OK...I'm out of subject lines

Ok, now that I spent fifteen minutes writing a list of things I could talk about, I'm ready to write an email haha. The funny thing is it feels like we did nothing this week, but I keep thinking of things I want to write about. So I think I'll start with some of the people we saw this week. We had quite the combination of lessons. Everything from really really good to seriously weird. Lucio is progressing and as of right now has a date set for May 28th. This week we talked with him about baptism and confirmation and what they mean, the promises we make etc. He is fun to teach because literally everything is new to him, we have to teach really really basically. He has never read the Bible, never really gone to church, never really had a religious background even though he believes in God and Jesus Christ. So when we talked about baptism we had to start with how Christ himself was baptized and how important it is for us to be baptized. The lesson went really well and we're excited to keep teaching him. He didn't come to church this Sunday, and we're not sure why. Hopefully we can get with him this week and get him to church again. We met with Sol again this week and I was equally impressed with her questions. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon. We discussed what true intent means and what it means specifically for her. She is open to everything we are teaching and I think wants to know the truth but it's scary to change the beliefs that you and your family have always had. I seriously love her already. She is so easy to talk to and is just fun. She is really interested in repentance and asks us about it every time we talk. It's awesome to see the hope of the Atonement already working in her life. She picks up on what we teach really fast, probably understands faster than anyone I've ever taught. It just clicks with her. Now we just have to get her to act on it! We had a lesson with that SDA family and talked about the family proclamation. We showed them a video about Heavenly Father and His love for us. They really liked it and the mom especially is fascinated with temples. She asks us about them every time we stop by. Our weirdest lesson of the week was with Saida. We met her at service, and she thought we were Lutheran missionaries, and then Jehovah's Witnesses and then we finally got it cleared up. We were supposed to help her make decorations for her sons birthday, but we got there and she said nope, we did them already, so we taught instead. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and she was not listening to a word we said. At one point she was breast feeding, at one point she was literally nodding off, and at the end we invited her to be baptized again and she said "I've already been baptized, who's going to say the closing prayer?" Almost literally in the same breath. Weird. Those are the most frustrating lessons for me. Like why do we even waste our time. It's so tempting to just walk out. Ugh. It's fine. They invited us to the birthday party, so that's fun I guess. 

This week Sister Hughes and I got up a few mornings and went for a run or a bike ride. It was really nice, I want to do it more often, but the last few days have been really rainy. Minnesota is getting green. It is so pretty and the temperature has been perfect. It's so much easier to find Hispanics to talk to when its nice outside because they are all outside their trailers on nice evenings. We taught multiple lessons outside this week. I have missed that this winter. 

On Saturday we had a branch activity where Sister Cupkie taught us how to make tres leches cake. It's only one of the best cakes ever. Basically all the women stayed int he kitchen and made cake and the Elders and the guys played soccer. Typical. I'd rather play futbol any day. The cake was worth it and we got to talk to one of our friends in the branch who just got engaged. We also saw the Stacey and Jeanette Magic Show. They're a couple of girls in our branch who really remind me of Morgan. I love them and they do magic tricks. 

Sunday was a great day. Probably one of the most uplifting Sundays I've had in way too long. https://www.lds.org/sabbath-day?cid=HP_FR_15-4-2016_dOCS_fMEME_xLIDyL1-A_&lang=eng <<This is a cool new initiative the church is doing, check it out, they have lots of really good ideas on how to keep the Sabbath Day holy. We had way more people in Sunday School than usually, probably twice as many. They do Sunday School first, so usually people don't show up until the last hour which is sacrament meeting. But we did good this week! The lesson was about feasting on the words of Christ and baptism as the gate we enter. We talked especially about covenants and how they are the strait and narrow path that we have to stay on. In Sacrament meeting there were two talks on charity. I think the best thing to talk about at church is love. We were teaching a friend this week (she's one of the daughters of the family we live with, long story) and she mentioned how church is frustrating for her because the two greatest commandments are loving God and each other, and how no one every talks about it. I thought it was a good point, so it was refreshing to have a sacrament meeting on the love of God and Christ. After sacrament meeting I asked the Elders for a blessing. I have been struggling with this thing called I'm too stubborn and proud to ask for help. It's like this mental block that I have where I don't want to inconvenience other people and usually I'm pretty confident I can do things myself. I hate making myself vulnerable in any way. The problem is that it's gotten to the point that I think it's inhibiting how I pray and act. I've been thinking about it a ton and how I can fix it, and it became pretty apparent that I can't do it by myself. So me asking for a blessing (for the first time ever BTW...EVER.) was kind of my way of surrendering and telling Heavenly Father that I'm ready to get over myself. I'm tired of getting in my way. I want to be better. The blessing was incredible. Obviously Elder Hodgson had no idea about any of this, and he talked about having faith, asking Heavenly Father for the things we need, and support we have in our families, leaders, and other missionaries. The power of the priesthood is real, and the Spirit really speaks, sometimes through others. It was like all this heaviness and darkness just evaporated. I felt almost giddy afterward. So cool. So for anyone reading this, don't be stubborn, let God help you, don't learn the hard way.

Sunday night we went to Mission President's fireside in Bloomington with Leo. He is one of my favorite people. Elder Lawrence of the Seventy spoke and basically outlines the first missionary discussion, but way more eloquently than we have ever taught it haha. A few converts to the church spoke as well. It was really good, and I think Leo liked it. I saw Elder Farish there and we talked for a while. He's struggling a little with Cambodian and his companion and area. Understandably! But he's a hard worker, he'll be alright. His companion is native Cambodian, and is kind of hard to live with from what I've heard. Basically if Elder Farish doesn't learn Cambodian to the point where he can translate, then Cambodian work in Minnesota will shut down when his companion goes home in November. No pressure. A few prayers his way wouldn't hurt! He's awesome, I'm glad I got to talk to him for a bit. 

From what I've heard, Elder Lee is doing well too. He is with his companion from the MTC and having a blast as usual. He is calling his mom early, because they're going on a cruise to Mexico over Mothers Day, and he's nervous. He spoke in Stake Conference there last week, so sounds like his Spanish is good too. That's basically all I've heard recently. He is dreading going home. 

Speaking of Mother's Day! We're thinking after church here, which ends at 330 here, so that should be good for you guys right? It probably wouldn't be until after 4 here. :))) I'm excited!

Sounds like y'all have been really busy and doing fun things. Thanks for keeping me updated! I love you guys!