It`s been a year.

Let´s do some math. 52 weeks. 12 fast Sundays. A few Saturday baptisms. A couple disappointments. Lots of miracles. Lots of hard things and lots of funny things.

It`s been a year.

And I`m not really sure where the time went.

This week was....extreme. We were supposed to have 3 baptisms but we ended with zero. Here`s the story.

Monday we had the most awkward family home evening activity you could imagine. Awkward young middle class Molly Mormon couple + low class unmarried young couple DOES NOT equal a successful teaching/friend-making experience. The point was to get the second couple excited about church and marriage and mostly help them find friends. Flor, the wife, was on board to get baptized on Saturday, but she and her husband needed to get married this week for that to happen. We didn`t really succeed in our intentions for the FHE. I learned that it`s important to personally meet people before randomly scheduling an FHE. Also I hope that I don`t grow up to be so awkward.

But the good news is we went the next day to visit Flor and her hubby with the assistant and one of our zone leaders. They were really excited about getting married and Flor was super stoked for her baptism. We prayed hard all day and visited them constantly to make sure everything went through perfectly for the wedding, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Wednesday. 9am. Leave the house early, grab the cake we made last night, and go to Flor`s house to pick them up to go get married. Flor comes out all ready to go with her 2 year old. Except surprise! Angel wasn`t there! We went to the neighbor`s and there he was, not looking like he was about to go get married.

He said "Hermanas, I think we should do this another day. My dad`s sick and I have to do a bunch of stuff today...blah blah blah I don`t have time." "Nope. Sorry. You`re getting married. Let`s go," we told him. (Sometimes we have to treat adults like they`re 2) He got on his motorcycle with his preggo wife and daughter and my companion and I headed to the main street where we could catch a taxi.

Right as we reached the street the family pulled up next to us on the bike. "I`m not getting married," Angel told us. "Uh....?" we said. He went on to say that he wasn`t ready, that it felt too fast, that he had too many other things to do, and on and on. He said he loves his wife, but doesn`t want to tie himself down. Please put yourself in the shoes of this lady who is 5 months pregnant and has a little daughter with this guy listening to him say that! What does he mean he doesn`t want to tie himself down? He should have thought of that 3 years ago before deciding to live with Flor.

We said some very...sharp things and explained things like condemnation and sin and adultery and lots of other things I can`t remember right now. Nothing we said mattered to him. He had eternal life and an eternal family and a house full of blessings right within his reach, and he knowingly rejected it.

They rode away, Flor absolutely furious and heartbroken, and I stood on the side of the road and cried and cried. Haha. I have no shame. But then we had to go clean up the mess he made of everything, canceling the appointment at the Registro Civil, canceling a little party we had planned, and telling the elders that were coming from an hour away to do Flor`s baptism interview.

So in the end Flor couldn`t get baptized, Angel avoids us, and we were super disappointed.

The moral of the story is our bad choices don`t just impact ourselves...their effects are much, much more far-reaching than that.

In an attempt to save the marriage and baptism, we went with a couple of recent converts to talk about their process of being converted and getting married and getting baptized. They shared the most beautiful testimony or change and hope that comes from keeping God`s commandments in our homes and choosing to follow Him. They were married just over a month ago, and before that had tons of marital problems and thought of splitting up. But the met the missionaries, changed their lives, made their union legal, and are living happily every after (still with lots of struggles, but now with hope and faith).

It was incredible to see the difference in these two couples. The converts were beaming. Seriously. There is no other way to describe it. They showed an album of pictures from their wedding and talked about how it was the hardest and best decision they had ever made. They talked about love and resolving problems and a Christ-centered home.

And then there was Flor and Angel. They sat with a huge distance between them. Both had these empty empty looks on their faces and were so empty of hope. Every once in a while it looked like they were really taking in what the other couple was saying...and I hope they will apply it in their lives and especially in their marriage. But for now they have to figure some things out before we`ll go back and visit them. Hopefully somewhere down the line they will get married and baptized and sealed in the temple. Pray for them.

Funniest moment of the week: we were eating lunch with our ward mission leader and his family. His 4 year old daughter refuses to eat daintily, so we decided to pull out the missionary manual to help her learn some etiquette. We read about how missionaries have to eat with their mouth closed. She put her spoon down, stared at us for a second, and said, "Okay, I can do that." She picked up her spoon and proceeded to smother the rice and chicken all over her face without once opening her mouth. After she had made a giant mess she pushed her plate away and said "Done! See. I CAN eat food without opening my mouth."

Milagro is lovely. It`s humble and beautiful and my shoes are constantly full of rocks here.

Love you all more than hot water showers and freshly brushed teeth.

Have the best week of your lives.

PS. Nance heard you`re going to St. George! Congrats!

Lesa. You have just over a week of being a normal person. Use it wisely. I recommend going to the dollar theater alone and doing outrageous things in public. And also spending a good chunk of time reading the scriptures. Good luck girlie!

Everyone else. Stay groovy.