He did it!

Doesn't get better than this :)

Enrique is next! He thinks he will be ready by February

Friends and Family,

We had a good last week of the year with lots of exciting happenings to reign in 2013. Angel was baptized yesterday! He asked Richard to baptize him so it was a new experience for both of them and the spirit was powerful. Sister Jones was able to come back for the baptism and she spoke about the Holy Ghost and we did a musical number. Angel has had a light about him since we met him, but I have truly witnessed it increasing as he has prepared for this day and yesterday he was beaming. His brother Enrique saw how happy he was and said after that he wants to be baptized as well. He has a few more things getting in the way than Angel had, but we are looking forward to working with him more and hopefully their sister Tatiana. Some members of our ward brought non-members as well. They don't live in our area boundaries, but I was able to give one of them a Book of Mormon with my testimony in it and we will be sure to do everything we can to connect her with the missionaries.  Here's the best news! I am so close to having Angel convinced to go to college at BYU-Idaho! No. Big. Thang!! 

This week has been a stressful one full of baptism preparations and getting ready for multiple Christmas programs, one of which Sister Jones and I were in charge of. It's been a unique month and now we will be scrambling to find new people to teach and get back to our regular proselyting/V.C. schedule. We have one more program to put on tonight and we haven't even really planned for it. I feel fine about using things from past zone conferences and firesides though if I'm being honest. We have enough talented sisters to throw something together. 

I received some other exciting news yesterday in the call center at the V.C. I was calling a woman named Emma who we took on a tour back in October. She came in with her less active husband on their honeymoon and we showed her around the Visitors' Center and taught her the Restoration. At the end she said she would like to meet with missionaries where she lives in Oregon and then came back an hour later to bring us cupcakes and thank us. Best tour ever right?! Anyway, I sent her information through and have talked to her a few times over the phone throughout the process and encouraged her. When I got ahold of her yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she was baptized last week in her branch in (Dad will appreciate this) Klamath Falls! I told sister Jones the exciting news and she exclaimed, "The Visitors' Center is a real place!" Ha ha which I think just means that she has a testimony of it's purpose. Me too! 

We had the pleasure of having dinner with Richard and his family twice this week. Once on Christmas day and then again on the 29 for Obundanzah! No Idea how to spell that, but it means "abundance" in Italian. Both were feasts and while Richard is not actually Italian, he is very proud of his New York upbringing not to mention cooking. It was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoy spending time there and while Richard is 100% my family now, Janet and their children/grandchildren are beginning to feel like family as well. The dinner table conversations remind me a lot of our family's for the weekly Sunday dinner, although at times a little more worldly. It was pretty entertaining to listen to John (Richard's son) educate sister Schiel about alcohol and ask us questions like "Why don't Mormons have a rum springa like the Amish? Shouldn't you be able to have at least a day to try out everything you're not aloud to do?" Sister Schiel had a great answer about how it would be disrespectful because Christ suffered for all of those sins we would be committing. He seemed to accept her answer and the conversation moved to everyone's mutual disgust concerning neck beards. Ha ha I seriously love them so much.   

We had one other miracle this week that I think is worth mentioning. A man came into the Visitors' Center this week saying that he had been inactive most of his life and that he wanted to come back. He ended up being in our ward boundaries so we started teaching him this week. He came to church as well as Angel's baptism and seemed to really enjoy both. He is divorced, but his 11 year old son was with him for the break so we're hoping that a seed has been planted within him before he heads back to New York to be with his mom. So, pray for Brother Pinto, and Nicolas!

Gotta run. Love you all! Always :)

Sister Davis