¡Esta es la Última Semana de Traslados!

¿Estan animado por la Noche de Brujas?

Wow! I can't believe that your Halloween season has already been so successful! So much fun with all the activities and events. I do have to admit that I will miss trick or treating with you all. But now I'm on the other side of the door and get to have a little fun with it. So the mission has sent out a list of rules we must follow for this upcoming Halloween night. Missionaries are not allowed to dress up at all, and are actually encouraged to dress in normal clothes. We have to either be back in our apartments by ourselves after 6:30 or be with a member family. We can hand out candy if anyone happens to knock on a door. So other than that we can enjoy the night doing studies. But that's not how my night's going to go...

So I am going on an exchange with my bud, Elder Goncalves, my Zone Leader, and we are going to a "social gathering" with the members of the YSA ward he serves in. After that we are going to meet up with Elder Clarke and his temporary comp, Elder Keesler, at our ward's trunk or treat. Here I am going to hand out those awesome ghost suckers (Thank you so much for that awesome package!!!) and bags of snickers that we have collected from a nice member. After that I imagine we are going to then go back to our apartments and do some studies, maybe watch a few Mormon Messages. And for other Halloween activities/Dia de los muertos, tomorrow I am going to decorate those skull cookies with my Bishop's family and the Hermanas serving with us in the ward. Alexis said he got me a pumpkin so we are going to decorate it and make it look like a skull too!

Things with Alexis have been pretty good. We have taught him everything he needs to know and have planned a temple trip with him tomorrow in the evening. He is really excited to go and so are we. Last week though we were talking more about his baptism this upcoming week and he started to get really nervous. He knows it is all true, and he wants to raise his family in the gospel, but he said he is scared of the commitment. He thinks 4 de Noviember is too soon for him. He is living all the commandments and even goes to Institute, so we explained that he is living the same as he would after baptism. The only difference being that he would be completely cleansed from sin and have the powerful gift of the Holy Ghost for the rest of his life. He still was scared for this date but we are rallying for him to just do it knowing he will be grateful after it's done. Right now I personally feel that it might not happen this upcoming week, but am 100% sure it will in the near future. I pray for him every day hoping everyday that the Spirit can help him ultimately decide when. It is only a question of "when," "if" is non-existent.

Saturday morning Elder Clarke and I helped the Elders Quorum out with cleaning our church building. I was put in charge of both bathrooms which was no biggy. People either don't use them or they are just very clean because it was an easy job. Afterwards the Elders Quorum Presidente took us to a taco truck for lunch. There he bought us and some other members 16 tacos. These tacos were called "tacos de cabeza" which basically translates over to, yes...cow brain tacos. They were actually really good, again it was texture not taste. They had a good spicy salsa added to them too that made it even better. I love all the looks I get when I'm in a crowd of Hispanic people. I am a lot lighter than they are of course so when I engage in the conversations I just get blank stares as if they can't believe that someone white can speak Spanish. It's really funny:D

Later that day we helped set up the Primary Halloween party. It was really fun and the Primary President did a great job. She made all the kids candy hands and little decorative jars full of candy corns. There were a ton of games where the kids got to win tickets for the raffle. I was in charge of the skeleton puzzle where I got to practice my Spanish body parts! At the very end they had the missionaries go to different rooms to pretend to be home on Halloween night. Each kid then got a turn to knock on the door and say "Trick or Treat" so they could practice for the real thing. I handed out this Mexican marshmallow on a stick candy to every child and don't know how, but had just enough for the last little girl to get one. Everyone went home with a ton of candy! Kids are going to be bouncing off the walls!

Because it was the fifth Sunday, the Spanish Ward has all the missionaries take part in Sacrament Meeting. Half-way through the meeting we sang "Llevaremos Su verdad al mundo" where we broke it up into parts. Elder Clarke and I had a duet verse while there were fours Sisters. It went really well and afterwards I was assigned to bear my testimony. I testified of the power of simply opening your mouth. In D&C 71:1 the Lord commands that we should "open [our] mouths in proclaiming my gospel, the things of the kingdom, expounding the mysteries thereof out of the scriptures, according to that portion of Spirit and power which shall be given unto you, even as I will." Having many opportunities to open my mouth on my mission, I have seen how it can impact the lives of complete strangers. I know it can be hard sometimes to talk to friends and family who aren't members of the church about the gospel, but why not? I promise that as you look for opportunities to share your testimony the Holy Ghost will fill your mouth with words. Your words will be filled with power and the Spirit will touch their heart. It's worth a try, you don't have to wear a tag to be a missionary.

I miss you all and hope you have a fun and safe Halloween tomorrow!

Love,

Elder Fonnesbeck