The Proposal

Hey Y'all!

So something really funny happened yesterday. But let me give you a little background first. So several weeks ago we met this guy from Guatemala who barely spoke any English. We went back a little later and gave him a Spanish Book of Mormon and thought we were never gonna hear from him again. Fast Forward to yesterday and we get this call from someone and we can't really understand what they're saying but find out that it's this guy. We tell him that we'll be over to his house in 5 minutes to see what he wanted. So we get there and end up making a return appointment to bring someone with us who spoke Spanish. And he starts asking me questions about where I'm from and stuff and then asked me something that I couldn't understand. So he pulls out his phone and starts to type something into google translate. And he shows me the screen and on it it says "Marry Me". I didn't know what to do and kinda just started laughing and was like "uhhhh no no no..." And he asked why and I tried explain that we were missionaries and basically got off that porch as fast as I could. So let's just see how our return appointment goes on Sunday.

The rest of the week wasn't too eventful. We put one of our investigators on date to be baptized which is exciting! His name's John and we've only had two lessons with him and he's come to church once. He has a real desire to change though and is progressing really well!

We met a couple earlier in the week and they invited us over for dinner. They are Pentecostal and were interested in what we have to say. Their family is so awesome though! They have 3 kids who latched on to us as soon as they met us and have a great faith in Christ. The girl, Harley, is in 5th grade and the first time we came by we gave her a picture that had the articles of faith on it. When we came back she said that she had taken it to school with her and was writing down questions that she had so that we could answer them for her. Anyways, we have an great dinner with them and we were all probably laughing 90% of the time. The mom is from Washington and her best friend’s mom had given her a Book of Mormon when she graduated high school but didn't know much about what we believed. They also had another friend over for dinner that we got to teach too. However, this was probably the hardest lesson we've ever taught. They were all so knowledgeable about the Bible already and asked some questions that I had no idea how to answer. Thankfully we got through it and just emphasized how important the Book or Mormon is to knowing the truth for themselves. They're reading it and we'll be back to see how they're doing a little later.

I am loving it here in West Virginia and am so excited for everything that's going on in Teay's Valley! I know the Lord is putting people in our path who have been prepared to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I hope y'all have a great week and stay safe!!

Love you,

Sister de la Cruz

Frog or Toad? We're not sure

We passed a pastry shop in Charleston on our way to District Conference and just had to stop on the way back. They are famous for these pastries called hotdogs and I'm glad it's not in our area otherwise we'd be there everyday.

Elder Cook

Cute little 89 yr old lady who had all the missionaries over for lunch after Stake Conference. Her, her mom, and her grandma all would sit in the foyer before church and invite everyone to their house after church for dinner, especially those people who were just visiting. They'd always have a bunch of food for everyone who wanted to come. Super Sweet Lady.

Hi Everyone!!!!

This weekend has by far been the best one of my Mission! Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and visited Charleston and spoke to all of the Missionaries and Bishops/Ward Mission Leaders Saturday morning along with Elder S. Gifford Nielson of the Seventy and Elder Michael Dudley, the Area Seventy. Before the meeting started they asked to shake all of the missionaries hands and so one by one we got to greet them! The meeting was soo good! He emphasized the urgency of the work and how much he has felt that in the last few months especially. The most powerful moment of the entire weekend was at the very end of our meeting Saturday when Elder Cook bore his testimony of the Savior. He started out with telling us that there are spiritual experiences that you don't share with others because of the sacredness of them but that since he has been an apostle he has had sacred experiences that have given him a sure witness of Christ. He said, "I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say. I know the Savior lives. I know His voice and I know his face." As he was saying that the Spirit hit me like nothing I've ever felt before. I had tears coming down my face and there is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ lives. There is no way I could ever deny what I felt in that meeting. Right after that we ended with singing "I Know that my Redeemer Lives" and almost everyone was crying by that point. I loved having our entire mission together, about 170 missionaries, and being able to see Sister Maxfield again! There is no where I'd rather be than in the West Virginia mission <3

