I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!

When we have a baptism, we tell their conversion story and send pics to the Pte and office so here it is...

"Here is Marco´s miracle story: we were heading home one night on the metro with a recent convert. A man sat down next to me and we exchanged pleasantries, but I was distracted with another conversation. I felt like I needed to talk to him, but thought I had more time. Then he got up to leave and I thought I had missed my chance, so I handed him a pass-along card as the metro stopped. He asked me what it was and where the church building was and as I explained, the doors closed and he missed his stop! I felt so bad, but he sat back down and we started talking. We invited him to church and set up a visit. He got off with us at the next stop. I apologized again for making him miss his stop and he said not to worry. It was God helping him talk to me. I was so impressed and then he ran to catch the next metro. We met with him 3 times a week for the next 3 weeks and even though his schedule was busy he always came. He accepted a fecha in the second lesson and every time we taught him something, he accepted it even though I thought he would have a problem. It seemed like every week and every visit something would come that could potentially delay or chang his fecha, but it never did. Even with innumerable setbacks and problems on the day of his baptism and confirmation--he was still baptized!!! I still can hardly believe that he was baptized in 3 weeks, from contact to the waters of baptism and Heavenly Father let me be a part of it. Estamos en el medio de lasegunda cosecha."

I still can´t believe that I have one of THOSE stories, you know? Metro contact, taught and baptized in 3 weeks--we hear and read those kind of stories all the time here, but I just never thought I´d be living one--even when I was living it! I didn´t realize it until I was sitting in Marco´s baptism and afterward when we were talking and taking pictures. I mean, let´s face it--I´m not a great contacter. I can do it and I try, but nothing usually comes of it so I focus on other parts of the work. But I was in the right place, at the right time, willing to open my mouth and follow a prompting--and it has made all the difference in at least 2 lives--mine and Marco´s. So incredible.

Cinthya and her boyfriend, Edu, changed her fecha from this week to next week because he broke his arm, but by then should be able to baptize her. Worth the wait. And another couple we are teaching will receive their papers to get married in Aug, which is what they have been waiting for to get baptized for 2 YEARS!!!!!!!! So they are planning on Sept 29th or earlier. I promised them, through the prompting of the Spirit, that if they pick a date and work towards it, Heavenly Father will do His part to make it happen on or before that date. SO the fechas we have right now are kind of far out...which the District and Zone Leaders don´t really like and are giving me trouble about, but whatever--I´m not here for the numbers! As long as they happen they all count, right?! Areas, boundaries, dates, numbers--blah. I´m here to build up the kingdom and help people get baptized on the Lord´s time. And I´ve never been happier--even though I have been fighting a cold this week and everything has been going wrong on the surface--it just makes the story more interesting. Icing on the cake :-) That´s what makes life FUN--skip the boring parts.

Hey! We found a new piso, finally. We have to move out and move in this week. It will be crazy, but exciting. We don´t know what belongs to the landlord´s and what belongs to the Church´s because our present piso was rented in the prehistoric era, but we´ll figure it out. And the perks of being in change of finding and renting a new piso...the new one has A/C and is in Plaça Espanya, which I hear is incredible at night with lights and fountains and yah--missionaries for years to come will be thanking us :-) muahahahahaha Well, that´s a li'l of what life´s been like here.

Hey, I heard something about a theater shooting in Colorado and Batman and, I dunno, the rumors here are always flying. What happened? And some guy finding gold plates in Mexico and everyone is saying it proves the Book of Mormon is true...like we need scientific evidence for that and it would make a difference...faith?...but what´s it all about?

Interviews with Pte were great. We talked about everything, missionary-related and otherwise. We also got to chat with Hna Pace for a while. These chats took up 4 pages of my journal.haha OH man.

Glad to hear all the July birthdays were wonderful and fun, even if it´s hot. I know, it is here too. Well, gotta run.

LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Hna Clarissa Dalton