Companion JACKPOT!! November 17, 2015

Hello all you good people! (I don't even know who reads this thing anymore)

Last week we had transfers and I WON THE JACKPOT!
My new companion is Hermana Mayra Venegas! Fun Facts:
-She used to be my STL [Sister Training Leader] so we are already BFFs
-She goes home in 4 weeks...
-She is from Fresno, California (but originally Oaxaca, Mexico)
-She wants 12 kids
-She is obsessed with motorcycles
-She was apparently some super star lacrosse player before her mission
-She is a WAY good missionary

-We laugh so much every single day

Please start praying for me now because we already have 4 Thanksgiving dinners. My intestines already hurt for that. But the holidays are so fun! For the Christmas choir thing we are doing I got my self roped into singing a duet. Yikes. Me, singing, at a huge mall? Wish me luck! I'm terrified.
Also I got asked to play the flute in church in a few weeks. I know we have talents to share them, but it doesn't make it any less nerve racking!

Things are still going good with Jackie. She told us on Sunday that she is leaving Gabriel in two weeks. She says that every time she prays she feels guilty and she doesn't want to live like that anymore because she knows that it isn't right. She wants to get baptized before the next time we have transfers. We are super excited for her and her spiritual progress. We don't know what to do though because we want to encourage and support family but she says that she doesn't trust him enough to marry him. We are going to be praying a lot for guidance on how to help her!

Juan Cigarroa is still being a tough cookie. We visited his son (our Bishop) this week and he gave us some tips. When we went to teach him he FINALLY said that he would say the closing prayer. So we closed our eyes and folded our arms and waited....and waited....and waited.....and literally after 10 minutes passed by his wife started coughing so he got up to get her water and then got distracted and gave me half a watermelon (hooray!!) and then asked me to say the prayer. UGH. Stubborn man.

The work is definitely a challenge here but I am happy and healthy and have nothing to complain about. I am still, even after 14 months, amazed that Heavenly Father trusts me to be a missionary and labor among his children. I am so inadequate but He gives me strengths and supports me through every step I take. I am humbled and grateful and will cherish these mission experiences forever.

Have a great week! Be thankful! Don't forget to pray. smile emoticon
Love, Hermana Dearden

Helaman 3:27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.