"If ye shall bring save it be 'two' souls"

Dear Family and Friends,

What a week this has been! In a very good way. It has definitely been the best week of my mission so far. Okay, okay, so there definitely were some rocky points, but I've worked through them and all is well. Don't worry, nothing major. Read on.

Monday: P-day. We had time to write letters. And take pictures with our camels. Well, they're not OUR camels, but they live at the same place we do.

Tuesday: We had Zone Conference. It started out bright and early with car inspections. I should have learned how to check out all the stuff under the hood before I left. I felt kinda dumb... I didn't even know how to OPEN the hood once I popped it from inside the car. But don't worry, the Elders took care of us, and I should know how to do it 5 weeks from now when the next Zone Conference rolls around. Zone Conference was so AMAZING! It was all about the Book of Mormon and the power it contains. It was such a spiritually uplifting experience. I went home and spent a good part of my personal study time for the next 3 days writing my testimony, along with a challenge President Anderson gave us that came from... Elder... I don't remember. One of the members of the Quorum of 12 Apostles. I'm sending that in my written letter and want mom to post it, because I know the power that someone's testimony can have on others. And I would love to hear everyone's testimonies about the Book of Mormon as well. They announced at Zone Conference that region-wide missionaries aren't supposed to shake hands anymore until flu season is over in February or March. That is NOT as easy as it sounds. Sister Michel and I go nowhere without our hand sanitizer. We have it in the car. We have it in our bags. We have it in the house. Yep, it's pretty much everywhere. It also started pouring rain, right about the time the Conference ended. Perfect for tracting. Let's just say that the black shoes I polished that morning were brown by the time I got home.

Wednesday: It was cold and rainy. We knocked doors for about 3 hours, and found no one who speaks Spanish. Well, we knocked on one door where the parents speak Spanish, but they weren't home. We've been trying to meet them, but have had no luck.

Thursday: Ah yes. One of the rocky points I was talking about. We left our apartment to head to our first appointment down in Bernalillo, got down the stairs when Sister Good realized that she'd forgotten something. Something VERY important. Any ideas? Nope, it wasn't my scriptures. I had both sets of scriptures. Yes, it was the keys. And they were locked in the apartment. I'm happy to say, our apartment is very secure. No reason to worry there. Well, unless you have Hermano "Ladron" (crook) Fonseca around. He was able to break in for us. He broke a knife in the process, but we got our keys. And we've figured out a way to have our apartment locked, but not at the same time. I'd tell you, but that would ruin the secret of it. Tenia MUCHO frio en nuestro apartmento. (That means it's REALLY cold in our apartment). The heat doesn't work. I have about 4 blankets piled on me. But mom, would you (along with those other sweaters I requested) send me a hoodie and my long johns (if you can find them)? It would make study time and sleepy time much more comfortable. Gracias! I know I'm asking for a lot, but honestly, I didn't expect it to get this cold! We're lucky if our apartment hits 64 during the day, and it drops to around 60 at night. We had dinner with the Sigriss family (why is this important? Read on.) Brother Sigriss used to work for Brother Passino and they say hi. How are the Passino's doing, anyway? Tell them hi for me too!

Friday: We had our weekly planning session. And speaking of cold, you should have seen me. I was wearing a coat, gloves, and a blanket. It was quite the sight. Oh, and don't forget fuzzy socks. Those go on the second I walk in the door at night, come off for a shower in the morning, and go right back on until we leave. But we had a great planning session, very effective. President Anderson called and wanted to do our transferly interviews that night, so we re-arranged our schedule and went to see President and Sister Anderson. President is such an inspired man. He's taking very good care of me here in New Mexico. After that, we rushed over to the Luna's for one last lesson with Lily and Alexis before their BAPTISM on Saturday! There was a great spirit, and they were so ready.

Saturday: We had district meeting, because President had scheduled to do our interviews Saturday morning (he just didn't have time for all of us because he had to be to Santa Fe earlier than he'd planned). We talked about how to resolve problems using the Book of Mormon, and gave each other suggestions on how we can help investigators. It was very enlightening. And even better, Sister Michel and I had some bananas that were going a little brown, and with the recipe that came in the mail this week, what did I make? BANANA BREAD! You all have NO idea how good it was for me to be in a kitchen actually baking something. Despite the fact that it was before 6:30 in the morning, it totally and completely made my day. I miss cooking so bad! We knocked doors down in Bernalillo, and had quite a bit of success. We almost finished the street we've been working on for like 5 weeks now. We plan to have it done this week. After that, we headed back to Rio Rancho. We stopped at Wal-mart really fast to find a birthday present for Luis, Lily's son. They don't have a lot of money, and we had something for both Lily and Alexis, so we got him an inexpensive pair of pants. I wouldn't include this, but it's another one of those rocky points. I bent over to look at the size on the bottom rack and the top rack got in the way of my head. When I stood up I whacked my head really hard. No worries, no blood, just a monster headache, stars, and a goose egg on the back of my head. Yep, leave it to Sister Good. The baptism was so amazing. Seeing that made all of my trials and struggles worth it. Lily and Alexis were so ready, and are going to be such strong members of the church. Their testimonies are so strong. They have been through a lot. The Spirit was so strong. After the baptism, Sister Luna invited everyone back to their house for food, which, as always, was delicious. Now for the biggest rocky point of the week. We were leaving the Luna's to head home for curfew. I was making a left-hand turn (mom, stop freaking out, I'm FINE) at the light and my back tire hit the cement curb/median and blew. Yep, I popped a tire on a car paid for with tithing money. And yes, I felt horrible. Other than that, I'm great. Of course, I haven't changed a tire in like 6 years, and then only because I had to in order to pass Driver's Ed. I had no clue where to begin. Okay, I knew we had to clean out our trunk because we'd need the spare tire and jack out, but beyond that I was clueless. Not to mention it was pitch black. We called Elder Frey who had been at the baptism, and he and Elder Halpin came and rescued us. They had the flat off and the spare on in about 10 minutes. Their biggest concern was that we were both okay. Of course we were, just shaken up a bit. We also called Elders Boden and Hullinger, the Zone Leaders to let them know we were all going to be late because of a little mis-hap. Elder Boden was so worried about us, making sure that we were okay. He called later to make sure we made it home safely. Have I mentioned that I love the Elders in this mission? They're great! By the time we got home, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so I did both.

Sunday: Lily and Alexis were confirmed. They attend their local ward instead of the Spanish service because it's about 25 minutes closer to their house, so we headed over there. It was such a special experience, and their blessings were super special as well. We were also able to witness Brother Luna blessing the sacrament for the first time. He did it in Spanish. It was so neat to be able to see that. When we got to the service, we found out that 2 of our recent converts, Felipe and Jose, also had firsts. Felipe blessed the sacrament and Jose, who just received the Priesthood, passed it. I wish I could have seen that, but I'll be there next week. We only had the one week in Star Heights ward to see Brother Luna. Another neat thing, we were getting Sister Luna's record number for Lily's baptismal record, and the first 3 numbers of her record aren't "000" like everyone else's that Bishop Caldwell has seen. Nope, Sister Luna's number starts with "001." That is really significant for the growth of the Church. Exciting, no?

Anyway, That's been my week. Eventful, huh? Yeah, I thought so. Our car has 4 new tires now (we went and had them replaced this morning down in Albuquerque. They needed replaced after this transfer.) And I'm happy as can be. The bump on the back of my head is going down too.

I love you all, and look forward to your letters!

Love, Hermana Good