And THAT, is a crazy lady.. (Nachoooo!)

Woo! So you can tell by my subject that I have a funny story :) So last

week we were practicing our songs for the baptism and a Spanish guy came in

and asked who was over the first ward (that's us). He said there was a

family that he wanted us to go see. Apparently the family has met with missionaries 

before and the guy thought that they were ready to see missionaries again. 

So we stopped by a few times and their gate was locked and closed so 

we couldn't get in. So this week we decided to try again and the gate was open! 

So we knocked and this super sweet lady came out and was way

excited to see us. She said she wasn't feeling well so to come back later

in the week. So we set up a time and she called us angels and such. She is

Mexican so we weren't sure if she was going to want to be in the Spanish

ward so we just decided to go teach the first lesson and then ask her if

she wanted the Spanish Sisters to teach her instead. Well, we took a young

women with us and went later in the week. Ok, the lady is crazy. She talked

SO SO SO much and we literally could not get a word in. She kept telling us

all these different stories and would not shut up. Plus she was talking

Spanglish. But I think I was blessed with the gift of discernment because

even though I didn't know what she was saying, I could still get the point

of what she was saying. So she told story after story and we even tried to

interrupt a few times but every time she said, "Ok let me just tell you this

real quick." So finally after an hour and fifteen minutes, I told her that

we had to get going and that we would love to say a prayer with her. By the

way, this woman is hard core Catholic. So she said that would be fine and

we all knelt down. Well this ladies sister-in-law showed up half way through story time

and was there for this whole thing so of course she knelt down with us as

well. Well, Sister W asked the lady to say the prayer, but only in

English. So she said yes and started praying. Well it's getting to be a

really, really long prayer when she turns and says, "I'm going to start

over in Spanish cause it's better" and off she goes....So there is really

no way to interrupt a person praying!! NO JOKE, she prayed for 10+ minutes.

AND she would have kept praying but the sister-in-law finally just said,

Amen. But the lady kept praying so the sister-in-law said, "NO, NO, AMEN!"

haha so she finally stopped. We bolted out of there because we had been

there for an hour and a half. So that was super funny. Probably bad, but I

was literally wondering how we were going to get out of that one. I was

praying that she would stop praying! I even contemplated getting

up and leaving. haha I don't know how else to stop someone from praying!

Luckily, the sister-in-law was there to save us! haha. So ya, luckily we

get to pawn her off on the other sisters :) She was a super sweet lady

though.

So as you know this week was transfers so it was sad to say goodbye to some

awesome people in our zone. We had a zone lunch at a delicious Chinese

Restaurant. That was super fun because it was kind of tiny but they had

this odd little offshoot room that seated about six. Well we decided to

make things fun and cram 12 missionaries in there so that was awesome. But

really that was a great restaurant for us to go to because they were WAY

fast and the food was awesome. Even better to go with Elders because

whatever we didn't eat, they all passed around the table and finished for

us. haha. So ya I'm going to miss a lot of them.

We had a lot of good lessons this week. A guy from one of my first areas came 

down and went on a few lessons with us! That was super fun to see him again. I have

been trying to convince him to go on a mission for such a long time and he

is going to now! So I am so excited for him! So that was super fun to get

to see him and we had some good lessons with him too.

We finally got to teach the girl whose mother just passed away. So she invited 

over her sister and we were able to teach them

about the Plan of Salvation. You could just see the relief and look of

acceptance on this girl's face. It was so awesome! She committed to be baptized

too! Not sure she knows what that means, but we will be able to explain it

to her more next time. She wasn't able to come to church though because she

had to work :/

We also tried to help the relief society president out by looking for

people at a few addresses that she didn't recognize. It was way out in the

boonies so we took a "road trip" and went out there. It ended up being a

member's house that was active though. Apparently the person we were looking

for moved a long time ago. So since we were out there and there weren't

very many houses, we decided to knock on all the doors. We knocked on one

and found an inactive member. He had a grandson or something who is 16 

(with mental issues) and a girlfriend. So we talked

to him and his grandson and shared a message with them. He had been baptized in

Washington and was active until he moved out here. So we asked him to come to

church and they said they would.

