Saludos!
Well, I had such a wonderful week! On Thursday we started a four day intercambio with the sisters in Sabaneta. My companion went to Sabaneta and Hermana Barnes came to Navarrete with me. Hermana Barnes and I have  almost always been in the same zone, so we're good friends, but it was such a pleasure to teach and work with her. She is so humble and willing to change and she loves the people so much. She is in touch with the spirit and she helped me a lot with our investigators. It was a great blessing to learn from her.
On Saturday Fior and Ariel are getting baptized! They are such good people. Two Sundays ago, after teaching about tithing, Fior came to church with her little bit of money already to give her tithing to the Lord. It was so sweet to see her so willing to sacrifice for the Lord.  About a month ago, we gave Ariel a book of Mormon stories book for children and he finished it last Tuesday, so we gave him a book of Mormon to start reading and today he told us that he is in 2 Nephi 27!  Fior says he just reads all day and that he understands it all. We are so excited for them to be baptized and make covenants with God.
The Aquino family went to church!  Oh, I was so happy. Saturday night we stopped by their house and invited them, and Noris wasn't thrilled to commit, but she said she would go to one hour. Sunday morning Marino called and said they were going to go at 10 and sure enough they were there as soon as Sacrament meeting ended. Mabel went straight to Sunday school with all the youth she met when she went to seminary, and Marino and Noris came with us to gospel principles. We got them to stayed the last hour as well, and we visited them in the evening to see what they thought. When I asked them about church, Marino said, "well Hermana..." in a way that made me think it was going to be our last lesson with them, but he started talking about how much he liked the lesson about the law of chastity and how everyone talks in the lessons and shares their experiences and it's not just someone preaching.  Noris said she loves the unity between the members and how good the youth are. They even expressed the desire for us to work with their children and help them stay on the path. We talked about the importance of doing things as a family, such as eating dinner together and reading scriptures, and Noris said, "yeah, maybe we can all get together and read a scripture and ponderize it (meditizar in Spanish).  I loved that from conference."
They really changed on Sunday. I asked if going to church was a sacrifice and Noris said, "no! I got up early and washed clothes and went to church, then came home and cooked and cleaned and finished earlier than normal! I even got to rest!"  I left that lesson on cloud nine. For the past three months I've worked so hard to help them understand our message and feel the spirit and make friends with the members and to stop by their house to remind him about church. I've begged the Lord in fervent prayer to touch their hearts and to help them accept the gospel because I can see them for who they can become. And the Lord is changing them.  I pray that they can continue progressing and allowing Christ's light to fill their lives.
This week we've talked about temples and family history a couple of times, and it's given me a chance to reflect on this beautiful aspect of the Gospel. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe in a just and merciful God. We know that for centuries Christ's church wasn't on the earth, and many died without the opportunity to accept the gospel and be baptized.  In 1 Peter 3:19 it says that Christ went and preached in the Spirit World, giving everyone the chance to hear and accept the Gospel. However, without bodies, the spirits are unable to be baptized and enter into God's kingdom. In first Corinthians 15:29, Paul mentions baptisms for the dead, a sacred ordinances that we do in behalf of those who have died without baptism. As we taught this ordinance to Fior and Ariel, A member who came with us said that being baptized for our ancestors unifies us. She said that she loves her mom, and her mom loves her mom, and the love we have ties us together. I had a similar experience when I was younger. My grandma asked me to be baptized for her mother Ruth Beatty. I don't have any memories of her, but I was able to do the ordinance for her, and now I can't wait to meet her after this life.
A Day in the DR:
This week my Spanish has been all over the place. We were visiting Ramon and he was asking us something about the Pope (el Papa), and I accidentally called him the Potato (la papa). I saw Ramon trying not to laugh. Later that day, instead of saying "advantage" I told someone that was the "window" of the situation.