MARICELA WAS BAPTISED SUNDAY!

The comments and or translations in bold blue italics are from Lauren's mom.

Happy, Happy Birthday BRENDEN!!! I hope your day was great!

This has been a busy but a great week! We have been working to serve the members a lot and trying to help them see what missionary work is about, this week no one we've been teaching showed up for church BUT! We have two family home evenings set up for tonight with both of the families that were there last week with different members. We're excited!

Noe and Cynthia are doing well, they have had a few doubts we've been helping them work through, they are so strong!!! They have already seen many blessing from learning more and applying the gospel to their lives, they have become so much more united and there is more peace in their home, I love, love, love seeing changes like that take place!

Maricela got baptized! She is an investigator we were teaching for a long time that we turned over to the Elders because she speaks English well. Right after she was baptized she said that she was so, so, so happy. With tears running down her face she beamed at us. Estoy muy contenta, muy, muy, contenta por ella (translation: I am very happy, very, very happy for her!). She is such a wonderful woman with such a strong testimony.

BRIANDA is going to be baptized this Wednesday. She is also an investigator we were teaching for a long time and turned over to the Elders when she started attending the singles ward. The peace we've seen come into her life is just wonderful! I'll let you know next week how it went.

We went to a funeral this morning of a man in our stake that passed away. So many great things were said about him, he really seemed to be someone who had the spirit with him and loved all he worked with. He was an owner of a restaurant chain here, seems like such a good person. Please keep his family in your prayers, the Moss family.

What a blessing it is to serve the Lord in these days. I find SUCH joy from sharing the gospel with my brothers and sisters and such satisfaction from seeing the change that takes place in their lives as they accept the gospel and learn more about the plan God has for them.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is SIMPLE. We have been sent here to overcome the challenges that accompany mortal life. Tempering our desires, conquering our trials, making mistakes, accomplishing good goals etc. There are so many ways we LEARN... all of this learning is part of this mortal experience God has prepared for us. How great it is to be alive! There is so much progress to be made, so much joy to have, SO many learning experiences available to us.

I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. I’ll let y’all know next week where I’m headed. We find out about transfers Saturday!

Have an awesome week!!!

Hermana Perez