#craycray

BAHHHH WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN! 

focus, hermana Skidmore. focus, words. sentences. okay. 

Angeles got Baptized! it was the most glorious, crazy, sweaty (mmm yeah) day ever! Let's start with the fact that she walked to her baptism and she has a bad knee...WHAT? She sees the font all filled and she just holds her heart like it's about to burst, we got her her white jumpsuit and rolled up the pant legs to fit her, she huddled Hermana Pitcher and I in the changing room and she said "Hermanas para siempre. siempre en mi corazon, hermana, ustedes han cambiado mi vida..." my heart was so full as she explained how long she'd waited for this day and how much she loves us.

Hermana Vasquez from another ward is the woman who introduced Angeles to the church, she arrived and it was like - Hermanas, where are the chairs, do you have hymn books, is it hot in here? are you going to translate? IS THERE ENOUGH FOOD!? NO NOT THE FOOD! hahah she's a really sweet lady and she wanted everything to be perfect, it was just funny because Hermana Pitcher and I had planned to go to the bathroom and have time to rub all the sweat off of our unmentionable parts.. didn't happen. hahaha BUT the important thing is that Angeles was loving her life :) she was so happy and her son even came and the people she lives with that she nanny's for! ahhhhhhh.

The baptism was. wow. I actually almost cried. yep. 

Our new investigator, Fide (17 yrs old), came and loved it. He couldn't stop smiling. Yeah. the Spirit does that to you - lemme tell ya! 

After her baptism, Angeles' outfit was all white still hahaha. she looked like a real live angel! Hugging her was like catching a ray of sunshine, she was so full of love and so happy, hugging her was like putting your suitcases down right inside your front door after gettting home from a long trip. She. is. amazing. she was talking to Fidel and she's like "So when are you getting baptized!? CAN I COME!?" hahah 

God Bless America.

the 4th of July was amazing too! we had a stake breakfast with all the kids decorating their bikes and a parade, Fidel came to that, too and so did Cari and LUCY - LUCY is a miralce too! an old drop that called us and said she's ready - THE CHURCH IS TRUE EVERYBODY!

It doesn't stop there. On Sunday we were running around and ran into a man that speaks spanish.. rode his bike to church.. "como se llama?" PABLO!!! also a former investigator that was invited by missionaries a long time ago but that decided today was the day he was going to come. He also accepted the invitiation to by baptized. woah. 

FOR THE MOMENT WE"VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!

new mission president and his wife... President and Sister Jardine! 

they. are. amazing. my kindred spirits. I gotta go but I love them. I'll tell more next week! 

QUote of the week, "being happy is how we show our gratitude for all that God has given us!" 

Les quiero muchisisisisismo - Para siempre,

Hermana Skidmore

wuv is what bwings us togefer today

mi querida familia! 

ANGELES!

get this. 

remember the woman I told you about last week? the one who has the friend from West Sac that has been taking her to church? 

we went down to meet her.. and we've taught her.. and SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY AT 6PM! tell everyone you know! ... but she probably already has :) haha 

She listens to President Monson's talks as she walks to the church for our appointments. She loves the empasis on the family and the law of Chastity. 

We took her to an english baptism last night and I translated for her :) it's like english people.. BREATH.. so I can catch up haha. She understood everything and felt the Spirit! There was a man in the Air Force from the english ward that gave a talk and so I talked to him afterwards. Angeles saw me talking to him and even though she doesn't speak english she's like:

"I tak to hin..Tank yo fo serv...God bes yo.."

Then Hna Pitcher translated for her. She just thanked him for his service, invited him to her baptism, and told him to be safe.

The sweet man was crying.

then afterwards she's like:

Nos vamos a sentar con los chicos!!! (We're going to sit with the boys!!!) she's shrieked like a 12 yeear old girl haha

then in the parking lot - "Fotos!" she loves a good selfie :) hahah 

Angeles is so special. She has an immense capacity to love. Something that I've really learned from the Spanish people:

You can't assume that people know that you love them, you have to tell them. Before I came on my mission, I wasn't like a super touchy... love expressing kind of person.. I mean I was.. but not nearly as much as I am now. I honestly didn't know it was possible to love people this much. I adore the Spanish people of Sacramento California. and I'm learning to love everyone, better. 

The phrase "What would Jesus do?" has become a real slogan in my noggin. I think about that all the time. He knows all of our experiences perfectly.. he can empathize with everyone.. He isn't biased... He is perfectly humble, and knows when to listen and when to speak. And teaches us that the former is the most important. Listen. Listen good. 

I love this quote from Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard:

"...That's the way it is when Jesus Christ become a reality in your life. It sin't that He somehow make you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise. Rather, you find yourself wanting to do what He would do and respond as He would respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His. ANd an interesting thing happens whenever you attempt to place your feet in Christ's footsteps. If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked, loving caring, serving, and obeying each step of the way, one day you'll look up and discover that His path has lead you directly to the throne of God. For  that is and ever has been His great purpose and mission: to lead us to our Heavenly Father so we can dwell with Him in His heavenly home." 

