April 14, 2014

Hola familia.

Hope you all are doing well. This week has been great. I can't remember a lot so this letter will probably be short.

On P-day last week we made real enchiladas. I love having a Mexican companion. They were delicious. We also met with Ana. She is basically Mormon. She knows everything is true and has felt the Spirit many times. Our visit with her was powerful. The Spirit filled the room. But, she has fear that when she gets baptized she'll turn away and she doesn't want to be a hypocrite. Ugh. We set a baptismal date for May 3, but she said "maybe". Lame. We're praying it works out because then she leaves for Mexico for a month. A lot of people do that.

Cecilio's baptism was rescheduled for this Saturday so that all of his children could come. He is the greatest. He is so humble. And thinks he's a Mexican cowboy. Mom, I did get the music. Thank you so so much!! I am still planning to play for the baptism, so that should be fun.

On Saturday I got to experience a true Mexican party full of food and a blow-up jumpy thing. It was fun. The food was delicious. I'll put some pictures in.

We had 5 investigators at church yesterday! That was exciting. I bore my testimony and said the closing prayer. That was a wreck. Someday I'll learn Spanish. Aide, Yvonne, and Astrid came. Jorge didn't because he doesn't like church. That punk. We'll get him next week. Of course the day that we have so many investigators at church there is a man in the back snoring SO loud! It was even louder than Dad :) It was hilarious, but so terrible.

I met more people that Mom and Dad know. Everyone knows them, I swear. We had dinner at the Scoresby's and her parents were there, the Tanner's. They lived in Raleigh and were in the Wake Forest ward. They said they loved you two. And then on Sunday Brigit Johnson (now Bibi Clark) came up to me. She pretty much praised you two. Way to be the best people. Oh, and I saw Sister Speil! That was so fun. She's the cutest.

Everyone keeps asking what my schedule is like so here it is: I don't really have one. Four to five days a week I am at the VC from either 9-3 or 3-9. If we're not there in the mornings we have studies. If we're not there at night, we're in our area. Our area is huge, which is why we have a car. We cover 2 stakes. So that's pretty much it.

Ok, it turned out to be longer than I thought it would be. Have a wonderful week and happy early Easter!! Love you all!

Hermana Clay


Sister Spiel from Raleigh Mission

Fixing real Mexican food!

these were our enchiladas and tacos. SO YUMMY. and spicy. and so good. dad, you need to teach me how to make Mexican food too when i get home

On Saturday I got to experience a true Mexican party full of food and a blow-up jumpy thing. It was fun. The food was delicious. 

From Mom in reference to Karleigh:   The rose is a tear jerker. Thanks for remembering! Thank you Jesus Christ for the atonement and sacrifice for each of us.

 Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 12:42 PM

Hi family,

This week has been great and full of miracles. This is truly the Lord's work! Here are a few from this week:

Wednesday: This day was FULL of miracles! We didn't have VC this day. After studies and lunch we went out into our area. We knocked on a door and a woman named Aide opened. Literally everything about our visit was a miracle. It was hailing outside, which I think is part of the reason she let us in. She was normally at work the time that we came, but that day the machine that she works with broke down, so she didn't have work. She had met with the Elders before and didn't have any interest. But, now she is very interested! She is going through a really hard time right now. She needs the gospel in her life. We placed a Book of Mormon and committed her to baptism. It was such an awesome experience and there is no way it was coincidence. We have visited her again and she really wants to come to church. Her daughter, Astrid, joined us as well. Astrid really wants to learn more. She accepted the invitation to be baptized as well. These aren't solid dates or anything yet, but I am hoping in the following week they will be. They are super great.

After Aide, we went and visited Cecilio. He is such a cute, old man. He has struggled with knowing about modern day prophets. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him and he said that he believed in the prophets! Miracles! Last night was his actual interview. Our district leader said that Cecilio said that he really knew it was true when he watched General Conference. So awesome! Right now, the plan is for him to be baptized this Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Woohoo!

After Cecilo, we went to the De La Riva family. They are a less active family. The kids are the greatest. They LOVE to talk and especially love to hug ALL the time. We read from the Book of Mormon with them and set up a time to come this past Saturday to have a FHE with them. The FHE was awesome. We talked about the real meaning of Easter with them. We played "Little Man" with them. They loved that. I thought about how many times we played that as a family. Fun memories. We brought brownies and ice cream and they had cheesecake and hot chocolate. It was SO hot in their house. A hot house + hot chocolate + kids constantly hugging you = no bueno. I mean it was good, but I was nasty. You'll see that in the picture I send.

Those are some miracles from this week. Oh yeah, and General Conference! That was so great. Saturday we were at the VC and ate WAY too much food. Sister Lusk makes the best food. I really loved Uchtdorf's talk. My goal is to be more grateful for the blessings Heavenly Father gives me. He said that being grateful is a catalyst to all Christ-like attributes. Also, President Monson was, as always, wonderful. "Love is the essence of the gospel."

I hope y'all are having a good week! I know, I used to never say y'all, but now I do all the time since I'm not supposed to use "guys". Look for the little miracles in your life! You'll be amazed with how much the Lord is in your life! Love you lots!

Hermana Clay  

1st picture is of the De La Riva family on our FHE night

2nd picture is of some things that came from a package. Mindi sent me the cutest greenie package! That was so fun to get and I got a good laugh out of it. Thank you so much, Mindi!!

Sister Collins and Kirata in the back. These sisters are hilarious. We work at the VC with them. Remember Sister Kirata? She was there when we went and visited the VC before I left.

More pictures