March 19, 2012

Newest letter from Sister Saal:

March 19, 2012
Hello once again from Victoria! Seriously, I want to move here! You would love it up here. Plenty of outdoor adventure mixed with a “big city”! It is great. The people here are wonderful as well. Gotta love them.
Some of our recent converts are doing amazing! Others, not so much.
We are teaching an 84 year old woman who was baptized in Feb. She is so sweet and so loving. When the missionaries met with her, she wasn’t interested. They went back a few months later and at the first visit, she wanted to be baptized. Seems to work that way. We drop an investigator for a while and they miss the spirit we bring. Woot!! Works for us. We read the Book of Mormon with her every week. Her daughter is great.
We have been teaching another recent convert. He has had, and still has, trial after trial and is still strong. He went to do baptisms at the temple two weeks ago and loved it so much. He is working on family history now. That is good for him.
We have a contact who is such a good guy. He has a habit he just can’t kick. Every time we meet with him, we ask him about it. Still can’t kick it. Super sad, but we still are working with him. One day!
We have been teaching another RC (recent convert, I think). He is a super solid 29 year old Chinese man. He doesn’t speak much English, but he has been so good with all the commandments. He is going back to China soon. Very sad.
We have some great investigators as well. One is a lady from India. Basically she is a member. She is waiting for her husband to come from India to be baptized.
We have a favorite family we are teaching - they are from Sudan and are so warm and loving. They have 4 little cute children - ages 2, 6, 8, and 10.  They are so cute. Tonight we really connected with their kids. They like to color with us during the lessons.  One is super funny. I was teaching him to pray tonight. He said I talk too much (he says that about everyone) but I am very pretty. The eight-year-old is a handful. He soaks everything in! You think he isn’t paying attention, but BAM!! He throws out all this knowledge. The oldest is just like her mom – a little sassy, but so very sweet. The dad is taking crazy classes and we are really trying to focus on his example for his kids. If they see dad do something, they will follow. The mom is a sweet woman. She thinks her English isn’t that great, but she is wonderful.
The three guys from Taiwan and Japan went to the YSA ward on Sunday and loved it! How wonderful they are. We have high hopes!
Another investigator is frustrating . She is super good, but she loves to bail on us! No Bueno! We are trying to get her some friends in the ward. I am sure that will help.
We are also teaching a YSA Chinese girl. She also feels the spirit, but doesn’t yet recognize it. I love Chinese people. They are so sensitive, now they just need a greater understanding.
We have another family we are teaching. We love them, but it is hard to love them sometimes. They had a baptismal date set, but it fell through. The grandma went back to Columbia for 2 months. Now the parents, want to wait. Their 8 year old daughter wants to be baptized so badly. They won’t get baptized til the grandma gets back. That’s cool, except they won’t come to church either. President Tilleman has been wonderful in working with them.
That is about it at the moment. We are meeting with a few people but not so sure how well it will keep going.
Victoria is so pretty. The weather is pretty crazy. As someone here said, “If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes.” It is so true. When we went tracting the other day, it was sunny. All of a sudden, it was snowing. 10 minutes later it was sunny but the wind was blowing. Wow! It gave me a headache, and a cold.
Which brings me to my next point. I was sick this past week! Worst cold ever! I honestly thought my head was going to explode. We didn’t do much finding because Sister Post and I were sick. We did as much as our bodies would allow. However, we are both feeling much better and are ready to get out there once more. We have seen miracles happen and we know it is by the Lord.
We love making Jacob Black and Twilight jokes. Twilight was filmed near here, you know! We always drive down a certain road and every time we keep our eyes out for Jacob. Hey, we could teach him. We were joking that vampires love our church because they already believe in eternal families. Ha Ha!! It is great fun. We love it so much.
I am super excited for General Conference. Watch it. Love it.
Write me!! Love you.
Sister Caitlin Saal