Carlos's Baptism!!!

 Hola amigos! I hope you all had the best Thanksgiving!

This week Carlos was baptized!!! I am sooo happy for him and grateful that he made this choice! I'm truly amazed by every friend that we teach and the sacrifices they make to change their lives and turn to the Lord. Afterward, he thanked us and said he was happy to belong to a church! I'm so proud of him, and please continue to say prayers for him as he continues to learn and grow!

Thanksgiving Day was really good!! The Brown family invited us over for dinner. They're an older couple, and it was just us and them. It was a really special meal because I could feel how much they cared about helping us have a good Thanksgiving. The people I meet on my mission teach me a lot about the kind of person I want to be when I get home!

Before Thanksgiving dinner, we had a lesson with our friends Zicri and Flor. They're sisters from El Salvador. It was a really good lesson! They had a ton of questions and brought up some great points. One thing they talked about was how important it was that all feel loved and welcome in the church. They talked about how they would often see people attend a church and act one way on Sundays, and then be a completely different person the rest of the week. I know it's so important for members of the Church to live as disciples of Jesus Christ EVERY day, EVERYwhere. We were able to testify to Zicri and Flor about how important we each are to God, and also how individual our relationship is with Him. If we go to church looking for imperfect people, we'll find them. If we expect that some will act one way at church and another way at home, we're probably right. But it's not about what everyone else is doing. We don't just go to church for them. We go to church because we love Jesus Christ, and we want to take the sacrament and show Him that we remember Him. Of course, we support one another and we try to trust each individual in the congregation! But we don't base our testimonies off of the people. Something really cool about that lesson is that Hermana Olmstead and I had planned to share a scripture we'd never shared in a lesson before, and it ended up fitting exactly with the theme that Zicri and Flor started talking about with us. The Spirit really guided that lesson.

I had an exchange with Hermana Santa Maria on Friday! She is the best and we've been wanting to have an exchange for forever!! We had a good time knocking doors and finding friends that day. We also had some awesome lessons. We taught the online English class at the end of the day, which was super fun! Gave me flashbacks of my time in Santa Maria and Oxnard.

Juan Velasquez is still on baptismal date! We had to move it because he's been really busy, but please keep praying for him!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I read a verse this week in the Book of Mormon that talked about King Lamoni's father, who once did not believe in God. As he was taught about his Heavenly Father and realized he wanted to be a part of His Church, he said something that I loved.

"I will give away all my sins to know Thee" (Alma 22:18).

That phrase is so powerful. What are we willing to give away to "know" God?

This week, my invitation for you all is to think of something you can give away to grow closer to God. Maybe it's a choice to spend more time with Him, or it could be a choice spend less time doing something else. He loves you and I promise you'll not only come to believe in Him, but come to know Him!

I love all of you!

-Hermana DeMordaunt