Leaves are Falling but Progress is Rising

Happy Halloween everyone! One of my favorite things in this world is to walk through a bunch of colorful leaves on the ground. It's entertaining somehow. Love this time of year! 

  My it has been a SUPER long week but first things first, transfers! Hermana Dorsey and I are both staying in our area, as is pretty much all of the Spanish zone. Good thing, because we have some work to finish here still! Though it was long, that means a lot happened. It was also a week I felt like we started to see miracles. Our investigators are starting to progress! 

  Our ward had a very successful Halloween party on Friday, lots of investigators and members friends and less actives came! We got some new contacts out of it :) They were each miracles to us! All of our investigators on date for baptism and confirmation came to church, and so many things were said during church that I knew were meant for individual needs of our investigators. I was so happy! For example, we have a family who the husand is a member but has not been going to church for most of his life, the Mom is somewhat Catholic, and they have a very sweet daughter. They are mostly interested in the church to help teach their daughter about God and how to follow him. And all the talks in church this Sunday were about the Primary program! INSPIRED! And then another investigator, Sergio, who just married a member of our ward, came to gospel principles where we talked all about the Sabbath day, and he had a question about that earlier in the week! I have a testimony about the power of church to answer our questions and bring power into our lives. God is only waiting to bless us.  

  At a different lesson, we saw a miraculous change of heart in a woman named Elizabeth who initially told us we could come talk to her but she wouldn't get baptized. But that lesson, she had read her assignment in the book of Mormon, she was feeling the Spirit, and we could see she was starting to think about baptism. Our companion and I were so excited about it afterwards. The Lord changes hearts!

 I've been really working on faith, and I've been feeling more optimistic lately, thank you all of you for you prayers! I decided to take some of the messages from General Conference to heart about learning more about Jesus Christ in order to increase my faith. In the talk "That Your Joy Might Be Full", Sister Bingham said, "The more we learn about, have faith in, and emulate Jesus Christ, the more we come to understand that He is the source of all healing, peace, and eternal progress." This is so true! As I've studied faith I've been reminded that if I truly believe in Christ, that means I trust Him and His promises, and that I want to become like him and follow His commandments! I want to share that message with others, because so many people I meet say they believe in Christ but don't do much about it. They don't feel the need to go to church, and don't see why there would only be one true church.There is so much joy available to you in this life if you will only act and take steps toward Jesus Christ!

 I started going through the scriptures in the Topical Guide under Jesus Christ. Naturally, there are a TON of them. And I love the scriptures where Christ introduces himself, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are...I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people" (3 Nephi 9:15 and Ether 3:14). It is a bold declaration because it is true. And I would also like to boldly declare that Jesus is the Christ, and this is His church in these latter days, and we will find lasting happiness for our families through him! 

 I am happy to be staying in my area and I am looking forward to the continued progress ahead. Shoutout to the Matt and Wendy Alley family in New Braunfels, Texas, there's a missionary from my mission going home to your stake this week! Look out for Elder Larson! I told him to say hi to you.

 Also shoutout to my little brother getting baptized this weekend! I LOVE YOU!

Les quiero mucho,

Hermana Alley