Amen, hermanos. Amen. Angeles always says this and she goes 'Amen.. it means "yeah i agree!" haha

ALSO this week we had the "until we meet again" conference with President and Sister Lewis because.. today is their last day as our Mission President couple.. bleh. During the meeting I'm like "come on Hermana Skidmore - cry! squeeze out some tears! Let's go! Show some emotion onion boy!" yeah.. nothing.. I'm really excited for them. I am so grateful for their service but I also know how much they love their family - mainly their grandchildren - shout out to grandma candy! :) haha. 

AND we were all allowed to hug them! the sister misisonaries are always allowed to hug Sister Lewis and we're not supposed to hug men...just yeah. keep your space, hombres! but we got to give President a hug! I was really nervous I was going to mess up... haha.

Everyone was telling them like "I love you... thank you..." as they were hugging them...

My words of advice as I hugged President Lewis.. my last words to my beloved mission president...

"President, I think it's time you take Sister Lewis out on a nice date!" 

... I felt like it was something Dad would suggest hahah. 

I love you all. so much. 

I know this Gospel is true. I know God lives. 

Hermana Skidmore

highs & lows - gotta blow my nose. touch your bottom.

Que tal mis queridos!? 

Okay so I have been sick for a while.. like a few weeks ago.. I was snoring like Dad in the long lost pink chair and I thought it was allergies.. I finally kicked it and then... My companion got it! haha In spanish they call it "la gripa" it's like a cold basically.. A COLD IN 111 degree weather. stop. the irony...

So basically, Hermana Pitcher has been real sick.. in fact, we were on our way to exchanges and after enjoying a nice Wendy's frosty, I look over at her (i drive now so I can get to know the area) and she's just silent... 

"Hermana, you're not going to throw up are you..?"

BLEHHHHHHHHHHHH 

all over the front seat of the car.. hahahhahaah

She'd kill me if she knew I was telling you this.. 

I did what any good companion would do as my counterpart is moaning in discomfort.. I laughed. I laughed so hard... hahaha

We finally get to our destination and we're cleaning up just laughing at how pathetic, sick, and sleep deprived we are (don't worry mom, I'm exaggerating to make this more interesting ;)) and the other Hermanas come out of their house.

Hermana Pitcher - "No! don't come near! Back away! Hazardous waste zone!" 

it was a fun week :)

We were definitely compensated for our lack of coherency and overdosage of cold medicine because the miracles haven't stopped!

Lore - remember the investigator I wrote a short blurb about last week? We found her a week ago just walking through her parking lot, she came to a baptism, came to church, and then they were going to come to this marriage class (wooo!) that the ward was hosting, but they got caught in a puddle and had to go home because all the kids were mojados (soaked) haha SATAN! BUT! She came to Church again this week with her nieta and loved it. 

Backstory: On exchanges, I was in our area with Hna Naatjes and we went to have a lesson with Lore and her husband Felix, at the end of the lesson, Lore told me that she's leaving on a Vacation to Mexico to visit her son (who she's trying to marry us off to ;)).. She won't be back till August and she leaves on Thursday.. I told her she was breaking my heart... She has been so prepared to hear the restored Gospel.. So after Sacrament meeting on Sunday:

"Lore, do you feel like you're in the right place?"

Pues, si...

We invited her to be baptized on Wednesday - Why not? haha. All of the odds are against us.. but we believe in miracles. and it doesn't stop there...

We went over after church to have lunch and we talked with Felix, He's a little more stubborn about the whole religion thing. We tried to explain the importance of prayer... the kids were having tantroms and the Spirit was struggling to be there, LETS PRAY.

We asked Felix to say the prayer... 

Lore was in tears by the end of it. 

It was.. wow. We were all just standing there watching her cry so I pushed Felix by the shoulder and pointed to her like "hug her ya dummy!" success :) 

She is praying to be baptized this Wednesday. Yes.

This week I've learned a lot about the Spirit, the gift we recieve by hands on our head and a being given a blessings. It is the greatest gift that God could give us, the companionship of the Spirit to always keep us on the right path. It's just like getting to know a new friend, we have to ask questions, pay attention, and listen really carefully in order to notice the small promptings, I've been trying to do so as I teach, sometimes we think things, or thoughts pop into our head for a reason.

I love this Gospel. I love our Savior. Even though things are really hard sometimes, we feel like life has beaten us up pretty good, don't lose hope. 

He was broken so that we don't have to be. 

Watch this video and cry :) it's the cutest thing - old people!!!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3609934299001

Don't forget how much I love you, and how much God loves you, too.

Siempre suyo,

Hermana Skidmore