glare.

I attended a 2 day leadership training this week. It was long. But very edifying! My mission president is a very successful businessman. He was the Senior Vice President for some financial department of Pepsi and Frito Lay. So he is always good for imparting words of business wisdom that he applies to missionary work.

During one of the various 5 minute breaks I saw a woman poke her head into the room full of about 50 Elders and at the time... just me as the only sister. I figured I should go see who she was or what she needed. Turns out she is not a member of the church. She is from Sacramento and was down in LA to take care of her sick father. She was lost, saw the church and felt that she might be able to find help there. After getting her directions I looked at her and I said something to the effect of: "Diana! I don't believe in coincidences! And you may not fully understand the odds of us meeting here today but I know that God put us in each other's paths for a reason." She started to cry. That's when she opened up about her family and all the things they've been going through and how they've been searching for answers and praying for guidance. She just kept saying, "I know, I know!" I gave her a big hug, I bore her my testimony, I told her she always has a family in the church, a support system wherever she is. By the end I had written down all her contact information so we could have missionaries go visit her at home in Sacramento.

God is always behind the scenes, orchestrating our lives. It's nuts. It's like a chess board and He's always carefully moving the pieces around, putting us where we need to be. I'm grateful to have that perspective. The cool thing about that experience is that it's nothing out of the ordinary for a missionary. Things like that happen ALL THE TIME. It's always awesome to see it dawning on someone's face in front of you that they are really on to something good. That their life is about to change. It's wonderful.

CESAR is getting baptized in a couple weeks. He is too good. He's in the quitting drinking coffee and alcohol stage. He made it through Thanksgiving with the fam. So basically, he's solid. He said he told his family he's Mormon and that he doesn't drink anymore. Haha! Awesome. We taught the law of chastity the other night and his only question was: "So how am I going to repent of all the things I've done wrong in my life?" Yeah. Wow. He couldn't be more sincere.

VLADMIR is in love with my companion. He calls us all the time. He called last night and was telling me how he is lonely and he wants to see me and can't sleep because he can't stop thinking about me. I said, "Vladmir, do you know who you are talking to?" "Yes! Its my preciosa bonita chiquita hermanita quemadita! (Hna Blackburn)" "NO! This is Sister Erickson!" I asked him straight up: "Hno, are you in love with my companion?" "Yes." Haha.. oh man. Then I proceeded to tell him that we can no longer teach him we are very sorry but we can't be getting ourselves involved with 63 year old Mexican men who are human traffickers during the week of illegals from LA to Houston.

End of story.

My life is so weird. Kloveyoubye.