Two Sister Missionaries Walking The Streets Of Valencia, Late At Night Carrying A Huge Picture Of Christ

Hello friends and family!! Another week has come and gone out here in Valencia, and not going to lie, it was a pretty good week. So last week I definitely forgot to mention that I had a baptism set up, and guess what??? I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM!!! It was so great!!! His name is Richard, and he is from Ghana. OH my goodness, he has been a golden investigator! We found him and he was just so ready to hear and learn about the Gospel. He was a firm believer of the bible, and the fact that we had another book comparable to the bible was like gold to him. He is precious. You should see the Book of Mormon we gave him, it is all marked up, highlighted and full of notes. He has been coming to church with us and asking questions and doing everything that he could to prepare himself for his baptism. It couldn't have come soon enough for the guy. He was baptized Saturday and then Sunday he was confirmed, and received the priesthood, AND he was given a calling. He is now helping teach the Gospel Doctrine class!! Ahh he is just so amazing. He has such a strong testimony, he is going to move the work forward out here in Valencia. Needless to say, my first baptism couldn't have been more perfect. 

Last night I had a pretty cool experience as well. We had a few citas fire on us so basically from the time church got out until it was time to go home for the night, we were contacting in the streets and finding apartments to go door knocking on. It was a jolly good time!! Anyway, my wonderful companion and I decided to do a quick pass by with  recent convert and take her this huge picture of Christ that she has been wanting. So yes, two sister missionaries are walking the streets of Valencia, late at night carrying a huge picture of Christ... picture perfect. Anyway, we saw a family walking towards us on the street, it was a mom, dad, and a 6 year old girl. I nudged my companion and told her that we had to talk to them. So we approached them and in my broken Spanish I told them that we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ and asked if we could share a message with them. The parents were quick to turn us down but the little girl ran up to me and told me she wanted to hear my message. Oh my goodness, she was ADORABLE! I squatted down, showed her my jumbo picture of Christ and asked her if she knew who it was a picture of. She excitedly replied that it was her brother. I about died, she was so cute. So I gave her the quick speal about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are his children, and that God loves her so much and that he knows who she is. The little girl started cheering and she threw her arms around me saying dios me ama!!!  It was so cute!!!! Her parents were a little startled but asked if we had a card or anything with more information on it, so we pulled out a pass along for them to have, and then they went on their way. I was just so happy that I had the opportunity to share a simple message with a little girl, and by the girls response we were able to catch the attention of her parents. I just love being a missionary. 

Last but not least I can finish with a funny story. Lucky for me, I haven´t had to eat anything too out of the ordinary. Which I am counting my blessing for seeing as members feed us all the time. But this last week we ate at a cute members house and she made delicious meal for us, and to finish she brought us out our own salads. Now the salad looked delicious, except for the fact that it looked as if she had cut up 5 tomatoes alone and put them in my salad. Big ol chunks of tomatoes covering my salad... well I put on my big girl pants and choked quite a bit of them down. It was rough, there were just SO many!!! I finally looked at Sister Gillette and desperately whispered that I couldn't eat any more tomatoes. She told me to toss some on her plate the next time she left the room. Well then the sisters two sons and husband came home and joined us, so I was getting desperate. She got up and left and her husband went to sit behind us on the couch with his sick daughter, so I took my chance to rid my plate of tomatoes. I tried to softly flick some tomatoes onto my comps plate but apparently I don't know my own strength. I launched a tomato a good 4 feet into the air and it soared right onto my companions lap. And to make the situation worse, her boys saw it all happen AND Toni, the lady feeding us, walked back into the room right as the tomato was making its decent into my companions lap. Good thing no one took offence to it and we all had a nice laugh about it. Hahah it was so funny and I didn't end up having to eat the tomatoes at all!!  It was a funny miracle...

Well that's all I have for this past week but I am working hard, teaching as many people as I can find. We have another baptism set up for this Saturday... pray that it goes according to plan, because this guy is another miracle investigator who the Lord prepared for us to teach!!!

Love you all,

Hermana Stilson