She Said Yes!!!

The "Mexicans" (the group I came in with from Mexico City)

Hey there!  Once again, a very busy week for the Sioux City 3rd
Spanish Branch #2 Elders (that's quite the title, right?).  We had a
lot to do this week.  Lots of people to visit, lots of meetings to go
to, and lots of cool experiences.  Over all, a pretty great week.
Here's a few of the highlights:

Spanish Conference

Spanish Conference!
Easily my favorite meeting that we have here in NOM.  Every  other
transfer, all the Spanish missionaries meet up in Omaha to receive
inspiration, trainings, and overall just have a good time and its all
in Spanish.  There's only 30 us so its not too big.  Lots has
definitely changed since my first Spanish conference.  I understood
everything this time and was able to communicate my own thoughts and
participate more as well.  I'm definitely happy to be a part of this
group.  Spanish missionaries are so much more fun.  I'd be happy to be
companions with any one of them.

Sister Weston took this pic of 2 happy
 missionaries at the Spanish Conference.

Martha!
This week with Martha, we decided it would be a fantastic idea to talk
about Baptism over again.  Let me tell you a little more about Martha
than you may already know.  She's easily one of my favorite
investigators because she loves us so much.  She also already has a
SUPER strong testimony of the truthfulness of the things we teach her
and even defends them against her super Catholic uncle who came to
stay the week with her!  Cool, right?  So this week we went into our
lesson and were talking about what her deepest desire really is and
while she was talking a scripture came to my mind that I'd read in
Personal Study that morning.  Its in Mosiah 18:8-10 and says:

 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the
waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are
desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people,
and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;
 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and
comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses
of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may
be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be
numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have
eternal life--
 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what
have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness
before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will
serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit
more abundantly upon you?

She read that and just sat thinking for a moment and then I asked,
"Martha, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptised
by someone who holds the authority of the Priesthood of God?"
and SHE SAID YES!!!   We've got her scheduled for the 26th of April
and we couldn't be more excited.


Ramone
So here in the NOM, when a companionship has no Zeros in their key
indicators (except in the Baptism and Referrals categories) they're
known as a Star Companionship.  Its cheezy but we like it.  This week,
since Elder Juan and I were able to schedule Martha with a baptism
date and since we also had an investigator attend Sacrament Meeting,
all we needed to be a cheezy Star Companionship was a New
Investigator.  We had no idea where we going to find him.  We set it
as a goal, prayed for help and guidance and then went to go try all
the Potential New Investigators that we had in our planners.  NONE OF
THEM WERE HOME.... So as we were driving to go try one more, a little
girl ran out in the middle of the street.  I slammed on the brakes
while a woman ran out and grabbed the girl.  With the car stopped we
rolled down the window to talk to them and realized it was one of our
members!  She said, "Elders come in!" so we parked the car and walked
inside her less-active sister's house to visit them.  When we walked
in, we saw a man we didn't know who said, "Oh good.  If we're going to
talk, I'm going to put my burrito away."  Hispanics NEVER put their
burrito away unless its serious so we knew it was going to be good.
We started to talk to him and he brought up tons of questions that he
has like "Why are there so many churches? " "What happens when I die?"
and other questions that we have the answers to!  He was so excited!
We taught him a little, set up a return appointment, said a prayer and
went home for the night.  Do you know what that means?!  Yes, Elder
Juan and I are the cheezy Star Companionship for the week.  Boo yah.

"Transfer Prophecies" AKA Two Elders bored in Weekly Planning

Thats really all for the news this week.  In other news, Transfers are
this week and Elder Juan are pretty confident we're getting split.  I
think I'll be staying in Sioux City but we have no idea until Thursday
morning.

I love you! Hope you had a great week!

Lots of love,
Elder Zack

PS Drawing Lehi's dream on a tiny whiteboard for the old less actives
that we read with may have made things more confusing for them... but
it was super fun for me!

"Lehi's Dream"??