Harvest time in Marshalltown, Iowa!

 The fields are ripe and ready to harvest here!  Frederick was baptized on Saturday!  It was crazy trying to get all these friends and family there when none of them can drive, but with Br. Huey's help we did it!

While Freddie was being interviewed for his baptism Elysee was having a driving lesson, her kids were playing basketball and soccer, and then we had our English class, so it was a little crazy.  We drove Freddie and his sisters to the church, left them, and Elder Quincy with the Elders and I went to get Elysee and her 3 kids. Then the Elders had to teach the English class while I took the first group home and then came back for the second group.  Elder Quincy is seriously looking at buying a van!

We got to help feed the homeless on Wednesday night at the House of Compassion. Once a month the members here do it. 

We got Elder Onstott!  He speaks French!  It is the miracle I've been praying for!  He's spent the last 9 years living in France.  It was so awesome to have in our French Gospel Principles class today.  He translated in Sacrament meeting, too! Today Alain bore his testimony in French with Elder Onstott translating, Lupe bore her testimony in Spanish with the Bishop translating, and cute little Maritza bore her testimony!  AND... Janelle, her mom and grandma made it to church today!  Then when we went to teach her this afternoon, her dad listened tot he lesson for the first time! 

We got in another hour of service at the Rodriguez' house.  It was really cool, because they asked us to help give their daughter a blessing.  Her non-member boyfriend was there and the next day we were able to teach him.  He came to the baptism Saturday and wants to learn more!

We took our first trip to downtown Des Moines.  We took Paul and Lea for what we thought was an appointment with Immigration.  It turns out we miscommunicated.  Easy to do with my limited French. They didn't have an appointment, but we were able to set one up for October 12th. This is the beautiful sunrise in the rain on the way to pick them up in Toledo. 

This snake was waiting by the church door the other day.

We had another fun FHE with these great kids this week.

We showed up early for their appointment so we took a tour of Melbourne.  Its a cute little town.

Apparently they need fire fighters.

There's lots of this kind of harvesting going on in Marshalltown, too.

The flora is changing as it gets colder.  Its still beautiful and pretty green here though.

We got the Kangni's back home in time to make it to interviews with the President and then to go to lunch with our zone.  We had 20 of us at the Texas Roadhouse.

More of Melbourne.

It was so great to get a French speaking Elder, but sad to lose Elder Meneses.  We took him and his companion, Elder Espinoza to Applebees for a good-bye dinner.

More Melbourne.

A couple of things stand out from the week; We finished out the ward list!  We've been to the home of  or met at church everyone on the ward list!  So I guess now we start over.
Next, we had an amazing day on Tuesday!  10 appointments with everyone there!!
And last, remember the picture I shared of March Runner and her 20 year old cat?  It was pretty random that I took that picture at a lesson.  She texted me today and said she was not up for a lesson with us because Driscoe and passed on.  I was able to send her that picture and it was really appreciated!  Such a tender mercy.  There really is a Heavenly Father who knows us, cares about us and wants to help us be happy!  We are enjoying doing His work!  We love you!

A Most Unusual Week!

We had an unusual week with lots of time in the car.  We practiced driving with Edmond, who was more tentative this week than last.  Sadly he didn't pass the driving test, but while he was out driving Elder Quincy and I walked the mall anxiously waiting to see if our car came back in one piece and we met a couple who are members and are not on the ward list!  Pretty cool!
Our Family Home Evening group is still small, but its great!
Our English class is still just for the Mavuangis, but they are doing well.
We had District Council for the last time before transfers and had to leave right after so I got a picture before as they were doing their spiritual prep.  We took Amy and her daughter to Atlantic for Amy's dad's funeral.  We left them there and got back in time for a lesson Thursday night.
Friday we had a lesson with Pauline and then went back to Atlantic to go to the viewing and funeral and bring them home.  A funny thing happened as we were waiting for Amy and Meghan to pack up.  We parked in the shade at a bank close to her sister's house and read an Ensign article together.  Just as we finished a police car pulled up said they'd received a call that a suspicious looking car was sitting at the bank.  They laughed when they saw us and said they thought they'd find a couple of gangsters, not a couple of Mormon Missionaries.  We got them back safely and no one was arrested, although when Elder Quincy looked up the city on the map, he discovered we'd been 10 miles outside of the mission!!
We helped Alain get paperwork together, a letter written in English, and then faxed to immigration.  We wrote a letter to Lea's boss in English for her to go to Immigration this week.  My French is improving, especially for reading and writing.
We got Pauline to the church for a tour on Saturday and were excited to get her to church on Sunday, but she had the stomache flu!!
Janelle didn't make it to church again, either! We need more faith, I guess!
Frederick turned 8 this week and wants to be baptized for his birthday!  Saturday it should happen.  He's Danal's brother.
We did more service at the Rodriguez' this week. We got to go to Story City and teach Daniel (investigator from Costa Rica) with the Sisters!
We had a very fun ward party at the Pence's house!  Beautiful setting and more room than in the small room a the church.

Lutheran Church where the funeral was.

Lupe brought her puppy to the party.

Kids excited for the scavenger hunt.

Fixing the Rodriguez' trailer.

Mosquitoes biting.]

The Pence's great deck.

It was such a pretty drive to Atlantic.

Atlantic has a town park at the center of town.

Finishing the steps at the Rodriguez'.

The Elders finished off the chicken noodle soup after service.

The highlight of the week was having a Spanish Temple Prep class at the Bishop's Sunday night!  We got to teach the lesson and it was great. They are really great people!

Building decks and building the Kingdom

We've had an awesome week doing more service than teaching.  The driving lessons are going very well with Edmond.  Elder Quincy's been working the Elders hard on 2 big service projects.  We had a wonderful Zone Conference!  We had some great lessons with Pauline, Janelle, Maritza, the Dent family, the Carillo family, and the Bullock family.  We finally met March Runner a wonderful sister from Alaska (we'd been to her house about 5 times without meeting her).  We had more than 100 people to church Sunday!!

Br Sanchez and the Elders pleased with the finished project!

Getting the first boards down.

Enrique found a frog.

Progress.

One deck built and the next day we helped the Rodriguez family to take down a deck.

The fields are brown ready to harvest.

We met a member and her giant cat in Eldora.

the deck down, the rotten wood removed, the new wood up and water proofed, now ready for siding.

Elder Espinoza is pretty good with cement.

Changing flora.

We've been hoping to see the machinery in action. 

Here's some harvesting going on way out there.

Br. Sanchez fixed some awesome grilled meat!

It was really hot here on the East side of the house in the morning.  We came back at the end of the day and it was cooler, but the mosquitos were awful!

Elder Meneses wanted Elder Quincy's jacket.

Another big piece of farm equipment.

Harvesting!

Edmond driving our car. 

Sister Runner and her 20 year old cat.

Our table at Zone Meeting!

Gredo really likes our laptop and the wheelchair at the church.