Week 20 - December 23, 2013 - East L.A.

Dear everyone, 

Ok well this letter won't be too long since we have skype stuff this week. 

This week was pretty awesome, we finally got to visit Rosa with Oscar at the Hospital! Just a reminder for those who forgot, she recently had her remaining leg amputated and had been through some pretty intense health problems. But we finally got to see her and she looks awesome. I can see in her eyes that she has the determination to get better. 

In order for her to leave the rehabilitation center, she has to be able to take herself out of her wheelchair and into another chair/toilet/bed etc.. She is super determined to get out of there, and still has her sense of humor and everything. 

Just to give a little more background on her and what kind of person she is: she has lived in the same house in Boyle Heights for 50+ years and doesn't plan to move from there anytime soon. About 30-ish years ago, she was a huge activist in Boyle Heights. She did a lot to take care of the area and keep it safe. She actually won some award from the police department for all the work she did. Oscar told us this story that he walked in the house and there was one of the candidates for mayor of Los Angeles talking to her trying to get her to back his campaign. If the mayor-to-be had won her over, he would have won all Boyle Heights over, which was a big deal apparently. He told me that in a matter of days, everyone in Boyle Heights switched from the other candidate to the one that had talked to Rosa. So she was a pretty big deal back in the day! This Cuban lady has seen a lot through her time! 

Another cool thing I wanted to share concerning one of our investigators. So we have this family that has a baptismal date for this Sunday! But the mom feels a little shaky now, has feelings that maybe she might mess up and not be strong after being baptized, unlike the kids who both want to be baptized and think they can all make it for that date. And something really cool happened before we left. We had Eduardo, the oldest son (15) say the closing prayer and he saaid an awesome prayer, specifically asking for his mom to be ready for that date. 

The member I brought and I,(we went on splits because we had too many lessons for just Elder Ramos and I to go by) and I'm sure everyone in there, were super touched by the Spirit. We are hoping that she takes those feelings and recognizes them as the confirmation she needs. So we are praying and probably going to fast pretty soon that she can make it for that date so she can be baptized with her sons. 
so that's some cool stuff that happened this week, I will keep filling you in on Wednesday!! 

Love you all! (here is a picture of Rosa and Oscar)