On Sunday we had a special stake conference with Elder Cook and Elder Dudley. We were so happy that one of our investigators, Eddie, was able to come with his 3 kids! They sat with us near the front and we had another amazing meeting. After Elder Cook finished speaking and the meeting ended we asked him how he felt. He said that he felt a power in his chest and we helped him recognize that as the Spirit and that was cool. Elder Cook was shaking member's hands and so we asked if he would like to go shake his hand too. He said okay and so we started walking over to him but Elder Cook was surrounded by people and almost out the door. We decided to meet Elder Dudley instead because he was nearby. I was the first to meet him and he asked how my mission was going and I said I was having a great time. Then he asked me to tell him about one of the people I was teaching and I was soo happy I could point to Eddie and say "Here's one of them!" He greeted him and his kids and asked if we had talked to Elder Cook yet. We said no and he said "When then let's go do that now!" We were then personally escorted by a Seventy to and Apostle of Jesus Christ!!!!! He had us wait outside a small room in the church and then ushered us in and waiting there was Elder Cook! He greeted us and then talked to Eddie and told him that he was exactly where he needed to be right now and to keep going. He told him that he was on the right path and that was great because that was a question Eddie had been having for a while. It was such an amazing experience and I will never forget this weekend.

I love you all. 

Sister de la Cruz 

 First bad decision: Getting a pizza at 9 o'clock at night

Second bad decision: Eating all of it. 

My favorite page of the Mission Healthbook

"You should be the South for Halloween"

"Um..Are Y'all Having a Meeting?"

Hey Y'all!

I hope everyone's week has been great! This past week and a half went by a lot faster than I thought it would considering we didn't have P-Day until Wednesday because of transfers. Sister Condie and I are staying in Teay's Valley for another 6 weeks. 

Some highlights from the week:

1. We had District Meeting in Montgomery on Tuesday which is like an hour away from Teay's Valley. We roadtripped over there and it was cool to see more of West Virginia. One thing that was kinda weird was that we had our meeting in a furniture store... It was owned by a member and he said we could use it so we did. We couldn't lock the door so in the middle of the meeting this lady walked in and was like "umm...Are y'all having a meeting?" I can only imagine what she was thinking when she walked into this store and found a group of missionaries meeting on tables in the middle of the store that were for sale. After she left we blocked the door with a chair and a "Stop Smoking" poster.

District Meeting in the Furniture Store

2. Sunday we had a really interesting night tracting. First, we were walking off a lady's doorstep and my skirt got caught on a pot and brought it crashing down. Luckily it was plastic and didn't break and we were able to put most of the plant and dirt back in without the lady seeing. Then we went to another house and the people just invited us right in. They had dogs though and they were a little too happy to see us. While I was talking to them the dogs were jumping all over us and one peed all over my leg. I just had to smile and keep talking but immediately after we left the house we went to a member's house so I could get all the pee off. After that we were walking around and saw some people outside in their yard so we went over to talk to them. They had a bunch of chickens and let us hold some. While we were talking to them a bird pooped on Sister Condie! I won't forget that night for a while. 

3. President Lindhardt came and visited our ward on Sunday. It was a great week for him to come too because we had a guy that we had been teaching there and several less-actives we have been visiting. The guy I talked about last week that came after Sister Condie gave him a smackdown even bore his testimony about it and how it had been a sort of wake-up call when we knocked on his door.

Companions <3

4. Today for P-Day we went to Charleston with the other Sisters in our Ward, Sister Thorsteinson and Sister Coombs. We visited the State Museum and walked around the Capital Building for a little while checking out all the history of West Virginia. 

State Capitol

5. This week was a food miracle. After having like no money left for the month for groceries because we went a little overboard in the beginning we ended up eating better than we have the whole transfer. On Monday we went to a member's house and had these giant steaks and had a different member bring us over everything for pulled pork sandwiches (which are like my favorite thing ever). The next day someone else took us out to eat for lunch and someone had us over for dinner. We had food from members for almost every single meal and I know we are being watched over by Heavenly Father haha

Something Spiritual:

Something I've learned so far out here in West Virginia is that everyone goes through trials and has difficulties in their life. What I've also learned though is that Satan tries to get you to use them as an excuse while Heavenly Father uses them to test your faith and make you stronger. When trials come we can either mope around and give up because it is hard or put our trust in God and do everything in our power to follow what he has commanded us to do. I have met many people here and you can usually tell who chooses the first option and who chooses the latter. The one's who choose the latter tend to be happier and find more joy in life while those who choose the first tend to be in a never-ending state of gloom because life never gets easy. We must choose to not let the adversary get to us and press forward putting our trust in God. That's the only way we'll find happiness. So yeah, that's what I learned this week:)

I hope everyone has a great week and I love you all, 

~Sister de la Cruz

 Drive to Montgomery

We drove past an old cemetery that was HUGE