Sister Alex Hartvigsen--October 25, 2011

Dear family,
This week has been really good. I can not believe that it is already the end of the transfer cycle. We find out transfer news on Saturday night. I have been in this ward for

over 8 months and I'm not sure if I will be staying much longer, but who knows, my trainer was in this ward for over a year. This week we were able to meet with several

of our investigators. We met with a women several times this week and read in the Book of Mormon with her. She has a testimony and wants to be baptized but she

wants to include her daughters more in this. Yesterday we had a family night activity with her and the a family from our ward. We invited them to do bring some treats to

this women's family to kind of break the ice. It went really well and people seemed to bond over the cupcakes and cheesecake that they brought. She has been

fellowshipped into this ward really well and we are working on fellowshipping her daughters. It was a really good night.. We met with a women this week and talked about

paciencia, diligencia y obedencia.(patience, diligence and obedience) We talked about the importance of following the commandments and how we will always be blessed

as we do that. Something that our mission president has really been stressing the last little while is to have the peopel we work with do whats called a cookie run. When

someone does a cookie run they bring a treat ( or in the hispanic community sometimes tortillas) to the house of someone else so that they can get to know more people

and establish friendships. We are planning on having this women do a cookie run this next week to a less active family that lives in her trailor park. We had a lesson with a

couple. They are having some pretty serious struggles and we challenged them to pray together as they strive to find the answers to the problems that they have. We met

with a women. We read with her a little in the Book of Mormon and talked about her relationship with Heavenly Father. She has a really hard time reading but we were

able to locate the recordings of the Book of Mormon so that she can listen to it. On Sunday we had a really cool meeting with a couple They have been meeting with

Jehovah's witnesses for a while. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them. We talked about how we can come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior. We talked

about the Holy Ghost and explained to them that the feelings of peace that they felt during the movie were from the Holy Ghost.

This week in my personal study I started the Book of Mormon again. I have read it several times in my life but the Spirit is strong every time that I read it I am excited to

learn new things this time around. As I read it I find myself applying the story of Lehi to that of our investigators. Many of them have left their homes, traveled in the desert

and are looking for the truth. Like Nephi they have the opportunity to search the scriptures and then to ask Heavenly Father if it is true and he will always answer them.

(and us). Its weird to think that I have been in AZ for more than 8 months. The time is really flying. I can't believe it.

I love you all. Have a great week
Hermana Hartvigsen