4/21/2014 Easter

Dear family,

     Following the counsel of Elder Ballard, I learned about the importance of verifying with people in Preach my Gospel today.  If we leave someone a commitment and we fail to verify that they did it, it is like we never gave the commitment because if they didn't do it then nothing has changed in their lives.  We are here to invite people to change, to become more like Christ. If we are nervous to verify because we are not sure they did it, then maybe we should make sure we leave the commitment in a way that they will want to follow it, like promise blessings and testify and make specific plans. 

      Right now we are teaching Tiffany, Daniel, Rex, and Michelle who are all friends.  They are progressing, but they couldn't come to church this Sunday.  Our zone is really focusing on using Sundays wisely and getting super good fellowship.  They are reading and enjoying the book of mormon, and I wish so badly that they couldv'e come to the mutual activity minute to win it because it turned out so well. 

     The youth program in the Casa Linda branch is struggling because we have such few youth so if someone doesn't come it feels like there is no one there.  But we got all of the youth to come to the activity and they invited some of their friends and it was a blast!  The leaders participated too.  By the end everyone had an oreo on their face trying to eat it without hands.  A very popular thing here for Easter is confetti eggs.  They are real egg-shells filled with confetti and the instructions on the egg carton say to sneak up behing someone, crack it over their head, then run. They are a hit, and I accidentally started an egg-confetti fight in the church, and the vacuum didn't really work, so I feel pretty bad for the mess we made, but the leaders were so nice and grateful for the successful mutual activity that we had helped with anyways.  The elders in the Casa Linda branch are super great to work with and so is the ward mission leader.  Hopefully the youth can keep coming to mutual.   Sister Tippetts and I got to teach Sunday School for them this Sunday, it's always exciting being a missionary because you usually only get 5 seconds notice! :) 

      Also this Sunday we were on our way out the door and I thought the keys were in my hand, then poof! they were gone!  We spent 20 minutes looking in all of the likely places over and over, and I was so confused.  Sister Tippetts said 10 minutes in, you probably threw them away in the basura (garbage can).  10 minutes later, she says, "Okay, maybe they really are in the garbage and she digs to the bottom and there they are!  I'm so glad we made it to church. 

      We also had interviews this week and I love President Maluenda!  He is so inspired and loving.  He gave me some good advice and some good scriptures.  I'm still learning and loving my mission!

Love,

Hermana Campbell