Hermana Mary DeWitt: Pupusas, Baptisms, and Transfers

On Wednesday, we made pupusas with Julia, one of Pablo's friends that he referred to us! At first, she hadn't liked us very much, but as soon as we expressed interest in how she makes pupusas, she was inviting us back to learn how to make them with her AND to share a message! When we went over on Wednesday, we went through the whole Restoration and invited her to read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon, and she said she would! Afterwards, we made pupusas and they were SO good! The ones I made weren't super pretty, but she said we did a good job...for beginners. She's so funny - we love her!

Saturday was our ward's Christmas Social, and everyone wore ugly Christmas sweaters! I found one for $2.50 at Goodwill, so I bought it specifically for the ward party (and because it's actually a beautiful Christmas sweater - see attached picture)

After the ward party, we called Misael, who was someone that Hermana Shumway found through Facebook! He said he wanted to learn more about Christ's birth and that he didn't know very much about the Bible, so we read Luke 2 with him! He really liked the shepherds and the angels and how the Lord wants everyone to come to Christ, even the poor lowly shepherds. On Monday, we called him again and shared 3 Nephi 1 and talked about the Nephites' experience with waiting for Christ's birth. He loved it! He seems super awesome, but the only problem is...he lives in North Carolina...so we'll have to pass him off at some point. But we're super excited for him to keep progressing and for those missionaries to receive an amazing referral!

On Sunday, Hermana Shumway and I had our very first baptisms as missionaries!!!

Xochitl, Chantal, Evalet, and Jennyvive were all baptized after church and we are SO happy for them! Xochitl's husband, Juan, decided he's not quite ready to be baptized, but he still came to support his family! I cried happy tears and Xochitl shared the sweetest testimony at the pulpit afterwards - they're going to be such amazing members of the church!

We got transfer news last night!!!!

Hermana Shumway and I are both staying here in Fort Morgan together!!! I'm so happy that we'll have a 3rd transfer together and that we're both staying for Christmas! The rest of our District is changing, though, and I'm super sad! This District has been my absolute favorite and I'm sad to see all of them go...

I'll also be moving apartments! They're closing the Spanish Elders' area in Fort Morgan, so we'll be moving into their apartment so we can be more central, especially now that we cover both areas! (Wiggins, Fort Morgan, Brush, Sterling, and Yuma!) We don't have the mailing address yet, but hopefully I'll be able to send it in next week's email!

Here is my Personal Study excerpt for the week!

TG: Jesus Christ, Savior

Matthew 1:21 - "And [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins."

---many of the Jews were expecting the Messiah (the King of the Jews) to be this powerful military leader who would physically save them from Roman rule - they were disappointed when Christ declared His divinity but said His purpose was to save them spiritually, rather than physically

---sometimes, we have our own expectations of how we want to be saved (physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, etc.) and while Christ CAN save us from ALL of our trials, His primary purpose is to save us spiritually, because our spiritual well-being is the thing that will last beyond this life!

---don't turn away from Christ just because He didn't bless/save you in the way you hoped for/expected - don't turn away from Him just because life turns out differently than expected! Turn TOWARDS Him and let him save you spiritually!

Love you all and have an amazing week!!