el 21 de marzo

so, due to last week's inability to send pictures, here are some make up ones! 

This first is my dear Anai and Sofia, all grown up! We ran into them on Friday and it was crazy!

Due to an unsure father, we had to postpone Celeste's baptism to this weekend, and we made a sure and fine commitment with the family a full week in advance so that the same thing would not repeat itself. Saturday 19 March at 4pm, Celeste Jazmin was baptized!

This is Eduardo, a cute Guatemalan, who speaks some fairly good English and loves the gospel. He's received the priesthood and even has a calling pending! 

that is all from last week...

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this week's letter finds us in week two in san juan, with this weekend's exciting news: we had two baptisms and seven investigators in church! (we may have had to attend all three sacrament meetings that occur in this building, but we did it!)

things are going great in the new area, and we are working hard. we have to work to find some new investigators that are going to continue to progress, but we are trying to do it at the same time as lifting church attendance, so we are looking for less active families. work smarter to work harder.

this week, i tried bao. it's a typical meal, green and yellow plantains, hamburger, yuka, and lots of time in a plantain boiler. it wasn't my favorite...

a favorite person this week, would have to be Said. he is the grown man that is shown in the amazing late evening pictures shown below. he was completely changed his life for the gospel, and has so wonderfully progressed. he has completely stopped drinking and smoking, breaking a six year habit in three weeks. he knows the book of mormon is true, and has the courage to leave his families' easter celebrations to be away from the temptations to drink and smoke. please tell me that there is not something to be learned there.

a tender mercy. being a part of celeste's baptism was something of a miracle. she has been faithfully attending church with her older sister and cousin for years, while her parents remained inactive. it was always a rule that daddy had to be the one to baptize her, and she never gave up hope that one day her dad would return to activity and she would be able to be baptized. last weekend we could have had her baptism, but because of satan's tempting powers, we had to postpone it to this weekend. below is the miracle is a picture.

a favorite scripture... 1 peter 5:6-7

::Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.::

the new area is small, and there are a lot of less actives. the ward has about seventy as a normal attendance, and we need lots of reactivating of converts because there has been lots of success baptizing, but then they all move away. my companion has been out in the field for five months and always has crazy new ways to find new investigators. she's from downtown salt lake, and convinced me to have a sleepover last night underneath the stars. i only got bitten four times.

lots of love,

hermana graves