Hi!

We had a baptism yesterday! (not in our ward...but) It was really exciting and we had taught George the second discussion, because an older lady from our ward brought him to church the first time. She's awesome and it's so cute that this kind Samoan grannie has pretty much as adopted this skinny white guy, who has never had a family before, as her own son. We brought an investigator from another ward, who just happened to be at the visitor center as we were leaving to go to the baptism. She wanted to come along, since she's been reading the Book of Mormon and considering taking these steps herself. You could tell she really felt the Spirit. It was a great teaching opportunity as she asked us for a play by play as to what happens at a baptism/confirmation.

After he was baptized and confirmed a member, he went and bore his testimony of Jesus Christ, the Church and missionary work. He's gonna be an awesome missionary. I'm so happy for him.

This week has been busy. We had Zone Conference yesterday. It was my companion's first one. We focused on contacting referrals. Get em while they're hot. We went into the conference that morning and it was about 60 f. We came out and it was blizzarding. Fun fun fun.

They also challenge us to read the Book of Mormon, going through and marking the Book of Mormon with Our Purpose, so : To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through FAITH in Jesus Christ and His ATONEMENT, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, receiving the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST and ENDURING TO THE END. So each capitalized thing would be a different color. I'm going to do it and also on the side of each page, put the question of the soul that was answered
somewhere on that page. Like, “Why do I need the Book of Mormon?” “How can I be happy?” “What's the purpose of this life?” “Why are there so many churches?” “Does God have one truth?” “How can I keep my family close and happy?” “What should I teach my kids?”. Just a few examples. But this is stuff people really care about and all those answers can be found in the Book of Mormon if we just read it with the Spirit. It's great and I think it will help whoever I give that book to. I have never had an experience, where I seriously delved into the Book of Mormon looking for the answer to a question...and not found it. It's always been
there. “Why should I go on a mission?” “How can I overcome a temptation I'm having?” “How can I help this person I'm worried about?” I have ALWAYS found my answer. And I'm so grateful for that. That's why I'm here.

We've only taught one investigator this week, thus far. Find, find, find. It's what I do here. We're working with the members to have the do the finding for us, but it hasn't worked out yet. Well, it worked with George...but it hasn't worked out in our ward boundaries, yet. So, we met Fernando at a Mexican restaurant. He just arrived from Mexico, so he barely espika de eenglish, but he wanted to learn. We use that as a finding tool. We went to his house and worked with him on his pronunciation then sang Families Can Be Together Forever and taught that principle. He had just shown us pictures of his 3 beautiful little girls he left behind. Then briefly explained the Book of Mormon and promised it would help him learn English faster if he read it. We gave him a copy in English and Spanish, so he could do the Elder Groberg thing. Then we taught him to pray in English and committed him to do that every night. Hopefully, he'll get curious about what he's learning and start asking questions. For now it's great for my companion, since he corrects her Spanish as she corrects his English. She's doing good and trying hard to learn.

I've been getting lots of mail. Thank you! Christian getting old! He's losing the baby fat on his face and he can write!!! He couldn't do that before I left could he? That's craziness! Madison and Ava both look like mini's of their moms. Except not so mini anymore. Okay, that's it. I'm putting my foot down. All you all stop growing up right NOW. NO getting taller. NO getting smarter than me. and definitely NO growing up and making me feel old. Just distribute that declaration around will
you? Thanks.

I love you all and I appreciate the letters and if you haven't written me one, Fakatomala! You can look up what that means in my last email. I love my family. Amigos...te quiero mucho.

Hermana Deb