Alright well this week has been absolutely jammed-packed. There has been no time to sit, we've also happened to have a bike week - in honor of it being the end of the month.

The beginning of the week...

Monday and Tuesday we were able to do some service - 'picture hanging' at Sister Gardiner's home, and I found out that I may be allergic to goat cheese. My consumption of mexican food has stayed pretty consistent throughout my time here in south texas. I love mexican food but tuesday night I had one of the fanciest and most delicious meals thus far - goat cheese and grilled veggie sandwiches...well then I got sick so either I am allergic to goat cheese or my intestines aren't use to breaking down real food anymore; hopefully the former.

Wednesday, we had exchanges. I was working in our area of north Laredo and Sis. Barton headed down to work in the south. Alright so a fun part of this exchange is I got to work with my 'mission grandma' - Sis. Hunt. Sis. Hunt was the trainer 'mom' for Sis. Bentz who trained me. 

Thursday and Friday, well we were able to organize our plans for our investigators but little did we know that most of them would go out the window. Life is so funny that way, we plan and plan and those plans are essential for Heavenly Father to be able to redirect our plans and make them better...even if they may not seem 'better' at first. Mostly the days were spent just contacting doors (10+ hours) and dropping over invitations for the General Women's Broadcast: everyone needs to watch that by the way, families are forever. 

Now for this weekend... 

Remember when we got popsicles in the Walmart parking lot about 3 weeks ago. And talked to a family and invited them to church and they came to church. 

Well, Saturday afternoon we got a text from Hermano Carlos Martinez and he said he was having some family trouble and wondered if we could talk. So we said yes and told him we could meet him at the church. So, we show up at the church and he was upset. He runs over to us and we ask what is wrong. he explains that he found out that his wife is cheating on him with another man, they are seperating and he doesn't know what will happen to their 5 kids.  It was heartbreaking. When they came to church they had an adorable family. This man LOVES his kids and his family. and it just fell apart. So, we took him inside and there was a member there that sat down and talked with him ...It was a huge blessing that the branch president from South Laredo was there to help us with the lesson and communicate our thoughts in spanish and share his testimony. Then the Elders came and gave him a blessing. That night we got a voicemail from him, he just couldn't express his gratitude enough.

Then, Sunday Morning at about 9:30 I am preparing my talk for church when the other sisters tell us that they got a text from the elders that Hno Martinez is at church. He had gone to the branch that was at 8:30 in the morning. So we rush out the door and show up just in time to talk to him after sacrament meeting. They didn't have a gospel principles class so we took him into a classroom and taught the restoration to him. The lesson went wonderful! I felt like sister Barton and I taught everything clearly and he felt the spirit. It was fun.... we showed him the picture of Joseph Smith recieving the preisthood and the hands are on his head he said, "i know this is true. I had that yesterday. it works"...he remembered his blessing. It was a special moment as he felt the spirit, we shared our testimonies, and his heart was touched. 

Ok. Now this is where things get crazy. 

We come out of the lesson and the zone leaders start talking to him. They tell him that because he came to church earlier he could actually be baptized today....so things started happening, a baptism was set up, and the zone leaders interviewed him. And 1 hour later we were having his baptism. It was mass chaos and confusion.  But, I think the most important part was that he felt the spirit . I loved seeing the hope in his eyes as he realized that there was hope and he could rise above the challenges in his family and use all of his experiences to strengthen his faith. 

Sunday also included, three of our less active girls that we're working with from the college, TAMI-U coming to the young single adult branch for the first time and a new investigator coming out of the blue. 

I'm grateful to be busy it's  happiness......this week has left me with the understanding that nothing is ever truly finished, we will have work to do for the rest of our lives, and then after that as well. Heavenly Father truly never gets a break, but life is more fulfilling that way!

Laredo Lovin' xoxo

H. mckenna Crawford