God Works in Mysterious Ways

Hello family !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                                    

Everything is going really well here in sunny California. If I don't finally get a nice tan here.....I don't think I ever will. As you can tell from the titles...this week was FULL of miracles. It was an AWESOME week!

For starters....my new companion is Hermana Ipson!!! She is really great! She is from Brigham City, UT and she has been out as long as I have. She keeps saying she's never spoken this much Spanish on her mission, and I keep saying 'Bienvenidos a Rialto'. 

 Day 1: 

We left early in the morning to go to Highland to drop Hermana Jimenez off. She was so excited to go to the desert... I was a little nervous to be taking over the area. When Hermana Ipson and I got back we went out to lunch to get to know each other..... Then we had a meeting with the elders. The elders (now just Elder Gore and Juarez) lost their car this transfer and are back on their bikes. Our ward is (was) divided into 3 areas... one for each companionship.....but now there are only 4 of us, with 2 of them on bikes. So.....we are taking over MOST of the ward as well. woohooo! That is why the back of our car looks like a mess....we are trying to organize all the progress records. We were excited for them to give us some investigators....but instead they gave us a lot of 'formers' (former investigators) ....which is fine with me. We worked on setting up appointments for the next week (something I had never done in my mission). We visited A LOT of people! We got home sweaty and exhausted, but ready to start a great transfer. 

 Day 2: We helped a member with her talk for the Friday baptism, taught some member lessons (we teach them the Restoration and have them teach it back to us. It is supposed to help people know how to answer questions about our church SIMPLY). I have realized just how important it is to work through the members. So, we are working with the members....on working with their friends. Even though their friends may not be ready now....we need the members to be there for them when they are ready. That means being their FRIENDS!!! Believe it or not, that is kind of a hard concept sometimes. 

Claudia & Immanuel
(we help him with homework)

We also taught/picked up a new investigator Claudia....the one we always do service for. They are such a great family and are really interested in learning more about Jesus Christ. They are really Catholic....so it will be an interesting experience! We also visited a less-active member and had one of the most powerful lessons on the Book of Mormon. 

We also started working with the Former Investigator piles we had strewn across the backseat of the car. That means a lot of door approaches...which I have found are not that bad. I like making random, awkward conversation. :) That sounded sarcastic, but I am dead serious!

Day 3: We contacted a few formers who were actually interested in having us come back. We scheduled LOTS of appointments! YEAH!!!!!! We were driving around looking for a Former Investigator named Pedro. We pulled up to the house, and I saw a neighbor standing outside. I really wanted to talk to him, but by the time we were out of the car with all of our gear (just scriptures :)) he had already gone inside. BUT....by the time we made it across the street...slowly of course to provide him enough time..... he was back out on the curb. It was perfect timing because in that short amount of time we had suddenly forgotten the name of the person we were going to see. So.....we asked the neighbor and he said he didn't know. But we started up a conversation, and he invited us to come back....and we got his number. His name is Abrahm....and I am WAY excited to go visit them!

Then.... we actually went to the house of the Former..... Pedro. And his brother said he didn't live there anymore. But, we asked if we could come by and visit them, and he was like let me ask my mom. (don't worry he was like 16 so it wasn't awkward). He got his mom and she was SUPER interested! She is worried about her sons because they don't have great friends.... YEAH!!! Her name is Rosario. 

These are only a couple of examples....we visited A LOT of People!!!

Lupis, Vere & Katrina
with Sis Jimenez & me

Day 4: We had a lesson with Lupis and her husband. Then my mind goes blank......I know we visited lots of former investigators though. Then we went to the baptism of Maggie Serabia. 

Day 5:  Sunday!!!! Hermana Ipson bore her testimony, and she did so good! Then Hermana Montez brought a nonmember friend with her to church, Patricia....so we will work with her on that. Then we had planned to go visit one of the young women, so we could talk with her about coming on visits with us. Her boyfriend, who comes to church sometimes, was there. We had a lesson with them and taught them the Restoration (member lesson). We asked them how they knew the Book of Mormon was true. Kimmy bore a POWERFUL testimony, and then her boyfriend said. "I have actually been thinking allot about being baptized, and I think it's right now. I was going to talk to the bishop about it on Tuesday." My jaw dropped........... I knew he wasn't a member.....but WOW! Heavenly father prepares His children!!!!!!!!!!! So Justus is getting baptized on June 27th. Although he speaks pretty much ONLY English, he would like to be baptized into the Spanish ward with his girlfriend. So.....YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had SO MANY miracles this week! Thank you all for your prayers and support!!!!! 

I know that this church is true....I can see from the frontlines the difference the gospel makes in the lives of those who chose to ACT!!!!!

Love to all!!!!!  Hermana Wright 



Happy Un-birthday Party with the Hermana's
(I am multi-tasking...)