Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Branch Is Officially Started



Halloween party and all four of the Terry Lake
missionaries dressed up like 50's girls and boys!


Hola hola,

First off Happy Birthday Grandpa!! 95 and still going strong! You are one of my all time heros! Everyone give Grandad a big hug and a smooch for me!

Davis that was such a cool miracle about seeing Carlos on the bus! Your emails make me want to be a better missionary. YOU are the best. Lo mejor ejemplo hermano misionero en todo el mundo!!

This week was incredible! THE BRANCH IS OFFICALLY STARTED! Oh my goodness we saw so many miracles! We had ten less actives at church! We had our first sacrament meeting and it was such an emotional meeting. This branch is a huge answer to prayer for so many of the members here. I can't imagine having to listen to church EVERY week through head phones...and usually a bad translation by the missionaries haha. There is just something about hearing the gospel in your own language (I saw that when I listened to general conference in Spanish and English) Spanish has a special place in my heart but the spirit can touch you in a special way in your first language. We are a tiny branch...even with all the less actives there. But we will grow! So many members came up to us after and told us that they have non member friends that they are going to invite to church! :) Hermana Bejerano gave the closing prayer and in the prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for the branch and with tears said she has waited for this day for a long time. Of course we were all tearing up. haha It was an amazing meeting. Our branch President is Presidente Lister (gringo) and his Spanish is VERY rusty...but it was really cool to see him and reflect back on my greenie days when I spoke little to no spanish. I am so grateful for those days. (I never want to go back to that dark dark place but I wouldn't trade them for the world :) I have no doubt that Presidente Lister will learn his Spanish again very quickly and he will have the gift of tongues.

Our investigator Miguel also came to church! He is sort of an "eternigator". He has been taking the lessons for about a year. He has been dropped and taught several times. We were actually thinking about dropping him again because he would not commit to be baptized and wasn't coming to church. But, in the lesson when we were going to tell him we both felt like we shouldn't. Well, then the branch started. And Angy who is Miguel's girlfriend is now becoming active in the church. Miguel told us that he really wants to participate in this branch, but he has reservations about being baptized...mostly because of some habits he has. So this is what we did. We gave him a paper divided into seven sections, each section a day of the week. Each day had a reading assignment from the Book of Mormon. Each day had a theme, most were the 5 steps in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And last, each day had two boxes. One to check if he had read, and one to check if he had prayed. We gave him this paper and invited him to follow this reading and praying schedule EXACTLY this week. We promised him that at the end of the week if EVERY box was checked then he would feel ready for his baptism. I really feel that the spirit lead us to this assignment and I am so excited to see how it goes for him. Miguel is such a strong person and I know Heavenly Father is preparing him to be a strong priesthood holder for the branch! Keep him in your prayers this week! He is going to get baptized soon :) He makes me miss our other Miguel (who I hear is going to move back to Greeley!!!)  

We also had our Halloween party and all four of the Terry Lake missionaries dressed up like 50's girls...and boys for the elders. haha we had a lot of fun! 

Well love you all so much! Have a great week!
Hermana England

ps. They dissolved the Spanish group in Longmont :( I don't know exactly why but I hear the Spanish members from Longmont are going to Boulder for church. I hope everything is okay and I pray that Arturo and our other members are either staying in the English ward in Longmont or finding a Spanish group to go to. :( I can't believe it.



At the ward party!
So much Fun!



The Asian Tinker Bell is Enya!
Me and Hermana Stratford...



Halloween night!
We had to be in way early
so we got take out and ate at home...


We had to be in by 6:00 :)






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