A visit from Elder Cook

Hey family, Well i have a little more time to write today haha. im sorry about last week but ya there wasnt anything i could do. I still dont have a ton of time so i dont think i will have time to send pictures because i would rather spend more time writing. but i promise in one of these days i will send some pictures. Welp this week has been a little dificult. Im still happy, but just disappointments of missionary work. Ill start off with Eloisa and Marcos. In regards to my subject line, you could say im heartbroken. The last email i didnt have time to explain but Eloisa the last week finally received a really strong answer that she needed to be baptized. Originally she said after her husband she would be baptized, but after we said a prayer she was crying and said she wanted to be baptized the same day as him. And all was amazing and happy and great. Then later in the week was when we found out that they werent actually married. They have been living together for like 28 years or something...so we began to talk to them about getting married and how we could prepare everything and we taught the law of chastity and everything. Then this past week weve been trying to see how they feel about it. Even though they hadnt decided to get married still they had their baptismal interviews because other than marriage they are ready. our district leader told us in her interview eloisa said she wanted to get married. But its Marcos who doesnt. He had a bad marriage when he was young and for whatever reason he is scared or has fear. And basically thats it. Eloisa wont really say it out loud to him that she wants to get married because he has fear and doesnt want to. It is literally so heartbreaking. We have talked to them about the blessing of marriage and everything and one of the things that is so sad is i can tell that satan is attacking him. Marcos struggled with depression in the past but ever since we have taught him he said he has had less depression and normally when we taught him he was so happy and making funny comments and super interested and positive, but every time we have talked about marriage there is just something different in his eyes and i can tell satan is attacking. The hardest part is there is literally nothing else we can do. They have had all of the lessons and its their decision now. This week i learned a lot about how our Heavenly Father feels when we make bad decision. Part of the Plan of Salvation is our free agency to choose. But it is heartbreaking. Sunday they didnt come to church either. They have meant so much to me, and only im praying for a miracle that marcos can feel something in his heart to tell him he can do it. Probably what makes me the most mad is nothing in their lives is going to change other than more blessings. Its one signiture that they need and their married and be baptized. Supposedly their baptism is this week...but doesnt look like it is going to happen. David Calderon didnt go to church this week because Albas mom is in the hospital because she has cancer and they had to go to santa ana on sunday. He still doesnt want to put a date for baptism because he doesnt want to say yes and then later have to tell us no if he isnt ready. But i know he is going to be baptized, he wants to and he always says he knows the church is true and all, just have to be patient with him. We are working with him to read the book of mormon more because he is always busy. But ill keep you updated with him. We also had an 18 year old who is friends with all the young men who has gone to church 3 times now and all of the activities for seminary and mutual. But the thing is he only goes to church to be with his friends. We tried teaching him a few times, but on sunday we had a lesson with him and he doesnt want to change his life or repent or read or pray...so yeah we arent really going to keep teaching him. Also Roberto who has the problems with drinking and the word of wisdom went to church again this week which is a miracle whenever he goes. Its really hard for him to give up his work on sunday to go to church, but slowly but surely he is making the efforts. He REALLY wants to change his life and he believes in everything. I have never heard prayers more sincere than his. I hope that we can see a miracle in his life and help him overcome his addictions and trials. Those are basically are main investigators. We have a few other new investigators this week im excited about who are really positive. But ill tell you about them later. This week we had the conference with Elder Cook on thursday and it was amazing!! Wow the spirit with him in the room was just great. Also it was amazing to be with all of the other missionaries from El Salvador. I saw lots from springville! I saw hermana ashlee ontiveros (michelles old roommate) and also Elder Payton Thorpe and Elder Alex Tarin and his companion is also from springvile Elder Bertelsen. It was good to talk to peeps from springville for a little. We didnt have hardly any time to talk to people but it was fun. Also I saw some people from the CCM like our roommates. It was awesome. Elder Cook talked a lot about how we are here for a reason and if any of us think that we would be better in some other place we are wrong. He talked about the hastening of the work and i dont know it was just so powerful to hear his testimony and also the blessing he left with us as missionaries. It was a really inspiring meeting and im so grateful for the opportunity I had to be there. Well this is the last week before cambios. Next wednesday we will probably have cambios. Haha again it is really really really likely we will have changes, but well see. I dont think ill know next monday but maybe ill know just depends. Im hoping I can see some miracles this week. I know the Lord is with me here and I am so grateful to be here. Also im so thankful for your prayers and also for all of the letters i have recieved, it means so much to me to receive letters even if it is just the christmas letters from all the family. Sounds like all is good at home and I always pray that it stays that way. Love you all so much! Hermana groneman

