Nov 3rd Some great things happened this week

Oh my... it's already November...

Well honestly, Halloween is kinda weird here... they don't really celebrate it... we were walking down the street at like 6:40 and everything was all dark when I actually realized that it was Halloween... Ha ha the only people that "celebrate" Halloween here are the little kids that went around in little groups chanting "¡queremos Halloween! ¡queremos Halloween!" it was kinda funny :) The people here do celebrate el Día de los Muertos which is actually two days the 1st and 2nd of November and they just all go to the cemetery to hang out, like alllllll day even late into the night, it's crazy.

Some great things that happened this week :) We have been teaching two of the friends of Angie (a resent convert) Miriam and Nayeli. With Miriam, it is a little hard to teach because she says that she doesn't understand what the scriptures say or if she does understand it doesn't stick for very long... at least that's what she says. But what happened yesterday was really great. We showed up in the stake center for Stake Conference not expecting to find any of our investigators but as we walk in, we see Angie with Miriam! How crazy is that?! We hadn't even invited her because we hadn't seen her all week but Angie had invited her. But later Angie told us that Miriam had gone to Angie's house at 7 in the morning to wake here up so they wouldn't be late, and it didn't even start until 10. It was really great to have that experience :)

Now a little about Nayeli. She is a little easier to teach and really thinks about what we are saying so that is really great. What was good that happened with her this week is that she talked to her mom about going to church (they are Catholics and her mom was kinda en contra de nosotros...) and her mom said she could! She is also reading her scriptures and so we feel like she is really progressing. In one of the lessons she asked us about la virgin... and what we believe about her. Elder Cortez and I tried explaining it to her but we didn't do a very good job because she was still a little unsure about it all but luckily we had a member with us because she totally saved the day. She says to us "Elders, let me explain it to her." Well that's perfect! so we say " Go for it!" and she explains it all really well and Nayeli understands perfectly and accepts it! It was a really great experience and it was cool because we weren't even going to take this member with us, we were going to take Angie but she wasn't home so we went next door and asked the daughter of the ex-president of the branch to go with us. I am sure it wasn't luck that things turned out that way... it was really great to see this little miracle that helped Nayeli to learn a little bit more :)

Also, a little boost that I had in the Stake Conference was that I am still in the stake of my first area so I got to see a lot of the members and they were all really great and some were pretty excited to see me and I got to see a recent convert that I started teaching but left before he got baptized (his name is Juan Manuel). It was a good experience and helped me feel better about the work I am doing and that although it is hard and a lot of the time I don't see much success, what I am doing has at least a little bit of an effect in the lives of some and helps them find a little more happiness. I felt the love of our Lord through the kindness of these members and I am glad to have had the chance to see them again :)

I hope that you all have a very amazing week and I love you all :)

-Elder Sampson