Hola! Well it's been a long week and a half. So much happened.

Not sure where to start! Well we didn't have cambios which wasn't a surprise. This is now only my second transfer here and my companions third so we didn't expect changes. But actually none of the Hermanas in the mission had changes. It was pretty funny. This President just didn't know where to put us because there aren't many options when there's only 20 hermanas in the mission. So he just left us all :) 11 Hermanas are leaving in May and only 1 coming so that will be interesting to see what happens. Then 3 in June I've heard. The first hermanas that have come since I got here!

Eduardo, Araceli and Raymundo got baptized this week!!! Little Dulce Maria turns 7 on Dad's birthday in April so she's still gotta wait a little longer. She is the cutest thing ever though. She remembers everything we teach so well and I am always so amazed by her. She was with us when we were going over the baptism interview questions with Raymundo and answered them all perfectly. Raymundo has a ton of energy so its a little harder for him to pay attention. 

Elder Vail had my camera during all these pictures.... but here ya go!

Friday night we had a ward family night that they went to and Raymundo was running around to everyone announcing that he was going to be baptized tomorrow and inviting them to come! So fun. He volunteered to give the closing prayer at the end of the activity. I heard a couple people behind me like "Uh is someone gonna help him with the prayer?" But he did it just fine. He always loves saying the prayer at our lessons. And always prays for his family because they are a team he says. Then this time with the whole ward he prayed for all the families... because they are teams. It's pretty adorable. Always makes me smile.

We didn't get to the house in time to dress little Dulce Maria with real clothes. She was wearing a pink onesie and the same brown tights shes had on for days... but we were in a hurry. She's cute no matter what :)

At the activity they had us write Valentine's cards with our testimony and give them to someone we didn't know well. Eduardo gave his to Hermana Fowler and she showed it to us. It was really sweet to see his testimony because he doesn't express much. I took a picture of it! But it's in Spanish... :) And kinda hard to read. But it made me really happy.

The baptism went well. We ended up combining it with the zone leaders baptism too because they didn't have water in their chapel. So it was pretty packed which was fun to see so much support :) Two recent converts Alexis and Oscar baptized them which was also super fun to see! Their first baptisms. 

Sunday we got invited to a baptism of an investigator I was teaching in Balbuena, Gerardo!! That was also super fun and rewarding. I was so happy to see him. He was so interested at first but then after we taught word of wisdom he kinda felt like he couldn't keep it and started to hide from us which was really sad. But he got over his drinking and smoking habits and is now excited to share about the church with friends who have similar addictions.

This baptism we were singing at we went to on Sunday in Balbuena because I was teaching him before I left and he asked me to come. He is a brother of our other recent convert there. 

Also I can't forget about our service project this week..... we really wanted Eduardo and his kids to come home after their baptism and be able to feel the Spirit in their house. His been a single dad for the past 4 years since his wife left them and I doubt that the house has been cleaned in all that time. So some of the Elders and the other Hermanas, Bishops daughter and another recent convert all came to help us clean. With all 11 of us working and deep cleaning the one small room that they have, their bathroom and little kitchen... we were able to finish in 5 hours. It was a pretty intense cleaning job. Probably the nastiest thing I've ever done. Found more spiders and roaches than I can count and pretty sure I spent over an hour just on the fridge.The Elders had to buy acid for the bathroom. Bishops family helped us wash a lot of their clothes too which was really nice of them. It was pretty intense. But it turned out really nice and they were so grateful. The kids were so happy when they came home! We had a little lecture afterward about the importance of keeping the house clean so the Spirit can be present. It made me so grateful that I grew up in a clean home with hot running water. So many things we take for granted.

Well that just about sums up the past week and a half. Full of lots of new experiences and adventures. Learning so much here everyday and enjoying every minute of being a servant of the Lord. Love you all! Have a good week! :)

Hermana Rhoten