Hola mi Familia,

"Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion "THE PURE IN HEART."

It's been a busy good week. We've seen lots of less actives we're working hard to find. A lot of people who haven't come in a long time came to church on Sunday. It was really exciting. Our investigators are all women whose husbands aren't interested...and of course it's the husband's cell phone numbers we have. So it's been hard staying in contact his week. But we're doing our best. We taught 4 lessons yesterday evening and the member that invited us for dinner had a friend that wanted to learn more. I used my Milanesa making skills and when we told her about the Book of Mormon she said, "God loves all His children...that makes sense." Amen hermana! It's so nice when things click without extensive teaching. That made my heart happy.

I'm getting chubby (gordita) in this ward. And there's a ton of Dominicans. I highly recommend fried plantains. So Lisa, they want to know what wards you served in and when and I'm going to need more journal entries :-) They thought it was funny I knew a little about huelgas and tigres. They're some of our most active members. One said when he first saw missionaries in the 70s he thought they were CIA agents.I can't think of any knock down drag out spiritual experiences this week to share. I've taken a lot of good little families on tour. I like teaching kids now. I didn't used to, because it's more of an adult tour. But it really is more fun when you play games with kids and get to think out of the box a little bit. This weeks creation is "Sister Missionary Says." It's gone over pretty well. I put the kids in the play cabin (similar in function to the toy room) at the end and lay the history and dates and names and places of interest on the adults. Most of the kids end up realizing that "Zion" means obeying commandments and being nice to each other. And my most common Preach My Gospel/Missionary commitment/challenge for them at the end of the tour is to not hit each other for a whole week, so they can have "Zion" in their mini-van. I wish I could follow up.

We had interviews with President and Sister Van Komen last week. They work so hard. They had only eaten a brownie each the whole day and refused to cut interviews short. They were so nice and so excited just to meet everyone. We went and got them lunch, brought it back to the stake center after our interviews and made them eat it. Greenies don't know the importance of HALT (hungry angry lonely tired). You gotta stop and take care of yourself sometimes. Their kids are all adopted and their daughter is a ski patrol rescue person who detonates avalanches and the dogs have to come find her in the snow sometimes. She jumps out of helicopters! Coooool, huh? We're going to hang out next winter.

One thing that was kind of hard this week is there's a golden family who can't get baptized, because they would have to return to Mexico to get divorces from their previous spouses to completely live the Law of Chastity. But they've been encountering other obstacles too, and the husband said he wasn't coming to church anymore for personal reasons. He's been more active that most members. And after that lesson I walked out of the house feeling like I lost of friend in battle. It's hard to explain. But the Gospel is urgent. We went straight to another appointment with other investigators and I testified that they NEEDED to read and NEEDED to pray and seek a testimony and COME to church. Because the war that was in heaven between good and evil is Here. Now. I hate casualites. But it reminds me this is important. Moreso than anything else.

Family, I love ya. Keep doing all the good you do. And recognize differences and made that you don't see. "Love endureth by dilligence..." (Moroni 8:26). Thank you.

Con carino,

Hna Deb