Short week

Well another week has come and gone. I feel like i dont even know what to say haha. This letter might be a little short (we got here 20 minutes late....yeah im pretty frustrated) so i dont have time to write much. So I feel like we are having more success in our area and im starting to understand how to continually have success. We have this thing called 8 semanas planning and it helps us to plan for all of our investigators. Too often missionaries just focus on certan investigators for a long time and then when they get baptized they have no one to work with because they only focused in them. But its important to think of every investigator in their different stages of progression. So this week we have ran into a few challenges with our investigators but that is just how it is. First of all at church this week we had David Calderon (Albas husband), Melyn y Moris (youth who are just waiting for permission for baptism from their mom), and a new investigator Nielson. Sadly Eloisa and Marcos didnt come. We passed for them in the morning and they were going to go. They live pretty far from the church so my companion told them to try and make sure they caught the bus early so they wouldnt be late, so i guess they werent ready on time so they didnt feel like they should go late. What a mistake it was for us to tell them that. But to start with Eloisa and Marcos....Eloisa this week we had a really special experience when she received her answer that she needed to be baptized the same day as her husband. but then later in the week all was well and they are preparing for baptism.....we were teaching the commandments and we found out they arent married. We had asked that many time before and they said they were married...but i guess they arent. Marcos has a lot of fears to get married....so right now we are kind of in the middle of that. They are still preparing for baptism ...so yeah ill keep you updated. AHH i have so many details because we had some really spiritual experiences and i want to tell you but i dont have time. This week was really good. and i love you all so much. ill try to catch you up more next week but i really only had like 10 min to write. i love you all so much and ill talk to you next week! Hermana Groneman

