Mejor Tiempo del Ano!

Hola familia! 

Como estan?! I love the holiday season!! It is filled with such a special peace! So I know you all are wanting to know what happened Thanksgiving day! So first off we woke up early got some stuff done in the house studied and then we went and played futbol! (soccer) with the 2 spanish congregations over here. It was really fun and I even scored a goal :) I love playing sports and using a small portion of my competitive side haha. After that we went and delivered a turkey to Vicky's family but we were wanting to surprise here so we didn't call before. Her building is a lock out so we probably walked around the building for 15 minutes in 5 degrees because she wasn't answering her phone! But finally her little girls came and opened the door. They were very grateful :) After that we got ready to go and cook for a less active/part member family! We cooked mashed potatoes and gravy..which I messed up a little and a nuts about berries salad and rolls! Heidi the wife of Less active member Alex made pasole and it was a very different and humble thanksgiving meal but I have never been more grateful I think before in my life. It was super fun cooking and then after that we went to our second families house the Rodriguez's. I LOVE that family. Angela and Oliver always run up to us and give us hugs screaming HERMANAS!!! Its so cute. Hermana Erika made a pavo-turkey and some other food and it was great we stuffed ourselves again. Then we had tres leches cake for dannies birthday their daughter :) One of the best Thanksgivings by far. I will never forget it!!! Hermana Hougaard and I are trying to keep up our gratitude and each morning first thing we do is we say 10 things we are grateful for. You should all try it at least for a week and seek how much happier you are in the day.

This week we had an amazing lesson with Manuel Rodriguez. The dad of our favorite family. We were able to help him understand his role as a father figure and the support he needs to be giving to his family. They are all members and he is hanging on to things of the world, that temporary happiness. Hermana Erika bore very powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and they are going to start reading it daily as a family. He is praying about a baptismal date. I want this family to have the blessings of the priesthood so bad!!

Heavenly Father never fails to amaze me with his timing. I sometimes get impatient or want things to happen in my own timing but I continue to learn how explicitly better his timing is. We had an appointment set up with a member coming and everything this week and about 40 minutes before, our investigator canceled. We were pretty disappointed but we kept going with our plan. We talked to this young lady as she was leaving an apartment building. We stayed inside for a few more minutes because we had some calls to make. All of the sudden she walked back in through the back and came up and asked us what we were doing. We started to talk and taught her the restoration! Her name is Takhari and unfortunately we cant teach her cause she speaks English...(yes I am only teaching spanish now and speak it all day everyday dad! :)) but she accepted a baptismal date and is very prepared. The english sisters will teach her. I am so so so excited for her. She said I just felt like I needed to come back in and stop what I was doing. If we wouldn't have been in that building and at our other appointment we wouldn't have found her. I love the tender mercies of the Lord and the opportunity to be an instrument. I am learning I am just the instrument. If I do just that I will help Heavenly Father in his plan. That's what I want!!

One last awesome story. So this morning at 5:30 we went to wash our clothes and a homeless man was sleeping inside. Our laundry soap had frozen so we were buying some there and her offered to give us some of his! So we used it and started talking. We actually were able to teach him about the restoration right then and there at 6:00 am! We were able to give him a gift card for food and hopefully some more joy this Christmas season. If we constantly open our mouth and share what brings us peace God will bless us with more opportunities to bring forth the Gospel. The cool thing is you can all do that too. With the new he is the gift initiative you can all show it to those you love. Never wait to share happiness with others because you never know when you will get the opportunity back.

Well I love you!! I hope you have a great week!!

xoxox
Hermana Pentelute