Baptism of Ariana!

Hello Family,                                                              (August 22nd, 2016)

I hope that you all had an amazing week and that you are all keeping super busy! This week was absolutely wonderful for me!!!

On Monday, Elder Gonzalez, my new companion got to Villa at like 4:00 so apart from writing home we didn't really do anything else. We got to know each other a little more. We both know of each other, but have never actually met. We were given a special assignment from President. We are in charge of opening a branch in Teapa. Teapa is about two hours from Villa. We are still in charge of our area, but we also have to get the branch open. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

Tuesday morning we headed out early to visit Ariana. We had an amazing lesson with her. We talked about several problems that she is passing in her life right now and in what ways the Spirit could help her to make it through those things. The Spirit testified of himself, and she felt it very strongly. She accepted to be baptized!!! The rest of the week we taught her the commandments. On Friday she was baptized!

Wednesday we went to the Temple!!!! It was so nice to be there again. We got to do baptisms with the young men and women from our ward. Lady, Soari and Yajaira were all there. It was their first time in the Temple and they absolutely loved it. Afterwards Lady shared with us that during the confirmations, she felt a really strong prompting that someone was waiting very impatiently to have their work done. She shared with us that is was very strong and that it was a feeling of a deep desire to be cleansed from sin. We are now working with Lady to do her Family history so that she can get the work done for her family. Elder Gonzalez got to baptize and be baptized by one another. It felt so good. It was a little wierd being the one being baptized after so much time....but I loved it. The Temple is my favorite place on earth. Inside I really feel at peace. The things that I worry about everyday as a missionary seem to be so simple and not stressful. It was a wonderful experiance. The Temple President and his wife are from Mesa. I was talking to his wife and she told me that her seminary teacher in High School was Brother Noble. He is President Turley. They know our family. Now the Temple is closed and He headed back to Arizona. We are going to ask permission to go to a session when the Temple opens again.

Friday we had Ariana's baptism. It was great!! Lady gave her first talk on Baptism and the holy Ghost. She shared a strong testimony about eternal families, and was crying. I felt so happy and proud as she stood there with only one week as a member and gave a talk. It was great. We sang with them for the musical number. It was a very special experience for the Hernandez family. Now we are working with Lady's mom. She could be getting baptized this week, and Lady's sister wants us to come and visit her and her family as well. It is amazing how much the change that has happened in Lady's life is changing the lives of so many others.

Baptism of Ariana

On Sunday bishop asked Elder Gonzalez and I to speak in church about missionary work. First time that I have spoken in church in this ward...but it went very well. In our Gospel Principles class we taught about the Word of Wisdom. Lady shared a strong testimony of how her life has changed for the better because she is now living the Word of Wisdom.

We also started teaching a new investigator. Yessica is 19 and all of her family are Jehova's Witnesses. She came to church on Sunday and participated a ton. It was great. she is progressing very fast, and she invited her boyfriend to come next week.

This week we are starting our visits to Teapa. Two day out of the week we are going to be there, so we are working super hard the days that we are going to be here in Mercedes. this last week the latest we left the house was at 8:30. Normally proselyting starts at 11:00....but we just have so much to do!!! I am so tired right now...but that's okay because I'll be able to relax a little in four months:)!

It rained a lot in the begining of the week....but now it's hot again. And super humid!! It's been hard to sleep at night. Good News though....we found a house with air-conditioning and today President gave us the green light to move. We are going to move this week and we will have AIR-CONDITIONING!!!!!! We're pretty excited!

Vanessa!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week. I Love you and hope that you know that. I hope your birthday is a very special day for you!!

I Love you all!!!! Have and amazing week!!!

Elder Cavenee