Fast Week

This week went super fast again. Its crazy how fast the weeks go. I feel like I dont remember much from the beginning of the week...I dont know it just went by so quickly. Hermana Estevez was a little sick for a few days this week. Basically everyone here has gripe but she is feeling better now. But we had a day or two where we werent really working. I went on splits with some ward members and with another hermana from the other area while she was sick. Kind of hard to go on splits with members because they sometimes dont know completely how to work or they like to talk a lot with the investigadores. But it was fine. Also every thursday we have what is called Noche de Hermanamiento and this thursday we were in charge. But hermana estevez was sick, so i had to lead the activity solo because i was on splits with the members. We just had a small activity talking about goals for 2014. Most of the members i felt like just stared at me...it was kind of disappointing when i was trying to get them excited and such but i felt like they all didnt really want to be there...but whatever. On Saturday we had intercambios with the sister training leaders. I stayed in the area and hna estevez went to the other area and Hermana Rodriguez came with me. It was a really good experience for me to lead the area. We worked super hard and it was good for my confidence to grow that I can lead an area. Also it made me feel good to know that i know enough spanish, sometimes with hermana estevez i worry that i dont know enough spanish because if i dont understand something she helps me with it, but this day on intercambios i was with hna rodriguez and she doesnt know hardly any english and i did fine. So that was good. I learned a lot during intercambios and it was a good experience. Then yesterday at church was super amazing. We had 6 investigators at church and it was a great meeting. Eloisa and Marcos came. They are progressing and Marcos says he has a testimony of the book of mormon. They only say they need more time to feel more sure about baptism. Marcos is more positive then Eloisa but I know that both of them are going to be baptized. I just dont know when. Marcos is so smart and he loves to read which is great. We are just going to keep working with them. This week we are going to start teaching them the commandments. Also at church was this investigator named Roberto. I have only taught/visited him maybe 2 times. He has received the missionaries for a long long time now. He knows the book of mormon is true and everything. The only problem is he works on sundays. He sells food in the streets and that is the reason he hasnt been baptized is he wont give up his work on sunday to go the church. He doesnt have enough faith that he will be blessed if he goes to church on sunday. Also he has problems with drinking when he has problems in his life. When we have visited him he says he want to go to the church, and he prays for the strength to have faith to go to the church and not work, but then he never goes. But saturday we visited him and had a similar experience. But we put him in part of our fast and it really was a miracle that he came to the church. He wasnt there at first, but during the sacrament i was just praying in my heart he would come late, and at the end of the sacrament he walked in, also one of the ward members shared their testimony and mentioned him specifically that he was going to be so blessed for being here today in the church. Really the missionaries have been trying for so so so long for him to come just once to the church. Hopefully we can continue working with him. Also David Calderon (Albas husband) came to the church! We have been inviting him everyweek and he always says he is going to come, but then never does. But this week we had more formal visits with him and he said he would come and Alba told us she would make sure he would come. It was so neat to see them in the church as a family. And probably most especial of all, was Alba shared her testimony. Never have I heard a more powerful testimony in my life. Wow. First of all she talked about how grateful she was for us and our love for her and our patience with her when she was deciding to be baptized (which was great for Eloisa and Marcos). It really made me realize that I am making a difference here, even if sometimes I dont feel like it because of my spanish, but it made me realize people really can feel my love for them. Also she shared her experience of when she decided to be baptized and her baptism. She talked about when we had the lesson with her in the chapel and everything. She also talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is for her to read and study every day even if its just a little. Right now her mom is sick so she has been really busy taking care of her, but she said how important it was for her to find time to read for just 5 mins every day. Then at the very end she talked about how much it meant to her to have her husband here with her at church and talked a lot about that. It was neat enough that she got up to share her testimony, and then how powerful her testimony was...wow. Never will I forget her testimony yesterday. Its also so neat to see, because at first she was really shy to share her testimony or she didnt really have confidence to invite her husband but now its different. Also we had a noche de hogar (family home evening) with them on monday and one of her goals was to go to the temple to baptisms (which was one of her doubts originally before she was baptized). I really hope we can continue growing on this success we have had. That was basically the highlights of this week. Hopefully I can continue to have another good week. Im glad you got my letters for christmas. I couldnt find any gloves still...but whatever. Sounds like everything is going good at home starting off this new year. Love you all so much! Hermana Groneman

1st Week of the New Year

This week went super fast again. Its crazy how fast the weeks go.

I feel like I dont remember much from the beginning of the week...I dont know it just went by so quickly. Hermana Estevez was a little sick for a few days this week. Basically everyone here has gripe but she is feeling better now. But we had a day or two where we werent really working. I went on splits with some ward members and with another hermana from the other area while she was sick. Kind of hard to go on splits with members because they sometimes dont know completely how to work or they like to talk a lot with the investigadores. But it was fine. Also every thursday we have what is called Noche de Hermanamiento and this thursday we were in charge. But hermana estevez was sick, so i had to lead the activity solo because i was on splits with the members. We just had a small activity talking about goals for 2014. Most of the members i felt like just stared at me...it was kind of disappointing when i was trying to get them excited and such but i felt like they all didnt really want to be there...but whatever.

On Saturday we had intercambios with the sister training leaders. I stayed in the area and hna estevez went to the other area and Hermana Rodriguez came with me. It was a really good experience for me to lead the area. We worked super hard and it was good for my confidence to grow that I can lead an area. Also it made me feel good to know that i know enough spanish, sometimes with hermana estevez i worry that i dont know enough spanish because if i dont understand something she helps me with it, but this day on intercambios i was with hna rodriguez and she doesnt know hardly any english and i did fine. So that was good. I learned a lot during intercambios and it was a good experience.

