Happy April 16th---my favorite day of the year =]

Well, transfers happen today and I'm staying. That is 3 months already in the singles ward and staying for another month and a 1/2. The area is just beginning to bloom though so I was hoping to stay. We're finally getting a handle on the area (as big as it is...) and working well with the ward. The Bishop is hard to work with (he's not too excited about missionary work) but we try our best. Our relationship with the bishopric has become a LOT better since I first came, so it's improving slowly.Music has now been approved to listen to in the cars!!!!!!! WAHOO! Only hymns though, which I'm totally ok with cuz I love the hymns. It also helps S. Cardoso who doesn't know many of the hymns in English, so we sing along and I explain the phrases she doesn't understand. It's been so good! Music always brings the spirit, and just makes for a better day.This week we met a former investigator who has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and of the church but has not been baptized. She KNOWS this is God's church here on earth, but kept making excuses. That was a year ago. We went to check on her to see if she would want us to come back and she was so welcoming and kind. I didn't know what to do or share with her cuz she had been taught all the lessons many times, so we began by getting to know her a little. We asked her straight out why she hasn't been baptized yet (I prefer to ask straight out cuz that's when you get a straight answer...most of the time) and she blamed it on her parents, so we talked a little about agency and how no one can force you to make any decision. You can't place blame on anyone but yourself. As we were talking the spirit just directed us to ask her the baptismal interview questions. As she answered those questions she just had such a light and amazing testimony, and yet I sensed that something was missing. I asked her if she has a testimony of the living prophet today, and she answered without hesitation. No. That was our key! It was perfect cuz we had just mentioned general conference, so we committed her to watch it online, and set a time to come back and discuss it. I am so excited about her! I don't know if she'll decide to finally take the step to be baptized, but she will definitely change more than she has before. I felt that so strongly when we visited with her. She's going to be amazing and it'll be unforgettable. I just know it.We also met another girl who had investigated the church last year who was super nice. She told us outright she doesn't want to convert, but she wants to feed us dinner and talk about the gospel. I told her our purpose is to prepare people for baptism, and that we would be inviting her, but she was free to decide for herself if that's what she wants. She agreed and a time was set. I've never has someone (not a member) offer to feed us the first time we walked in the door. We only talked to her for 5 minutes and we got a dinner appt out of it!! That's what I call awesome pants. That's next week on Wed. night, so you won't hear about it for 2 weeks...unless our p-day is changed to Thursday for some reason. You never know though. It happens.Well, I love a miss you all. I hope you are trying hard to be better everyday. I don't care if you're perfect, cuz obviously you're not gonig to be yet, but you can try. Do a little more today than you did yesterday. Be a little more kind. Be a little more unselfish. Be a little more proactive in living what you know.Have a fabulous week!

~Sister Witbeck~