how she feels... She was still missing some of the lessons....we went to her house 2 times and she wasn't there...thurs comes around....we teach her, ask her how she feels about her baptism...she was like “I'm ready! I know it's true!” so we were...alright...lets do it. Friday we taught the rest of the lessons....she had her interview that evening and she was baptized sat evening!

And you know what. Out of all my investigators, i think she was the most prepared. Her and Lucas Franco. You should have seen her. She was sooooo happy after her baptism. You ask her how it went and she gets all emotional and says, “there are no words to describe what i felt.” She is already talking about going to the temple, and how she wants to serve and share the gospel. She will be such a asset to the church! She is such a happy person. We found out after her baptism that she has a fear of water....It turns out she had a bad experience when she was little where she almost drowned, and hasn't been in the water since.....except to bathe of course. And i guess when she was walking into the baptismal font, she paused on the steps for a moment and said a quick prayer. Guillermo (who baptized her) asked if she was ok. She responded she was fine. Once in the water she said she was fine. Her daughter came to the baptism and was in tears... she said she couldn't believe her mom went into the water. When we asked Nora about it later, like, how come she didn't tell us about her fear of water...she said “because i knew i just had to do it.”

We met her through the Flia Franco....she takes care of an older lady that lives next door. So she was a reference from the Flia. Franco. Out of the 6 baptisms that i have had here, 5 of them were references from members....Marta and Luis were references too....(i still count them as my converts even though they are still waiting to get baptized)...But i have a testimony of the references now. Mom and Dad....you guys need to give names to the missionaries of people you know. And tell them you can use your name....you shouldn't be afraid to let them use your name. As missionaries our calling is to teach and preach...as members, your job is to find! So please, go find!

Let's see....yes, i'm a little fatter...not much.....it was sad...the other day i was wearing a shirt with short sleeves because it was really hot. And i told my comp how i felt fat in this shirt because my arms look fat. So we go to the house of the flia Garza...and Ruben starts making fun of me...telling me i'm gaining weight. And then he measures my arm with his fingers and holds up his hand to show how big my arms are. I told him he shouldn't be talking because he's the one with the belly.

Ok...i gotta go... love you guys...i don't know anything about calling for christmas yet....i'll let you know how the new area is next week. Wish me luck! Pray for me that i won't be so incredibly prideful...because that is how i feel...i need to be humble! Love ya guys!

Hna. Amundsen