what a week!

Stockton, California is the best place a missionary could ever be.  ever.  ( except Carmichael, of course!  )  We had a BOMB AWESOME week and taught 11 lessons!  On Tuesday, Sister Lewis came out with us to do some teaching, it was fun to show her the Deaf work.  Dianne is still learning and she wants to be baptized in August!  Kelly, the paralyzed Deafie in Carmichael, however, had to postpone baptism until a few weeks.  Hopefully I will see it happen soon for her!!

 For Mom's birthday on Saturday, I thought about her all day!  I looked at Sister Konou in the morning and said "Sister Konou!  For my mom's birthday, I need to get a new investigator!"  We tried to get one all day, but to no avail.  Our last stop of the night was this lady named Cynthia who we have never met, she's just a potential in our book.  So we decided to go see her until I realized it said that Sundays were best for her, not Saturdays.  I had written her down on the wrong day.  I was tempted to choose a different person but the spirit told me to go see her.  So we got in the car and plugged her address into the GPS.  Our GPS wouldnt connect to the sattelite.  We tried and tried but it refused, I think it was overheating...so we took a deep breath and looked at our map.  Started driving over and I only got lost like 7 times but we eventually made it to her apartment!  Satan tried to stop us, with an emphasis on TRIED.  It took us a good 30 minutes just to get there and I was so frustrated because I cant read maps well and Sister Konou's even worse than I am, but we parked and said a prayer.  We went to Cynthia's apartment and her door was open.  She's the cutest black lady in her mid 50's.  She's recently had 3 strokes and she has been wondering for a long time what the Mormons believe!!  She was really excited to learn and to read the book of mormon we gave her!  She's so legit!!!  So, mom, your birthday wish came true.  kinda.  haha. 

So because Mom's birthday wish went that well, I decided to do the same thing for Fathers Day!  I want a new investigator!!  One of the Spanish elders contacted me saying he'd been teaching a Deaf Mexican for a long time, but he doesnt really sign.  We decided to go check out the situation to see if we could help him learn faster.  So on Sunday night we went to his house in the Ghetto, dirt floors and all that fun jazz.  He went deaf because he was hit by a car and he spoke Spanish and read lips in Spanish.  So, the elders talked to him but he didnt understand much.  I tried to sign, but that was even LESS effective.  He's been going to the Catholic church and just sitting there, understanding nothing.  I told him he could learn ASL and then come to ours, so we'll see what happens.  I asked him if he wanted to learn how to sign and he started writing on a piece of paper.  The whole night, he'd been reading what the elders would write to him if he didnt understand their lips, but he didnt much respond to me.  I was so excited that he was actually wanting to ask me a question and he asked the elders if I read spanish.  They told him it would have to be in English.  So he writes on this paper and I'm all excited to see what he's going to be asking me about the gospel.  He hands it to me and I read "Are you married?"  PAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  That was his one question to me?!  Oh man.  Why does he know how to say that in English?!  The elders laughed a lot and I did too.  I told him I wasnt married, but not sure he understood that we cant really date.  We'll see if I go back to teach him more.  hahah.  So sorry Dad, I didnt get a new Deaf investigator for you for Fathers Day.  I think the elders are doing a better job at communicating with him, he doesnt sign AT ALL. 

It was an amazing week.  We are starting to see Elder Holland's apostolic promise come true.  Everywhere around the mission, we are teaching more lessons than ever before, we are adding more people to teach and we just need our baptism numbers to increase!  Its so exciting!!  I love being a missionary with all my heart!!!

Love all of you!!

Sister Wilson