Stake Conference and "Face the Cookie"

Hola!

So this week was pretty good because it was Stake Conference! There were lots of really good talks and I enjoyed it a lot. In both the adult session and the general session, President Archibald spoke. I took some good notes. In Stake Conference, it was so cool and such a great feeling to see Luis (who is the last of the Guillen family to be rescued) and Christian Guillen, Andres Cortez (one of the converts I helped teach), and Santiago Tesen receive the Melchizedek priesthood! My testimony of the priesthood has been strengthened during my mission and I am so happy to see these men take this step in their lives. It's moments like this that make all the hard work worth it.

Playing "Face the Cookie" at our Ward Mission Activity

We also had our Ward Mission Activity, and people actually came this time! W. was there, and two other investigators and a less-active member that we invited! The Elders also had some less-active members there. When we first started (30 minutes late), only the investigators and less-active members had shown up and we were kind of nervous that none of the ward members were going to come to friendship them. But, by 8 PM the room was filling up and lots of members were there, Young Single Adults, Primary, Relief Society, and Priesthood. Yay! It was lots of fun. I got an idea for one of the games from our family's Christmas slideshow, which was showing a clip from a Minute-to-Win-It competition from our annual family olympics last summer. The contest is called "Face the Cookie" and it involves getting a cookie from your forehead into your mouth without using your hands -- ha ha. The game was a blast, and the whole night turned out great!

W. is still going strong for her baptism on the 23rd. We're so excited for her! After Stake Conference finished, President Archibald came down from the stand to talk with her. I think he could see that she wasn't a member because she still hasn't gotten a skirt to wear to the meetings. He came down and congratulated her for her decision. I was so happy! This week we were able to meet her mom, N. We came to her house for our second lesson, but W. was late and only her mom was there. At first her mother was a little hostile towards us and told us that baptism isn't a joke and that W. isn't ready for these changes in her life. I prayed that God would soften her heart. We began to explain the importance of baptism and the blessings that we've received for being members of the Church. We explained that we're here to help prepare W. for her baptism, but that we're not going to obligate anyone to be baptized. As we were explaining, W. got home and she told her mom that she had felt that what we'd taught her was true and that she wants to be baptized. God answered my prayers as N.'s countenance changed. She agreed to begin listening to the lessons with W. and this week she said she'll come to church with her. She wants to know if this is true too! We're super excited because we know how much this will bless her family.

So today we're having another rehearsal for our musical number in about 3 weeks for our Mission Conference. The violin practicing has been going pretty well. I know where I need to practice more. But, the musical number should be beautiful! I'm super excited to play (but still nervous too ha ha)!

I just wanted to finish by saying how proud I am of my little (6-foot-2-inch tall) brother. It sounds like my parents are helping him get everything ready to go for his mission in less than a month now. I am so happy that he's going! I am just so excited for him! I know he'll have so many wonderful experiences and grow spiritually, just like I have on my mission.