April 21

Despite the title of the email, I have not actually gotten to use my Spanish (yes, a bit misleading), but I'm still praying in Spanish and doing language study. Maybe one of these days I'll actually teach someone, though I won't say I'm in a rush. Some of it I will admit is starting to slip.

Anyways, this weekend was awesome! Our investigator Nickie was baptized, and it was quite the event :) Her family and her in-laws even showed up! She was so nervous about the baptism, and she said she felt like she was supposed to be in jail because of the attractive jumpsuit she was wearing. I told her she looked much prettier in white than she would in orange :)

Bless Brother Litster's heart, he tried so hard to make sure the water was warm...no esta. When she came out of the water the first time, you could tell she was a little shocked from the temperature. Her knee came up during the baptism, so she had to do it again! On the second dunk when she sent down, she hit her head on the railing! Elder Flinders felt so bad (he was the one who baptized her). After she changed and came back out, Brother Litster got up and said, "Not only do you become cleansed from your sins, but we do our best to make sure you can't remember them."

After the baptism, I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and it went really well :) I talked about how the Spirit is like a flashlight, a GPS, a Tide-to-Go pen, and a blanket, of course using those objects in my lesson. I also related my baby-sitting story when I was 12 where the Spirit prompted me to make that 911 call. I had a lot of people give me compliments on it. My teaching is getting better and better all the time! :)

Easter was really great! Nickie was confirmed that day, and her family came to see it! :) Nickie's daughter, Susie, is also pretty great. She said she would be interested in learning more about what we have to teach, so that's awesome! In the spirit of giving, I decided to give her a skirt and a dress that I can't wear out here on my mission. She seemed pretty excited about them. It made me feel really good :)

To continue on the spirit of giving, Sister Raymer (my last companion) gave me a CD of the MoTab singing Hollywood and Broadway music because to her she felt like she was being disobedient. After awhile of having it, I decided the same, so I gave it to a less active family for Easter. They also seemed really excited about that. Giving just brings me so much joy!

We also made banana peanut-butter Reese's Cups bread with them. It was really nice to do some baking even though I couldn't eat any. I've learned that I really like cooking and baking and that I miss it since I don't get a lot of time for it.

I'm glad you had a good Easter! Have a good week! Love you!

Some pictures:

These are of my comps & giant dog that we live with :D

These are pictures of things my investigator Nickie made for us herself!  She knows how to weld metal! She gave these to Sister Vance and me as an Easter and thank you present.So cool!!!

Here's a few pictures of my hair with a more flattering view. Hurrah for selfies! (And here's also a picture with my headband on too. Thanks Mommy!)

Hermana Candland