Then yesterday at church was super amazing. We had 6 investigators at church and it was a great meeting. Eloisa and Marcos came. They are progressing and Marcos says he has a testimony of the book of mormon. They only say they need more time to feel more sure about baptism. Marcos is more positive then Eloisa but I know that both of them are going to be baptized. I just dont know when. Marcos is so smart and he loves to read which is great. We are just going to keep working with them. This week we are going to start teaching them the commandments. Also at church was this investigator named Roberto. I have only taught/visited him maybe 2 times. He has received the missionaries for a long long time now. He knows the book of mormon is true and everything. The only problem is he works on sundays. He sells food in the streets and that is the reason he hasnt been baptized is he wont give up his work on sunday to go the church. He doesnt have enough faith that he will be blessed if he goes to church on sunday. Also he has problems with drinking when he has problems in his life. When we have visited him he says he want to go to the church, and he prays for the strength to have faith to go to the church and not work, but then he never goes. But saturday we visited him and had a similar experience. But we put him in part of our fast and it really was a miracle that he came to the church. He wasnt there at first, but during the sacrament i was just praying in my heart he would come late, and at the end of the sacrament he walked in, also one of the ward members shared their testimony and mentioned him specifically that he was going to be so blessed for being here today in the church. Really the missionaries have been trying for so so so long for him to come just once to the church. Hopefully we can continue working with him. Also David Calderon (Albas husband) came to the church! We have been inviting him everyweek and he always says he is going to come, but then never does. But this week we had more formal visits with him and he said he would come and Alba told us she would make sure he would come. It was so neat to see them in the church as a family. And probably most especial of all, was Alba shared her testimony. Never have I heard a more powerful testimony in my life. Wow. First of all she talked about how grateful she was for us and our love for her and our patience with her when she was deciding to be baptized (which was great for Eloisa and Marcos). It really made me realize that I am making a difference here, even if sometimes I dont feel like it because of my spanish, but it made me realize people really can feel my love for them. Also she shared her experience of when she decided to be baptized and her baptism. She talked about when we had the lesson with her in the chapel and everything. She also talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is for her to read and study every day even if its just a little. Right now her mom is sick so she has been really busy taking care of her, but she said how important it was for her to find time to read for just 5 mins every day. Then at the very end she talked about how much it meant to her to have her husband here with her at church and talked a lot about that. It was neat enough that she got up to share her testimony, and then how powerful her testimony was...wow. Never will I forget her testimony yesterday. Its also so neat to see, because at first she was really shy to share her testimony or she didnt really have confidence to invite her husband but now its different. Also we had a noche de hogar (family home evening) with them on monday and one of her goals was to go to the temple to baptisms (which was one of her doubts originally before she was baptized). I really hope we can continue growing on this success we have had.

That was basically the highlights of this week. Hopefully I can continue to have another good week. Im glad you got my letters for christmas. I couldnt find any gloves still...but whatever. Sounds like everything is going good at home starting off this new year.

Love you all so much!

Hermana Groneman

Que Rapido este semana

Una otra semana....Wow.

Seriously the time is going by so quickly its crazy. The days are still longs as always, but wow the week went by so quickly. Its so crazy its december. It feels so weird that it is Christmas time without snow. But Christmas time is great! A ton of people in our area have put up christmas lights. Its super cool because they put the lights in the pasajes and the houses and pasajes are small and close together so you just walk under all of these strands of lights like a tunnel of christmas lights! i love it! All be honest im a little upset that you didnt get the lights up at home, but i totally understand, just promise me next christmas. And im glad mom atleast got them up on the fence. Also we´ve been singing christmas hymns and such to people so that always invites the christmas spirit! This week our zone also had the opportunity to sing at a theater. It was kind of in connection with the english classes that we help out with somtimes. We sang 4 songs in english and it was super hilarious. We had santa hats and everything.

