Forever Strong in the Work: Fresno At Last!

Oh my goodness!!! There is soo much I need to say!!!

K, well first of all, I'm in Fresno! I am FINALLY on the mission field!! I am in Los Banos with Sister McArthur! She's from South Jordan Utah and she is the best!! She keeps saying that I was an answer to her prayers because she wanted to stay in the same area but wanted to speak Spanish. So she got a native speaker and is in the same area. We cover two wards, Mercy Springs and Los Banos. They are both English wards... -_- Ya... I don't know how I really feel about that. BUT on the bright side there's a Spanish group in the Mercy Springs ward. So every Sunday for sacrament, we do translation! I didn't do it yesterday but this next Sunday I will! Wish me luck! ...Actually no... Pray for me!

So, I flew into Fresno on Wednesday and stayed at the mission home that night. The next day was when we found out who our companions were and which area we would be serving in. Los Banos is like 2 hours away from Fresno and 1 hour away from our Stake Center. It's like in the middle of nowhere! But that's ok!

It's super hot! Today its going to get up to 107! But thankfully we have a car! I don't think I'm going to use my bike very much on the mission :/ BUT I will definitely use it when I get home! I have to! One of the rules we have is that we have to run for 20 minutes everyday and do 2 minute planks! I got the running part down but the 2 minutes plank is killing me! I'm working up to it! K, now let me tell you all about the people here! The investigators!!

So, Sister Horan (a sister from Mercy Springs) was telling us that one of her daughter's friend was interested in learning about the gospel. So Friday we went over and taught her and it was AMAZING! The spirit was soo strong! We're going to teach her again on Tuesday and I'm thinking there is a possibility to get baptized. When I asked her if she would she said yes! So we'll wait and see when it happens! :)

There is also Tony! Tony is like 40 years old-ish. He has some mental problems, he has a fear of people so it's hard for him to go to church. Whenever we go over, he has sunglasses on so we don't see him...but this last time we went he took them off for a while! Which was a HUGE step for him! We asked him if he would prepare himself to get baptized on the first week of July and he said YES! So we are going to try to help him come to church! If you all could pray for him to get more self-esteem and confidence that would be a big help! He really loves the Gospel and is always happy when we go over to visit him!

The next day was Saturday and that was a fun day! I feel like we didn't do much but we kind of did. Haha, we started off our day by making a Kitty Litter Cake!! Haha, it was soo funny! One of the less actives family was throwing a Fear Factor birthday party and asked us to help them out. So ya that was definitely fun! I'll see if I can send the pictures! We then went then got a call from Brother Johnson, He just got baptized I think last month. He told us that he had gotten a stroke. So we went with Sister Horan again and her husband and went to visit him. He was doing so good! He was up and laughing and talking and just doing everything! He has such a beautiful soul! I felt the spirit soo strong when we were at his house! It's those kind of moments that make the mission soo worth it! I was all teary eyed and it's amazing how such a recent convert can have such a strong testimony of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

Then came Sunday! (Yesterday) Oh my goodness!! Yesterday was just soo AMAZING! We went to church for like 8 hours...we had ward council went to Los Banos' ward, had ward council for the other ward, and then went to Mercy Springs' ward! At church, Sis. McArthur was telling me that she had not seen the church so full! Let me tell you...it didn't seem full...the chapel wasn't filled...It was like half filled. I just thought to myself, "...ya...We gotta fix this." But we saw a lot of less active people come and we got appointments to go visit them. We also found a potential investigator! Her aunt brought her to church and we are going to start teaching her and hopefully get her baptized :)

After church we went to go look for an investigator, but she wasn't home, so we went knocking on some doors. We talked to a man named Edward Williams and prayed with him. It was really good. We then went over to the Espinoza's and oh my goodness! THEY ARE AMAZING!!! They are a part member family and there's like 9 of them! The first to get baptized was their daughter Andrea. She's in her 20's and she actually went on a mission to Peru, but had to come back. Then it was her daughter Breanna and just recently the Mom and the other daughter Consuelo got baptized! They have 4 of their cousins living with them and they are not members. Oh btw, we went over to their house because they offered us Posole at church, and we didn't have a dinner appointment...so we just went and ate there and let me tell you! Their Posole was SOO GOOD! It was the first Mexican food I had since I've been here! Since the last time I had some at home! They didn't give me any of that at the MTC but anyways! I asked the mom about her conversion story and it was AMAZING! It's just...wow! The spirit was also soo strong in their home!

We were there talking for ever and I really felt like I could have stayed there for hours! I love their family so much! They're so loving towards us! Ah! I love them!! But we were getting ready to leave and one of the little cousins, Brian, had colored a picture and he says to us, "Can you send this to God please?" It was the cutest thing ever! We asked if they had any questions and then another little cousin, Isabella, asks, "When can I get baptized?" There was literally a party going through my head! I was jumping and screaming and it was just amazing! So she's super interested in getting baptized! We gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to write down any questions she had. We're going back today to do a Family Home Evening at their house and to give Isabella the first lesson. We then went to find Donna Young.

Donna Young was someone my companion had been looking for forever! She's a less active and her son went over to the church to tell people to go visit her, but he gave everyone the wrong address so at ward council we finally got the right address and went and found her. She's like 77 and she also has like a people's phobia and gets anxiety with too many people, so she can't go to church. But we just sat and talked to her and she's soo amazing! She has gone through soo much but she has such a sweet soul! I loved talking to her.

We then went over to another member's house and my companion just walked in! I was like, "Can you do that?" And she's like, "Ya, it's fine. They tell us to do it." I was like, "Ok." I walked in and looked to the left and there's a HUGE fish! I told my companion and she's like, "Oh, it's a piranha!" I almost died and she's like, "Come look at it!" And I was like, "No, I'm ok!" So she goes over, puts her face so close to the tank and then the piranha starts freaking out!! THE THING ALMOST JUMPED OUT OF THE TANK!!! There was water all over! I about DIED!! I thought I was going to have a heart attack!! But it was really funny.

Then last night...UGH! Oh, by the way I live with Hermana Vogel and she has a cat named Monkey. And Hna. Vogels house smells exactly like Nana's house! I love it! But anyways...Last night we got Monkey out of our room and we closed the door and went to sleep. I was laying on my stomach facing the wall, and I turned my head and there was Monkey right on my stinking bed! Right next to my face!!! I about DIED!! That stupid cat scared me half to death and I about had a heart attack!! UGH!! I hate that cat! I yelled at it and I was like "MONKEY!!" And then it goes under my darn bed!! UGH! So I got the cell phone we had and was like "Monkey! Monkey!! Get out!" I ended up waking up my companion and we had to get a broom to get the darn cat out! AND THEN!!! Today in the morning it attacked my feet!!! I HATE CATS!!! My companion hates her too :) We share the same passion for Monkey!

Holy cow, my hands hurt from typing so much. But those are my funny stories and my amazing miracle stories. I love this church with all my heart ! I am so happy I am serving the Lord and representing my Savior Jesus Christ! I know this church is true and I know this is the only way we can get back to heaven. I love it!

I love you all! :)
Til next time,

-Hermana Ramos-Escobar

(Papi, I forgot to tell you thank you for sending me your shorts :) I love them! I slept with them at the MTC and there in the wash now :) Thank you soo much! I LOVE YOU!!)