Hair Twisting

Familia,

We had transfers last night and guess what??????? Hermana Chapman and I are both staying in Los Andes! We are so excited! This is the first time I haven´t received transfers. The week before last week I was thinking that I was going to be transferred and started to pray for peace, but then last week I started to feel like maybe I would stay. Then we had interviews on Thursday and we asked our zone leader if he thought we would be transferred and he said no because we are working really hard and having success together. In my interview with President May, he said that he really felt like we would make a good companionship and was glad to hear that we get along really well and are working hard. He told Hermana Chapman in her interview that he has a lot of confidence in us and that we are going to have a lot of success together. So there you have it, I will be in Los Andes for six more weeks and then I think I will be returning to Santiago. Hermana Atkin is staying in the zone too.

The even BIGGER news, we had a BAPTISM!!! And I can´t wait to hear if Ben had his baptism too, because that means we had baptisms the same day. There is nothing better than that, to share a baptism day with your brother experiencing the same feelings. Thank you everyone for prayers offered for Isa, she had a week free of the usual problems and her baptism was beautiful.
Are you wondering how we met Isa? During my second week with Ha. Spielmann we contacted a teenager named Diego in the street and he said that he is a member and so is his mom, but his dad isn´t, we wrote down his address with the intent to visit him. Time passed, like weeks. We passed his house one night not knowing that it was his house just as his family was leaving. We contacted Luis the nonmember boyfriend of Elba the mom and then she came out. After talking with them briefly we said we would stop by again sometime. Time passed again. We walked by again one day just as they were leaving. After this we thought, “Yeah there is a reason that we keep passing by when they happen to be outside.” So one Friday night we stopped by and visited with Elba and her other daughter that is a member. Elba said that she Works up in the mountains during the week but her other daughter and the daughters of Luis are always in the house during the week and that we should stop by to visit them.
We met Isa and Pati the last week of July and set baptismal dates for both of them in the first visit. They both prayed that night to see if what we shared was true and that this is the church of Jesus Christ. Pati recieved an answer right away and Isa didn´t. That made it hard for Isa because she wanted to be baptized and she believed before she prayed that this is the way to have a baptism like Christ. She is 17 and that is a hard age to think much about spiritual things when you have pressures at school and from your friends. She started to doubt a Little bit, but continued to listen to the Ha Spielmann and I and then Ha Chapman. Saturday before last Saturday she told us that she wanted to be baptized. It was a Little bit of a shock because we had passed up one baptismal date and it looked like we were going to pass up this one too.
She has kept her commitments the whole way and I think that is what made the difference. When we are praying and Reading in the Book of MOrmon we are going to have the desire to make choices that really are going to bring us happiness. On Friday night Ha Chapman practiced a song to sing at her baptism with another member who accompanied he ron the violin and Isa came with us. The only thing we had left to teach her before her interview was about fasting. I taught her about fasting while Ha Chapman practiced with Eduardo. Isa asked me why fasting is important if we can just pray and ask for what we need. I answered with the reason that it is a way top ut in our part to recieve a blessing and then shared with her how it really didn´t make sense to me either, but I just did it and then recieved a testimony of it after. The next morning when we picked her up for her interview, Ha Chapman gave her a package of cookies and Isa said that she couldn´t eat them because she was fasting. So precios! Our Isa was nervous for her interview so she decided to try out fasting to help her. When I Heard that oh man did it touch my heart.
I have so much love for this 17 year old. She plays basketball for her school and yesterday I gave her my practice shorts from highschool. I am positively sure that she is one of the people I came to find, that I knew her before. Last night while we were eating cake I started twisting my hair like I have done since I was Little to show that I am tired. I noticed that I was doing it and told Isa that it means I am tired. She said, “No way I do the same thing.” Crazy. Last night she tied her lucky bracelet on my wrist to give me luck for transfers, she prayed all week that we wouldn´t get transferred. She has watched my videos on the blog lots of times and thinks they are pretty funny. Are you still watching them to remember me, Matthew???
Christian had an accident with hot wáter this week. It was a big comotion in the house of an investigator and we had to send him to the hospital. He has burns all down his back and his feet, like he needed another trial. He is strong though and using this as a learning experience.

I love you all more than I can express! I don´t know if I ever told you that my date to arrive home is the 28 of September, so we have a Little more than a year left. I am so jealous of Mom and Dad visiting the Louvre. If you had asked me what you needed to see it would have been the greek statue of the NIke, I think that is what she is called, she doesn´t have a head and she is beautiful. Have a great time parents and take a million bazillion pictures.

LOve,
Hermana Arnold