Buen día a todos.

Well. Another week of ups and downs. Let's start with some ups, shall we?

Ok so last week we had a lot of great lessons and progress and invited Maria and Leo to church. We passed by their house Sunday morning before church really excited to pick them up. Then after knocking a few times... no show. Yes, bummer, but we continued on and picked up Jacob and Santiago and walked with them to church. That was awesome because we were really worried that their mom wouldn't let them, but she has been a bit more cooperative lately so that's nice. So we show up at church and we are chatting and welcoming people and all that. THEN, right before sacrament meeting starts we start to walk into the chapel and out of the corner of my eye I see someone at the gate to the church. LEO!! This little stud had slept in.. but woke up after we knocked and remembered his promise to attend. So this kid gets on his bike and pedals after us 15-20 blocks all by himself to church. Maybe not the craziest thing to you guys.. but it was obvious effort on his part and it made us beyond happy. He stayed all three hours, loved it, made lots of friends (with the help of our amazing ward), and will be going to mutual this Saturday... which he talks about every time we pass by haha. I love the kid. We were a bit bummed that Maria couldn't come, but she seemed to be sincerely sorry when we followed up with her and we hope she can come this next week. 

Second "up." Jacob is ready to be baptized.. the only thing holding him back is his parents, but tomorrow the bishop is coming with us to their house to talk with his parents about it. I really hope they will be workable... overall if it doesn't work out, at least we will have prepared him and planted a good seed, and he can make the decision later in life without being dependent on his parents to stay active. What matters most is that he has a good support and probability to stay strong.. and if it's not right now, then God will provide him more opportunities. We'll see what happens :)

That's pretty much it for the week. We haven't had a lot of lessons because Maria has been sick in bed and no one else seems to be home. That's been hard. I'm grateful for the low points in our lives though because they help us to see how dependent we really are in our Savior, and how important it is to have faith and press on through those low points. Sometimes the low points come just because we need some humbling or a specific lesson... and sometimes they come from our own disobedience/weaknesses. The end of my "Golden Transfer" is approaching.. and it really has been golden.. I have a lot to be grateful for, and being able to serve the Lord in any way possible is always a blessing. This Sunday I will be fasting and starting the "purification" process from a talk that Alyssa shared with me in preparation for this next transfer. I have lots to improve and the more I can humble myself and sacrifice, the more I will be able to work with the spirit and be strengthened/taught by my Savior. I'm calling this next transfer (get ready)... the platinum transfer... BOOM *drops mic.*  We goin' platinum baby (just like all my records would be.. if I had records).

Here's to another week serving the Lamanites, love you guys.

-Elder Jolley

Quote of the week: "get your game face on." - my Halls Cough drop wrapper "A pep talk in every drop." I have a cold so I've been getting pep talks from my cough drops all day long and it's actually quite uplifting. Thanks Halls :)