Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! Go have some tostadas or something today! :)

Wow! This week has been a rewarding week! I feel so extremely blessed!

Monday night we had a lesson with M. and A. They are a mother and son. A. is about to turn 9 years old this week. They are so awesome! They have baptismal dates for May 24th. I am so stoked for them. We had a family home evening lesson with the W's and M.
and A.  Hermana M and her 9 year old son, D., also showed up part way through the family home evening. It turned out wonderful!  Hermana W. and M. hit it off really well and D. and A. by the end became good friends. We had to leave right after the closing prayer for another lesson but M. and A. stayed at the W's house and socialized for a while after we left.  Then they came to the cinco de mayo party on Saturday. It was so awesome! They got to talk with a lot of the Hispanic members from the Clarksville Spanish branch. It was seriously soooo awesome!  Members are ESSENTIAL in missionary work!  It just doesn't really work out as
well when the members are not involved. I love missionary work. It is all about changing lives. Helping people progress.

Another miracle on Tuesday.  First, the back story.  Last sunday we stopped and talked to a man who told us where some Hispanics live. We contacted the house and found E. He didn't seem too interested, but we set up a return appointment with him for Tuesday because he didn't have time right then. We went back Tuesday and to be honest we weren't expecting much. We couldn't go into his house because it was just him and his roommate. So we stood on his porch and taught him the restoration using the pictures in the pamphlet.  We got to the point when we were talking about the priesthood being restored. We asked him if he would be baptized by someone who had that authority. He started crying and told us that he is sick of falling. He told us that he never cries (he is kind of a tough guy). The spirit was so strong as we testified that he can make his life right. He has kind of had a story like Joseph Smith in that he has searched out different churches. He is so wise with the things of god. He is also so humble. He told us he has not found the truth yet and he has just been confused about religion because everyone says something different.  We told him that God is very aware of his situation because God sent us to his house. He cried some more. We asked him to pray right then to know if the things that we are teaching are true. He prayed one of the most heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. He asked if these things are true. The spirit was so strong. It is the coolest feeling to have God work through me. I didn't plan on saying half of the things I did to E. I felt in a real way God filling my mouth with words. It was so powerful! He was so stoked to come to the Cinco de Mayo party too.

Right after we left we ran to get a flier from our car. When we came back to give it to him he told us he had already started contacting some of his friends to see if they wanted to come to the party. It was so awesome! Saturday we stopped by to make sure he had a ride. He said
he did but he would call us if it fell through. A few minutes before 5:30 (when the party was supposed to start) he called us and said his ride fell through. Sergio, the recent convert of 2 months, went and picked him up. He ended up bringing M., (E. friend) M., (his nephew) and D. (a friend of M.). It was so cool!  E. was just eating it all up. M. was the man who told us where E. lived. So awesome! E. told us that memo would like a Book of Mormon. We gave him one at the party. He is interested in turning his life around. After we gave him a Book of Mormon E. took it back and marked a page in it from 3 Nephi. He told M., "you gotta read this
part.".  Soooo cool!!! I asked E. how much of the Book of Mormon he has read. He was kind of bashful and just said I don't know, I just read.  Ahh!  I love being a missionary! These are the moments that make all the hard moments worth it!  

Then to top it all off, last night we get home from the day and check our Facebook and the first thing that pops up on my news feed is E's post. It said "voy a ser Mormon" (I am going to be Mormon). We were freaking out! I started messaging him and he told me that he has been reading the Book of Mormon. We are meeting with him tomorrow. We are sooo stoked for him! Pray for him because he is going to have some things to overcome and has some bad
influences in his life. He is already posting quotes from apostles on his Facebook page. What the heck?!?

Saturday was the cinco de mayo activity! It turned out sooo well!  Hermana M. put so much work into it and it was a success! We had 15 nonmembers there and a handful of less active families show up. It was so awesome! Hispanics know how to and love to party!

And Sunday night...... It was one of the most southern nights of my mission. Last week Hermana Hendrickson and I saw some men in white suits standing outside a church so we decided to drive up and talk to them. We drove up and met a man named W. K.  We also met all of the pastors and deacons of the church.  W. actually owns a quad haha he said that he has a Book of Mormon, doctrine and convenance, and a pearl of great price with is name on it and everything :) W. is also running for mayor in Hopkinsville. We asked if we could go to church with them some time and he invited us to come next Sunday night for music church. Oh and this is a Baptist church by the way. So this Sunday we show up at 6 o'clock to hear the gospel music and hear a little preaching. When Hermana H and I walk in we were literally the only people with fair coloring in the building, I am not lying, it was slightly awkward. There are like 250 plus people all in this church. We found some seats and talked
to some nice women for a while. Then the fun began, everyone started singing songs about Jesus, I don't think a have ever heard the word Jesus said so many times in one hour. The music was so good, it was crazy. I felt like I died and went to music heaven last night. Hermana Hendrickson was going crazy standing and clapping her hands, she
really connected with her inner soul last night. The people were all so kind and loving. Brother W.K. said that we could come back next time and sing for the church in a month, haha I don't think he wants to hear my voice haha. We asked him if we could come and do a
presentation on the Mormons in their church and he said Yes!!!  We are pumped!

I love y'all!! Hope you have a great week, especially all of you moms!

Love
Hermana K Ayre

Oh and I met a woman from Loomis California and she went to Del Oro
high school. We are starting to teach her. Her name is M.
Also I we started teaching a returning member named S. W., her
maiden name is G., ...... Sister to R. G...... Crazy small world.