So about our investigators. We havent completely stopped visiting them, but I think we are going to end up stopping teaching both ana and william. Neither of them are ever in their houses, and they havent been following through with any of their compromisos. But we have some other investigators too. We had an older couple who lived in LA for like 20 years, but they are back living in El Salvador. We have taught her (Eloisa) quite a few times and only the husband once because usually he isnt home. But she came to church this week which was great and also her husband said he will come next week...we´ll see if he actually does. He loves to read though and he knows a lot about the book of mormon and he is reading for both of them because eloisa cant read. So i have high hopes for them. They live way out in the progresso area which is the more country part of our area. Hopefully we can have some baptism dates with them in the next week, but i dont know.

Also we have a baptism this saturday! Its with Dayana (8 years old) she is related to the bishop and basically all of her extended family is members, except her mom isnt. Her mom has lots of problems right now and isnt interested in baptism but she is totally supportive of dayana being baptized. I love dayana. She loves us missionaries and she loves primary and she reads the book of mormon. She said one day she wants to be a missionary. She is adorable and she always comes up to us at church and gives us big hugs.

Also the christmas devotional! we got to go if we had investigatores there and we had 6! Since it was in spanish i didnt understand all of it completely, but it was still beautiful. And the music i could understand. The best part of the devotional was that Alba came and brought her whole family. So her husband david who isnt a member and her daught who is 7 and her son who is like 20 or something who is inactive. I have been praying for weeks now to just see that whole family together in the church sitting on the chapel benches. It was so neat to see them there. We are definitely going to try to work with her husband. Its just hard because he is ALWAYS gone for work.

Anyways i dont have a lot more time, but I am so excited to talk to all of you for christmas! its is going to be so great!!! Mom and Dad it makes me so proud that you guys are working with the missionaries. Continue to work with them and i know you will see success and receive many blessings. Keep me updated on how that goes, i love hearing about that.

Changes are on wednesday and we find out tomorrow what happens. Im almost sure i will still be here and that hermana estevez will be going. But who knows. But really i think that I will still be here and i hope so because i want to be here for christmas. But until next week....Love you all! Enjoy this christmas season and spread the love of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Hermana Groneman

Merry Christmas

Wow 2013 is coming to an end, and I cant believe it is already going to be 2014!!! wow que rapido.

Well this week was just quite fabulous. Christmas here in the mission really was quite special. Im so grateful for the opportunity to be here. Well I know i told you a little over skype how it was but ill resummarize again. So the 24th is actually the more celebrated day here. basically christmas eve and christmas were just more days to work for us. The problem was that most people were super busy doing other things on the 24th and then on the 25th everyone goes to the beach. We visited a lot of members these two days. but we also worked. We continued to contact with singing christmas hymns. Im really going to miss contacting with the christmas hymns, i loved that. on the 24th we ate SO much food. Wow. You havent been a missionary unless at some point you have said a prayer in your heart to help you finish eating a meal haha. First we were with the family trejo and then after we went to Familia Sintigo where hermana estevez skyped her family and they also gave us a huge plate of food. It was fun to be with some of the members. When we got back to our apartment I opened up my traditional pj pants. Mom just so you know i got my companion saying "tradition...tradition!" haha it was funny. Here it is the tradition to stay up until midnight and then TONS of fireworks go off. and i mean TONS. and super close to the houses haha. obviously we were back in our house sleeping, but i set the alarm so that i could wake up and give my companion a hug at midnight because that is the tradition and then we watched a few fireworks from the window. Then christmas morning I woke up and opened up the rest of the packages. Loved everything, thank you so much everyone! At this point i almost didnt want to talk to you guys, because i was feeling fine and i knew after i was going to be sad...so i just didnt want to talk...but obviously i did. It was so good to talk and see everyone. Next time I want to talk more in spanish haha. Afterwards obviously i was sad saying goodbye...but it wasnt because i missed you guys...like obviously i do and im sad im away from you for christmas...but really i was crying. Just because of the confidence that you guys have in me. Really im sure you guys can tell but i dont have a ton of confidence in myself...but to know how much you all support me and how much you all trust me and how proud you are of me meant the world. It makes me know that im out here for something and that I really can do this. So thank you so much for your support. After i ended the call we spent a little time with the members and then went back to the house for lunch. At the house i was feeling kind of sad...but the minute we were back out in the street talking to people, investigadores and members i didnt think about it at all. Really im out here to work and im so grateful for the opportunity to just share this gospel whether people accept it or not. We didnt have any amazing christmas miracle or anything like that, but just spreading the love of christ is all we can do.

