Taco-bout the Gospel: 4 Check Marks in Heaven

HELLO LOVELY PEOPLE!

Wow what a fantastic week!! It seriously was THE best. I'm just grinning from ear to ear writing this email. Let's just say this entire email will be about one family. The Cruz Family. the best family.

We started the week out normally. We had to finish all of the lessons with the Cruz fam. It might have looked like we were powering through all of the topics but you do whatcha gotta do sometimes. But in reality they don't have that hard of a time understanding the material so its all good!

In the following days it was all about the preparation for the baptism. Interview practice, the

The Cruz Family

interview, and the actual baptism! First, the interview practice. I've said it before but I'll say it again. The interview practice is my favorite lesson. The spirit is so strong and you can really see how they have grown spiritually and how they have changed. The best is when they are explaining the "why" such as "do you believe that God is our loving heavenly father and that Jesus Christ is the son of Go and savior of the world" and they said with certainty "YES because...." and we know it's the true testimony of their hearts. The only bummer deal was that the dad wasn't there...and we know hes the one that takes a little longer to understand,

Fast forward to the actual interview. Because there was 4 of them, the zone leaders came to help out our district leader. Talk about more nerves! I felt sooo nervous. You never know how the interview will go. so they were all in process. The mom Leonila and her husband Isidro had a little tiff before the interview. Add on more to me nervousness. And then Hermano Isidro was in the interview for like an hour. MORE nerves. But when everyone got done, we got the 2 thumbs up that they were all good to go! SCORE! we decided to celebrate and buy some delish tacos.

Best Day Ever!

Then the baptism. OH HOW LOVELY! It was so great. there were lots of members there to support us. i felt the spirit so strong. And then after the baptism (which went soooo smoothly) they each bore their testimony. wow. the son and dad were emotional. So cute. The best was when Hno Isidro (the dad) gave his testimony and said "I know this church is true" okay everyone. why was that so cool? only because he NEVER said that during these past 6 weeks of teaching him. I began to doubt honestly that he was ready to be baptized but HE WAS READY! I just needed to have more trust in the lord and in this Hermano. I LOVE THE CRUZ FAM!!

Okay also, this week we met the new mission president. I'm going to miss President Egbert. It might have seemed like he was strict (I thought so too in the beginning) but he has helped me change. He was loving in everything he did and never gave up on us. A true representative of Christ. Shout out to them. love them sooo much. Anyway, President Kimball and Hermana Kimball are great too. they have left a lot of family behind to be here. He has been a bishop 3 times. once in a family ward and the other in 2 YSA wards. They are suepr extremists. have ran 100 mile races and he has done the iron man race a ton. they sure know how to live the word of wisdom haha. but all in all I'm excited to see what happens in these following months.

And last of all, we've been having 2 investigators attending church that aren't in our area. with time and some confusion later, we are now teaching them and preparing them to be baptized the end of this month. WOOOO PROGRESS!!!

I love being a missionary. I love doing the lrods work. I KNOW this church is true. I don't need to write lengthy paragraph to say the simple truth. This is the true restored gospel of Christ,. What a privilege it is to share it every moment as a Representative of Christ.

Have a great week everyone! love you all!

PS HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!! GO AMERICA!

Hermana Cross