Capitulo 3, Semana 16

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT OF ENCHALADAS?

Mi familia favorita!

It has been a great week! Sister Magnusson and I are really bonding and it's making the work so much more fun! (Cam if you have any good pranks I could pull on her, digame por favor.) Her family sent her a package with Christmas CD's...! David Archuleta and Michael Buble have been singing to us all week:) Some of the CD's are country Christmas music - gag me! I feel like I'm being tortured and she's loving every minute of it.

One of the Sisters in my district is vegetarian (I don't understand it either Dad...) and we always eat together for dinners. Apparently one of the only dinners Mexican people can think of to make without meat is enchiladas. FIVE NIGHTS IN A ROW. I would be fine never having enchiladas again. haha Sister Magnusson and I decided our 6 pack is just covered by enchiladas...:)

This week we had a couple that just got back from their mission in Chile come down to Columbus with us. We just drove them in our car to save gas and we were able to go visit a lot of people. But as we were getting ready to come back, Sister Magnusson leaned over to me and said, "Sister Stewart, I forgot my license..." I was a little panicked but told her to just drive safely on the way back to Deming and everything would be fine. She leaned over to me again and said, "I'm not worried about getting in an accident or being pulled over. I'm worried because we have to go through Boarder Patrol!" Shoot. BP usually lets us pass without showing our license because we look American but now we had two Mexicans in our car too! I prayed SO hard all the way up to the boarder patrol and I'm pretty sure I got some new ulcers. We pulled up, they had the dog sniff our car, asked us our citizenship and said, "Can I please see your license?" I almost peed my pants. Sister Magnusson reached to pull out her purse and then all of a sudden, the guard said, "You know what, nevermind, you guys are fine. Have a great night." .....HOLY COW! What a miracle! Prayer works!

We are working with a family right now - la familia Barajas - and the mom and four kids are basically members and have been coming to church for over a year. They really want to get baptized but want to wait for the dad to come around and get baptized as a family. The only problem is the dad has never come to church and hasn't wanted much to do with the church. We visited with the mom and kids on Saturday and talked about the blessings of getting baptized and committed them to pray to know if they should set the example for their dad and get baptized. On Sunday, the WHOLE family was at church and stayed the full three hours! Another miracle! Fingers crossed for them!

I'm in love with church in Columbus! Yesterday there were EIGHT people - 4 missionaries, 2 members from Deming and 2 members from the actual town of Columbus. It was literally as big as our family! Church or FHE? I wasn't sure. It reminded me of how the first meetings in the church must have been - Joseph Smith and just a few others. We were few in numbers but the spirit was SO strong. I gave a talk about becoming like Christ and I think I needed it more than the members! Great Sunday:)

There have been some things this week that have been really tough for the members/investigators here. It hurts my heart to see the wickedness of the world and just makes me tighten my grip on the gospel! They can really use your prayers so I'm going to give you a list of them -

Family Vigil

Family Barajas

Rosaura

Salvador

Mary Jo (actually Maria Jesus - why people name girls Jesus and boys Guadalupe will never makes sense to me.)

Family Renteria

Presidente Rico

Sorry that's kind of a long list but I know prayer works and they need so much help. You guys are the best:)

Mom, sorry I forgot the list of things I might need for Christmas at home so I'll send that to you next week. For right now, a pea coat like my last one and some tights might be handy...haha Thanks for everything family. I feel your prayers everyday and could not be more blessed. I love this gospel more and more everyday! Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. The Book of Mormon is true. We are children of God and He loves us in ways words can't describe. The church of Jesus Christ has been restored again on the earth. Share it with others and they, and you, will be blessed. I know it. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Con Amor,

Hermanita Esteward