Week 40

Hello hello everyone!!

Well another emotional roller coaster has come and gone with an emergency transfer, investigador passing baptismal interview, and the mother sending away her 32 year old daughter to prevent her baptism the day off. Just a day in the life. Always gotta be buckled up.

Soooo, basically P_______ is nothing short of a miracle. I haven't written much about her. When we got doubled in, the first Sunday we were at church she basically walked in! A recent convert was talking to her at a train station and casually invited her to church and she came! We knew off the bat that something was a little off with her. We weren't sure what. She's Colombian and 32 years old. We kept meeting with her and she wasn't understanding things super fast, so we were just teaching little by little and frequent visits. The spirit was always remarkably strong in these appts. As time went on, she started to retain more and more and really astounded us with her answers. She became more and more herself, cracking jokes and all that. That's when we knew she was accountable. She was so excited for her baptism and kept saying she feels so much peace and calm when she is with us and when she prays and when she thinks about baptism. She's obesesed with mormon.org and if we are one minute late to an appt she calls us and demands to know where we are :) I grew to love her more than just about anyone else I've come in contact with in my mission. She is someone quite special. She was all ready for her baptismal interview. That morning of the interview we reviewed the questions and she did wonderfully! She showed us pictures on her Facebook of her back in Colombia a few years ago and we hardly recognized her. She was sooo guapa and looked normal. We left so confused wondering what made such a change. 

When she was in her interview, Elder Lopez was talking to her and she asked him why he wears glasses. He explained the problem with his vision and then asked her why she wears glasses. She said that she contracted this rare diasease between the connection of her eyes and her brain which is why she blicks so hard and twitches sometimes. Basically it can shut off her brain at any moment. Sister Dubon and I were shocked. I felt the spirit so strongly knowing that this daughter of God is very special to Him because He wants her back real bad. She says that she used to be normal but the medication has basically made her mentally retarded. She knows it and she tries to fight it. I couldn't even imagine what she could possibly be going through, but I began to realize that this intensified degree of love I felt from her truly came from the Savior.

She was sooooo excited. Then satan always has to get in the way somehow. Sunday was already for her baptism. We called her and she wasn't answering, so then we kept calling her. Then her phone was turned off. We immediately knew that this was not good. We drove over to her appt and her step- dad answered saying that her mother took her away and they would be coming back in the tarde. P___ called later that night. she asked us to come over. as soon as i entered the house, I just wanted to run out the other way. She did not look good, she was twitching more than normal and she wasn't happy. Its was like mentally, she had taken 6 steps back. Her mother is an alcoholic and abusive and her step dad is a drug addict and was a rough environment. P____ wants to be baptized next Sunday and is so anxious to feel the spirit. so yeah. That's basically that so we are praying real hard that all goes well. Keep her in your prayers!!

We had a luau sister party today that the sister training leaders put on with Sister Taggart! It was such a hit!

Love you all!!

Hermana Mortensen

P____!! We love her :)

Emily Taggart and I having phone at photo booth

I am so lame!

My main girl

Me and all of my companions! except Sister Boudescoque... or should I say Hawkins?