Big Cake

big ugly bruise--love it!

SO glad I don't have to do this anymore!

Hunger games! 

Couldn't participate but still had fun!

My DL threw a bucket of water on me...

...and I wasn't happy about it

¡Hola familia y amigos! Espero que estén muy bien y que hayan pasado una semana excelente. Don't use google to translate that! I believe in your ability to read it.

Want to hear something crazy? I've already finished a whole transfer cycle here in Santa Barbara! It's already been six weeks! We don't know anything about transfers yet (although one elder is best friends with the AP, and he says there is a cambio coming...) so that will just be an excellent surprise for all of you next week, now won't it? Cliffhanger!

The best news of the work this week is that I actually got to participate! Other than Tuesday afternoon, I went out and worked every day this week. And that was awesome. I love the Lord and I love His work. I hated having to miss it. And the day that I couldn't go out, I stayed the afternoon in the home of the sweetest woman I have ever met in my life (her name is Carmen--think the Honduran version of Annie and you're there) and we talked about how we could help her to reactivate her husband and help her daughter avoid discouragement after having to return early from the mission due to illness. Afternoon very well spent. So even though I'm grateful I had the opportunity to read about 15 chapters of Jesus the Christ, I am very happy to be laboring once again in the Lord's vineyard.

On Wednesday we had the incredible blessing of having a conference with Elder Jose L. Alonso of the Seventy and his wife. We had to put in the sacrifice to obtain the blessing--On the bus at 5 am, off the bus at 7:30--but it was worth it. In Preach My Gospel, it says that we should be bold and loving. Elder Alonso is my new favorite example of how to be bold. He taught us to get to know people with opening lines like "We're here to help you to prepare to be baptized in the only true church of Jesus Christ", "We're missionaries and we baptize everyone who says hello to us in the street" and "Oh, so you've heard how the angel Moroni delivered and ancient record to the youth Joseph and now we have the fullness of the gospel?" And all of those things are true. I just didn't know we had permission to say them upon meeting someone for the first time. I know now :) He also spoke very strongly about the dignity of a missionary and how it is that we can come to know our Heavenly Father better. Best of all, Elder Alonso is working on his Spanish. So after a strong call to the latino missionaries that, just like we the gringos should always be working on our Spanish, they should always be working on their English, Elder Alonso gave key parts of his talk in English. So when a pair of sisters asked how they could gain more trust and support of the bishopric in their area, and in every other question about people relations, Elder Alonso said "Ok, aquí es lo que tienen que hacer: van a hacer un big cake." And he put out his arms to show just how big this big cake should be. And then he said, "Y si eso no funciona, van a comprar un bigger cake--no se preocupe del precio, President Dester will pay for it." It was very, very funny. So now we have a dicho in our mission--big cake.

And then, from Thursday to the end of the week, we took that spiritual high that we had learned from an apostle of God and applied it to the missionary. Unfortunately, every decided to not be home this week. But we are not discouraged! We street contacted more than I think has ever been done in this area, we asked everyone, interested or not, who they would like to share this gospel with, and we talked about baptism like the eternal blessing and pressing priority that it is. We need a little more oil to become a finely tuned machine on that front, but I liked working with the Alonso method. It's fun.

Investigator wise, Walquidia and Axel are still progressing smoothly toward baptism. Marvin, Judith's husband, seems to think that he can whimp out on the gospel and thus prohibit his wife from receiving the blessings she is so totally deserving. Now that I have a brace on my foot and I can walk, I will have to have a talk with him. Byron, the young man who came to church a few times, has been out of the picture as of late because his friend in Yojoa got married this week. We'll find him. Other than that, we are doing our best to tell the whole world about this true and living gospel and seek out those who are prepared to receive this message. I love doing that. I love this work.

I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week. Find an opportunity to share your testimony with someone and share it boldly! We have no need to fear sharing the truth. I know that Christ lives, and that this is His gospel, and that only by and through Him may we have hope that there really is something better waiting for us and for our families. I love my Savior, and I am honored to be in His service.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Pickett

We contacted a family that sells piñatasand helped make a few--maybe they aren't all that interested, but I have the best new life skill ever!

Cinnamon rolls, round 2 in the mission! It DEFINITELY rose enough