So Sunday was really awesome. We didn't think ANYONE would be in Gospel

Principles and it would basically just be us and one other person. Our most recent baptisms were

out of town, another recent convert had to work, and another recent convert

had some family emergencies so they all couldn't come. BUT, it turned out

that our class was really full! The inactive guy from Washington even came! I didn't

think he would, but I spotted him in Sacrament! He brought his grandson and his

girlfriend as well. We convinced them to stay for Gospel Principles and it

actually went really well. They participated and seemed to have a good

time. I talked to the girlfriend  and she wanted to get the gospel

principles book on her ipad and such so I told her how to do it. I gave her

our number and she said they would come again because she has been wanting

to go to church for a while and until we came, they hadn't done anything

about it. So she was super sweet and hopefully we can start teaching her

sometime soon!

We were also able to take a less active guy to the Mission

Presidents Fireside. Some members from one of my other areas was there!!! 

I have missed them so much and it was so good to see them again. Sister W

(one of my first companions) was there too and President was passing 

by so Sister W snagged him and said, "Hey remember when you promised 

you would put us back together again!" President just said UHHH and then 

turned to shake someones hand to get out of it but Sister T said, "Oh I 

remember!" haha so maybe we will end up back together ;) That would be fun. 

One of our old zone leaders told Sister W last transfer, (in a mexican accent) "Sister

Schroeder will be Sister Training Leader next Transfer, and then in 3

transfers, you will be back together!" Haha he also told me that at

transfer meeting and said he prophecied that we will be back together at

Christmas. What a funny guy.

Anyway that's about it! Like I said, we had a lot of good lessons, too many

to count so I'll just stick with that :) I hope everything is well at home.

Things are awesome here and I'm still loving it. This is the best decision

of my life :)

Baptisms!

Ok, so from the title, you can tell we had a lot of baptisms this week! Our zone had 5 people get baptized. That was super awesome. We had three baptismal services in the same building one right after the other. Ours kicked it off at 4 o'clock. So our week has been filled with just getting everything ready for all the baptisms. One thing we had to do was practice each of our songs. I sang at all three baptisms so we had to practice three different songs! Sister W played the piano for each of those as well. So we practiced everyday and we taught our 2 baptism women everyday. They were so cute and so excited for their baptism. Unfortunately one of the women's husbands is extremely shy and didn't come to the baptism :( But she said she is working on him and he really likes what she is teaching him. So that is awesome.

So let me back up a little bit. We have had some good lessons throughout the week but mostly we focused on our 2 women. We visited our usuals that we have set appointments for, such as the recent converts and we also visited our older investigator. She decided this week that she wants to get baptized on the weekend before Thanksgiving. We had tried to get her to commit to the date of September 20th but she said she is old and needs to get used to this idea and stuff. I am sure I have talked about this woman before; her daughter is already a member and is super supportive and she got her to come to a relief society activity this week. She came down from her home and went with her. It was a really good activity. They had everyone bring something made from lemons and the theme was "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade." There were so many yummy foods and deserts. But there were also some really good talks about how God knows what is going to happen and sometimes the biggest blessings come from crazy trials that you don't know how they are going to work out, but they always do. It was really good. Plus our 2 women who are getting baptised and our older investigator all got to get to know each other and to meet more members in the ward as well. It was fun!

We also go and read the Book of Mormon with the older woman at least once a week as well. She seems like she is understanding it and she says that when she goes to church with her daughter, it just feels right, unlike how she felt at the Catholic church. We then taught her on Saturday before the baptisms. She expressed that she had a fear of water and she was starting to have second thoughts and get discouraged. She was starting to wonder if she was doing the right thing. Apparently she had never seen a baptism before and hadn't been able to go to her daughters so we convinced her to come to the baptism on Saturday so she could feel the spirit and also see what a baptism was really like so she wouldn't be nervous about it. So her daughter supported her and said they would stay a little longer that day so she could come with her.

