February 29th - Spanish People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear all y'all/ustedes,

WE FOUND SPANISH PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE 'SQUARE'!!!!!

OK, so, we've continued going North of our area rather than South to the 'square' of Spanish concentration, and we found some amazing English and Spanish people. For example:

We tried to visit a LA (less active) from Sparkman but the house appears to be vacant now. We decided to tract the area and found instead M. and A. (nick-name, her full Spanish name is hard to say). M. told us her kids weren't interested in religion, but when we went to our appointment with her, she wasn't there so we talked to her daughter instead. She said the only reason she didn't want to go to church is because it's early and a long drive. (Communication error much?) So we told her our Spanish congregation starts at 12:20 and that it's only about 5 minutes away from her house. She seems very interested in hearing more about the Gospel.  :)   She was going to come to church but accidentally slept in late- but she texted us to let us know :) Maybe next week!

We also found a Hispanic woman who is married and has 2 adorable daughters near another LA from Sparkman  that used to be taught by missionaries. The last time we went by to confirm our appointment this week and get her number, she was watching the movie "Son of God" - I haven't seen it, but I love that she's interested in learning more about the Savior in her personal time.

In continuing working in the area where we met G. and L. (and now her husband J.), we met some very open and accepting people again in the same apartment complex and one further down. One who especially touched us was a German woman named U. She has a lot of faith and a strong belief in doing God's will. She talked about how it is, in a way, useless to pray for things we need because God knows what we need and whether or not we ask for it directly, He'll provide- IF it's His will. She is a very kind woman. As we were leaving, she asked if we would want to have coffee the next time we came by. "Uh, we don't drink coffee."  "Tea?"  "We don't drink tea either."  "What do you drink then??" hahaha. Oh boy.

Our last cool experience is brought to you by good examples of Christ-like love and acceptance who lived in Indiana in the 70's. We met an older gentleman named H. who goes by "B." who was very receptive to our message of the Gospel because he had met Mormons before. He used to do long truck-driving routes and he had to stop once in Indiana to wait out the night - it was snowy and he didn't have anywhere to go. A farmer came by and invited him to stay in his clean, heated, cozy barn rather than in his cold truck. B. accepted. B. said that the Farmer and his family (who were Mormons) treated him like part of their family and were incredibly kind to him. That experience happened around 35ish years ago, but because they were so accepting and willing to help this man in his hour of need, he was willing to listen to us, take a Book of Mormon and agreed to read it (or try to until we can get him a large-print copy) because he had seen that we strive to follow Christ's example. I can't wait to thank those people in heaven.

Well. That's the week's happenings.

The Church is true,

The Book is blue,

and God loves you!

~Hermana Martin :)

Laurel and Hna. Diaz

SIs. Bartlome (from Riverton), Laurel, and Sis. Mitchell