Thursday was a normal day, we had district meeting in the morning and also practiced some songs with the other zone for the christmas activity with the mission. Thursday night the ward hard a christmas dinner and it was a lot of fun...super long though haha. We had to leave early, but we had some investigators there, including albas husband. it was fun to celebrate with the ward.

Then Friday was the activity with half of the mission. SUPER FUN. The morning was all fun activities, we ate pupupsas for breakfast and then played games, and we got tshirts, and probably the best part of all is we got to watch a DISNEY MOVIE!! ahhhh haha it was so great to feel the magical christmas spirit. it was something like Arthurs Christmas or something like that, i hadnt seen it but it was super cute. The thing was i was super tired, but i was trying to stay awake because its the only time in 18 months i get to enjoy a disney movie haha. They also showed the slideshow of a bunch of peoples pictures haha thanks for sending some in. Then in the afternoon after lunch we had more of a spiritual thought. Talking about how we can have the spirit of navidad with us every day. Really that is what the mission is. Spreading the love of Christ every day. Also we got some clothes as gifts and candy. Wow our fridge is full of candy....its just like at home, muchas dulces para navidad. ALSO GUESS WHAT. presidente announced that on the 23rd of january Elder Quinton L Cook is coming here and we will be with the other two missions in El Salvador for a conference with him. SUPER SUPER SUPER EXCITED.

Anyways that was the excitement of the week. Back to work. Always working. We are still working with Eloisa and Marcos for baptism in January. The problem is both of them have very different problems/doubts and so it is hard to teach both of them and answer all of their questions. But i have faith that they just need a little time. We are going to focus on teaching Marcos a little more and hopeful as Marcos feels ready, so will Eloisa. Really they are so great. I love them so much and I really hope that everything works out with them. But i will keep you updated with that.

Tonight we have a noche de hogar with alba and her family and la familia orellana and la familia zaldaña. We are going to make pupusas after we have the lesson so im excited for that. Right now this week we are going to start visiting the members a little more, because they really need our support...I feel like a lot of the members have problems between each other in the ward, and there is a lot of pride, so we are trying to help with that. Also we are going to start visiting even more menos activos and hopeful find some new investigadors through their families.

Anyways im glad you all enjoyed christmas and it sounds like you all got some cool things! I cant believe its the new year. Im really excited that i have a full complete year in the mission. All of 2014 I will be here in the mission. I havent set goals for sure yet, but Im excited that all of my new years resolutions can be related to missionary work. I challenge all of you to put atleast one new years resolution to share the gospel in some way.

Thank you for everything, for your support, your love, your prayers, your testimonys.

Hermana Groneman

PS Tell grandma i got her package and i loved the clothes and all of the candy and everything!

Also i am going to see what i can do about gloves for my hands.

And dad I was wondering if you could maybe photo copy a few entries out of your mission journal and send me them in a letter. I just think it would be neat to read a few entries you could pick out about special experiences you had, hard days, funny memories you had, or things with the language. Just if you can or when you want. Dont send them by email because i dont have time to read those, but in a letter.

Still in El Espino

Welp first off no cambios here for me. I am still here in Espino and I am still with Hermana Estevez. I am super glad to be in the same area for Christmas.

(this part probably dont put on the blog haha)

The truth is i was quite disappointed that we didnt have cambios. When we received the call hna estevez was super super nervous and when they said that we didnt have cambios she was thrilled, and to be honest i wanted to break down crying. I feel bad but really i wanted a new companion. The thing is this next cambio is longer than normal cambios, it is 8 weeks instead of 6 and so we will be together here atleast till like february. I really do love her, but i wanted someone knew to work with. I have a lot of stress with her trying to motivate her to work and she doesnt have a lot of patient with the members here and she has a short temper, But really im just remembering what ryan told me "this too shall pass" haha. Its just that it is a long time. But really i learn to love her and i try and just do what i can.