So after our lesson we went to the church and set up the chairs and filled the font. Our 2 baptisms showed up and we helped them get all changed. haha. Apparently we grabbed one baptism outfit that fit one of the ladies, but apparently it was a men's one. It looked like the kind of jumpsuit that the person baptizing them would wear... So it had long sleeves, a collar, a belt thing, and a chest pocket.. haha oops. They were taking forever to change so I finally went in there to see what was taking so long and they were just huddled behind the door. When I asked what they were doing they said they were NOT going out there looking like that! haha they were so embarrassed. It was hilarious. The baptism went really well though! We made sure a ton of people had a part in the program so they HAD to come because it is the worst when no one comes to support them. The talks were all really good and our musical number went well too. We sang "Come Unto Christ" (Hermana J, Hermana G, and I). Then they got baptized and were so excited. They said it was an amazing feeling and were super happy. It was really awesome. We also invited another guy that didn't come to the last baptism we invited him to. He came but we didn't see him until it had started so we didn't get to talk to him beforehand. It was really funny because after the talks and stuff he would clap. haha but he didn't really care. He just sat there all chill and stuff. It was funny. So ya! The baptism was awesome!

Then we had the Spanish baptism. It went really good too. It was cool because Hermana J's parents came down for her last baptism! (she goes home tomorrow). It was cool to meet them and have them there. They brought down a couple of her converts from another area too so they could be there. It was like a little reunion. The three of us sang the same song, only in Spanish, for that baptism as well. It went really well. Hermana G wants me to sing it with her in sacrament for the Spanish branch now. But ya I think the Spanish one was even better than the English one! haha. Their baptism was really good too, except I couldn't understand a word :) haha.

After that baptism, the Elders had a baptism as well. So Elder L, Elder B, and I all sang "Nearer my God To Thee". That one went ok. I didn't do so well on my solo, apparently I got nervous, but it was fine. So ya that day was just full of baptisms and singing! It was really good though.

Also church was really good on Sunday! All the talks were awesome and the lessons were all really good too. It was a really uplifting day for investigators I'm sure. Also our 2 new converts got confirmed! They were shy and nervous but they were so cute. They are just so awesome. Also, our older investigator has been nervous to come to our ward because she wanted her daughter to come with her. So she usually goes to church with her daughter. We were able to convince her to come to our ward so that she could see our new converts get confirmed. She came to church and she really enjoyed it and she decided that she wants to get baptized on September 20th! She realized that she wanted both of us to be there and since Sister W goes home on the 23rd, she decided that is what she wanted to do! I guess she had been praying about it since the relief society activity and after the baptism, it helped her feel a lot better, so then she prayed about it and decided that's what she wanted to do! wahoo! We are really excited for her. So yes! It was a super successful weekend :)

Also we had transfer calls. Sister W and I get to stay together! Woo! We actually both got called to be sister training leaders. So we interested to see what is going to happen this transfer! We only had one STL before and now we are both STL's so we will see what happens. We also heard that we might be acquiring the singles ward to our area as well. If that really does happen, then our area will be MASSIVE because it covers the whole zone. haha so we are excited to see what happens! Also, it was sad because we had to say goodbye to Hermana J. That was sad. I loved her guts. We clicked really fast so I'm sad I only got to live with her for one transfer. Anyway it has been a great week! It is such a joy to help others come closer to Christ and to make promises and covenants. What a blessing to be a missionary at this time! It has been such a testimony builder to me. I know the church is true!

Finding the Elect

This week has been another good one. For the most part we had a lot to do which is always great. We are slowly working up to achieving the standard of excellence, and we are going to work hard to be able to reach our goal of achieving it this last week. We set that goal long ago and have been working up to it little by little so hopefully we can do it this week!

