Happiness!!

HOLA!!!!

Life is splendid in good ol' Mississippi! I love being a missionary :)
There are really so many great people down here. This week has been
fantastic! I am grateful for the little things that just make me smile
every day. Here's about the run down of the week: volleyball and
frisbee, lots of biking, awkward district meetings, wonderful
investigators, cat poop on my companion :) , horses, lost name tags, a
kiss from a little 3 year old (not aloud by the way!), trailers!,
mexican restaurants, dancing latinos, and cheesecake. I love that we
can just laugh and smile about everything.

We went to Tupelo on Monday for our zone activity. We got to wax our
cars, eat pizza, and play. That was nice to just relax with everyone
for a while. Soreness followed, but that's all good. Not to mention,
missionaries waxing cars is more like a government job where about 4
people do it and everyone else watches :) But hey, we're not getting
payed. On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go help a member's
non-member friend on her ranch! Now I am officially southern. We
mostly just helped with the horses which I wasn't to excited about
since horses scare me ;) But! by the end, I warmed up to them! Messy
job it is! They lady is fantastic, she should already be a member, her
husband just doesn't like the whole mormon "cult" idea. Afterwards we
went to the members house in Iuka to get all cleaned up so we could go
visit some members out there and I forgot my shoes... I only had to
wear my tennis shoes for a little bit before we found some that could
actually fit me. Curse my giant feet! It's all good though, I just
looked like a pentacostal for a few hours.

We had District meeting on Wednesday and the District Leader asked
Sister Barroso and I if we would give a training on baptismal
invitations since we had the most last week. (We are starting to count
them to illicit more invitations to baptism so we can actually get
some!). Well, I've done my fair share of training in meetings, so I
tried to let Sister Barroso take over for most of it, but I had the
grand idea to liken it to asking people on dates. (Dating and
missionary work should just stay far apart in the first place). But I
thought it was something everyone could relate too. Suffice it to say,
I said something dumb and now the elders won't let me live it down.
It's a blessing to be able to just laugh things off. Oh and I played
the piano beautifully (horribly) because nobody in our district can so
that was something to laugh off too! So there you have it boys, learn
ya some hymns before you get out on the mission!

We are still teaching Jesus. I just love that man! He has such good
intents and he just wants to be better. He came to church again! This
will be the 6th or 7th time, so we know at least he likes church
enough to keep coming. We had a lesson this week and set a baptismal
date finally! He is set for November 23rd. He still says he is not
quite sure if it is something that he wants or is ready for, but we
just keep encouraging him to read and pray everday. It's frustrating
because I think he has recieved an answer, he just hasn't realized it.
He has a hard time recognizing the spirit, which I can completely
understand, it's even hard for me! but, he loves all that we have
taught him... I am just praying my heart out that we can figure out
how to help this man. Our future branch president!

Rey, his son, has started to move backwards a bit. He hasn't come to
church these past couple weeks. He is going through some hard times
right now with a divorce, hardly any work to make a living off of,
friends moving, etc.. But he sees how this gospel could be a blessing
for him and he keeps telling us that he hopes we don't feel like we
are wasting our time teaching him, he just is moving slower. He wants
this though, I can see it in him. For his son, and for his mom and
siblings back in Mexico. Sometimes I wish I could just put what I know
into our investigators brains! But I guess that's what this gospel is
all about, finding out for yourself.

We haven't been able to see Shay this week... She moved this week so
we went over to help her a bit, but we haven't been able to sit down
with her. Everytime we try to teach the Word of Wisdom, something
comes up. Which is frustrating because that's about the only thing
that would be holding her back from baptism. The adversary is a bum.
Also we are working with Denise and her 3 lovely little terrors of
boys. I just love them! Cruise, her littlest, is the one who planted
one on me this week. What can you do when it comes out of the blue?
Nah he just got my cheek, but they're the cutest. I just want to take
them all home with me! Teaching Denise is merely impossible though
with them running around!

We had 4 families of investigators come to our Halloween party at the
church on Wednesday! That was a blessing. Now we just have to convince
them to come to church! I love activities though, because they give
our investigators a chance to come to church in a non-threatening
atmosphere and they can see that the members are just normal people.
They all loved it, so hopefully that's at least a foot in the door.

Yesterday Rey made us dinner :) He had us over and he's all, "Y'all
going to come in?" and we were like, "We can't! Why do you think we
teach you outside all the time?!" He said he was going to have one of
his lady friends over, but she didn't end up coming. So we ended up
eating outside and he invited his dad, Jesus, over, so we had a good
time with some good ol' Mexican food. Apparently Jesus used to teach
dancing so he showed us some of his moves. These are the moments I am
grateful for :)

On Halloween it rained like nobodies business. We went to this place
where we have "potential investigators" who don't know they are yet ;)
We stop by and eat there sometimes. It's called "The Barn" (at least
that's what we call it). So it was a good evening... Besides the fact
I lost my tag. But! I found it again. Prayer works!

I know this area will take off soon. I can see it in the members and
in the missionaries here, it may just be after we all leave. Starting
the Spanish is difficult because they really don't have a foundation
to go off of. We're just praying we can get a rock solid investigator
to start it all!

I love you all! Thanks for the pictures. I can't believe how grown up
all the kids look! Y'all are getting so big :') Mucho amor! Love,
Hermana Decker