Anyways but this week was really great. We had the baptism of Dayana (8) on saturday and it was great. Dayana is family with the bishop and all of her family is members except her mom and grandma, but her cousins and her uncles and aunts. She has an uncle serving a mission. She was super nervous for the baptism, but she was adorable. Afterwards she was crying and it was a really spirtual experience for her mom as well. Both of them were crying. We asked dayana why she was crying and she said because of happiness. She is adorable, always smiling and giving us hugs. Yesterday her mom Yessenia, had her third attendence to church and after we visited with her in the house of a member and it was a really spirtual lesson. We had the elders with us too. The only reason she wasnt baptized before was because she said she had problems in her life and she didnt feel ready for baptism. But yesterday we talked about repentence with her and we invited her to a baptism date, at first she still felt like it wasnt enough time for her to change, but in the end she was a little more open to it. So we arent completely sure if it is a set date, but we are very hopeful that she can be baptized later this month.

Also we had Eloisa and Marcos both come to church this week. This is the second time for Eloisa and the first for Marcos. They both really like the church. Eloisa cant read but Marcos reads for her. And marcos knows a ton about the church and loves to read. Both of them just need a sure answer that the church is true. Both have been baptized before, so they are a little hesitant about baptism. I really love them. This week we were visiting with Eloisa (marcos was gone somewhere) and we taught her the plan of salvation. Both of them have had lots of challenges throughout their life and at the end of the lesson i was telling Eloisa how i knew that this gospel was what she needed and just expressing to her how important she was to us. we were sitting on her patio and right at this moment the sun shined through just on me, and im pretty sure this didnt make any difference to eloisa or my companion, but to me i just felt the love of our heavenly father and his confidence in me. Maybe im not the best teacher of the gospel, and my spanish still lacks a lot, but that doesnt matter. i have a knowledge of this gospel and i have the light of Christ that I can share with others.

Anyways we are hoping that both Eloisa and Marcos can be baptized at the end of this month on the 29th too. They said if they get an answer they will. They are both around 62 years old. Eloisa has the same exact style as Grandma Mimi, its is great haha. Both of them want friends and dont really talk much with their neighbors so we are hoping that ward can help us out with that.

We have a few other investigators but they are progressing as much. I truly believe the success we had this week is because we fasted. Actually the whole mission was fasting at the same time. We are working for 200 baptisms in the mission for december. That would be the most we have ever had here. President told us to eat, sleep, study, teach, and find, thinking 200. haha.

So im pretty excited for christmas to talk to you guys! I can use skype and i think we are going to be doing it with the Familia Trejo (oh speaking of them we arent eating with them anymore...so im kinda sad about that cause we dont have a cook anymore) but anyways. Im planning probably the morning on christmas...maybe around 9? what works for you guys. also can you look up if there is a time difference here and with utah so i can know? I will know more next week exactly whats going on. I havent received packages yet but im thinking probably on thursday at zone meeting. at least i hope!

Things are well here. The mission is still hard but it is good. Really what i want most is to teach more with the spirit and be a better teacher. It is super hard trying to learn the language and trying to be a good teacher. I feel like i should be a better teacher by now, but im trying to be patient. The hardest thing is i work hard and i follow the rules, its just my abilities and its hard when you are trying your hardest. I think slowly im progressing, its just hard to tell. The spanish....well i dont know, it just depends on the day. Im nervous to talk to you dad on christmas because i know you are gonna have me speak in spanish and i dont want you to be disappointed in my spanish haha...and i still cant roll my Rs!!!

Anyways i hope you are enjoying the christmas season!! im really sorry but i still havent sent off your letters for christmas so you are going to get them really late! but today i will send them!

I love you all so much!!!

Hermana Groneman