This week we went on exchanges again. This time I was with Hermana G. This is her second area and this would be the first time she stayed in the Spanish area by herself. She was really nervous, especially since I pretty much couldn't help at all, but she did really good! We actually were able to teach a couple lessons in English so that was awesome :) We went to one house and the mom was making iguana tamales. Interesting huh? Luckily I didn't have to eat it since she was just making them. But it was fun to be in the Spanish area again even though I don't know what anyone is saying! :)

This week we visited our 2 women who are going to be baptised every day to help make sure they are doing everything they need to for their baptism and to be able to teach them everything. There has been a policy change from church headquarters that we now need to teach lesson 5 before baptism as well. So we have more to teach them still this week everyday again. One of the women actually had a seizure in front of us on Thursday :/ She felt so bad that she did that during our lesson and it was a little long. But she just spaces out and shakes a little bit, not a grand maul, so that's good. I feel so bad for her though. She is just so sweet. They bought us little gifts this week to say thank you. They had socks and candles and a little statue with a scripture on it. They were so excited. They told us this week that we were sent here to help them and they were so grateful for it. They are so so so excited for their baptism and are always telling us new blessings and miracles that take place in their lives, or things they learned. It's so awesome. They had to come to church or else they couldn't get baptized this weekend so we wanted to make sure that they wouldn't sleep in or anything so we told them we would come by their house and they could follow us to church. Well we pulled in and they were already in the car and pulled out ready to go! They just really love everything about the church. They got so shy and embarrassed when they announced their baptism in church today. haha cutest thing. They have their baptismal interview this week so hopefully they pass ;)

We had a "scary" moment this week. Not really, it was more so just funny. So we went to go visit a less active/part member family. (kind of, its a complicated story) Anyway there were a ton of cops on their street. There was a huge trailer that said police on it and a bunch of cop cars as well. So we didn't know what was going on. Of course I jump to the worst conclusion and guessed it was a murder. haha. But anyway we go into their house and are teaching them. While we were reading the Book of Mormon there are these bangs and then one MASSIVE bang right outside their back door. My heart jumped out of my chest and was pounding SO hard. haha everyone jumped and we were all looking frightened out the door. My first thought is that the murderer was coming back!!! ;) But I was only terrified and irrational for maybe 5 seconds. Then someone looked out the back door and we realized that a HUGE tree had just randomly fallen onto their house! Luckily it didn't look like there was any damage. It was the weirdest thing because there was literally NO wind. It had cracked a part of the way up and a huge part of the tree just broke off! haha so that got our heart going for a few minutes and was our entertainment for the day. haha. :D

We had another lesson with our older investigator. We took a member over and read the Book of Mormon with her. She said she hadn't prayed about Joseph Smith yet so we asked her to do that that night. We had another lesson with her and her daughter who is a member later this week and we taught her the plan of salvation. She really liked that because her husband just died a few months ago. We asked her if she prayed about Joseph Smith and she said that she felt he really was a prophet of God and this was Christ's restored church on the earth today! WAHOO! She also feels the Book of Mormon is true. :) So we tried to put her on date to be baptised but she said she didn't want to commit to a date because she is old and has been raised a different way and so she felt she was going to need a little time to get used to this change in her life. So we asked her to pray about being baptized on September 20th. Hopefully she feels ready by then.

We also had another huge miracle/blessing. We had a lady call us and tell us that she was ready to take the lessons again! So she has taken lessons a few times I think. I had never met her before until this week though. Sister W had taught her a few times though. She was supposed to get baptized a long time ago but then she had some things in her life that she didn't want to give up, including a boyfriend that lived with her. Apparently the boyfriend had been holding her back because she finally kicked him out of the house and said he was one of the things that needed to change. Unfortunately she is pregnant...so it's a little hard for her right now. But Sister W said she seemed a lot happier so that's good. She is a super sweet lady. She also has 3 kids and 2 are old enough to get baptized so hopefully they want to do it too. We actually put her on date to get baptized on September 6th! She said did want to get baptized eventually so we helped her set a date. :) Miracles!

We also met a couple new people that we can hopefully have lessons with this next week! It has been awesome to be teaching so many people. I have seen lots of miracles and blessings since being here in Casa Grande. It helps to have such good companions and girls we live with. We all get along super well and have a good time together. I'm so grateful for the gospel. I'm so glad I came on a mission. I have learned so much about the gospel and about the person that I want to be. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives. Live up to it and be true disciples of Christ. We have to be an example of the believers! Don't take this responsibility for granted :) It's what is going to bless you now and in the eternities. I'm grateful for this knowledge.

Summer Nights!