This ward is BOMB

Hey hey fam! Guess what!? this week is my first time not going to transfer meeting since January haha. It's nice. Sister Conger and I will be staying here in good ol retirement capital del mundo :) 

So Denise yall! she. is. my. favorite. Ahhh, she's really the most prepared and dedicated person I've met! We brought a member this week who we found out is in a singing group with her! They're good friends now and we had a meal set up with that member so we had her call Denise and invite her. Turns out, they stayed for about an hour chatting after we left. We had the ward mission leader and his wife (RS pres) over on Saturday and talked about the word of wisdom. Background: last time she was meeting with missionaries 10 years ago, when it came to the word of wisdom, they went into her kitchen, dumped out her coffee and wine and TOOK her coffee maker.... eeeeee. So she had a sore spot from that. We told her that we want her to make that decision. We also taught her about fasting earlier in the week and she told us she wants to fast to know if this is what she should do for sure. She was slightly worried about keeping the word of wisdom, but she agreed and we started the fast together so that she could have the strength to keep it. Well church was wonderful! She got there early, her member sister came, testimonies went well, etc. AAaaand then we went to RS.. Who knew a priesthood lesson could quickly turn into a "homosexual" lesson?... The member sister has a daughter who is, soooo that was a turn off. The spirit left the room for a few moments as things got heated and minds were turned from doctrine. Denise's sister was cool about it! Like a very good attitude. Denise on the other hand was shaken up becasue that was a concern of hers from the beginning. She doesn't like that those people are judged, and we need to love them. So everything we taught her about loving them but disagreeing with their actions when they act on it totally backfired in that lesson. We stayed after to talk a bit about it and apologize. Luckily her sister stayed with her at the church building and they stayed from 1-3:30 talking on the stairs outside. We called her last night to see how she is doing. Yeah, she's THE COOLEST! anyone else could have ran from that, but she said she felt peace after talking things through with her sister and stuff. Man, thank goodness for that support! What if her sister hadn't come?! She still has her date for DEc. 13th and we're now less worried about when she leaves for her daughters wedding cause her sister will help her out too. 

Not sure if I told yall about the Burmese family we are teaching english to :) haha I seriously LOVE them. They're so adorable and really progressing. We're slowly easing into talking about God and Jesus Christ. The two kiddies shoot their hands up when we ask who wants to pray haha. We've been looking for teaching materials in Burmese, but they hardly exist... 

We started teaching Antonia english becasue that will help in her long-term conversion. She's a little up in the air right now casue she hasn't been to church in two weeks (last week casue of the temple walk with the YW) but she also fell through on a lesson and we haven't heard back or been able to catch her at home. We'll see... 

We have a new investigator named Herb. The first lesson we realized something was different, like he was speaking through is teeth and such, but the other night when we visited he was uncontrollably shaky. We found out that he has parkinsons. He's there and listens and participates very well! He's nervous to come to church because when he did in Leesburg he was shaking the pugh and was embarrassed. It's difficult to see how he's reacting to things as well. Definitely a different situation. He's so so sweet though and is progressing very well. The other night a member came with us and was so great at sharing her testimony. She shared that she was just diagnosed with lymphoma and testified of the atonement. It was SO powerful and really brought a great spirit.

We go to an assisted living home every sunday to serve ice cream :) haha it could seriously be a reality tv show!! Our favorite lil lady's name is Bertha from Germany. She can't remember if she likes chocolate. She always come in (say it with the accent and with disgust) and says, "I HATE CHOCOLATE" and gives a nice guff. But then inevitably she chooses the chocolate one with chocolate syrup hahaha. She's adorable and gives us kisses on the cheeks all the time. we got to go for halloween and help out with a party for a bit.

Our ward is starting a "sprint family plan" where we meet with the bishop and WML and pray about 2 families in the ward who could share the gospel in small steps. apparently its worked realyl well in a ward in Wyoming. Also, we pick two less active families for bishop to call in and invite them to have 12 lessons with missionaries and to give them a timeline and such. We'll see how it goes! We're way excited for it! This ward is BOMB. Loves yall and happy November :)

Hermana Jackson

PS don't be decieved, its actually quite frigid here right now haha. I've had several people ask if it's stiflin hot.