Up to the First Presidency

       I knew that last delay was THE last delay! So this past Tuesday Bishop advised me that he had received the last thing we were waiting on and he was writing his letter to the First Presidency as we spoke. He said that he would be delivering my papers to Stake President on Wednesday and then he would review the whole packet (including my letter and Bishop's letter), then write his own letter and submit the packet.
      Well things are well and truly moving forward. I spoke to Stake President at church today and he advised me that he is going to be mailing my papers to Salt Lake tomorrow or Tuesday!! Then he will follow-up next Monday with the Office of the First Presidency to confirmed they have received my papers. (I asked him to confirm with them, I admit I am a little paranoid about my papers possibly getting lost in the mail.) He advised me that once they receive my papers, then it is usually 6-8 weeks to get their response (or decision) back.
       I was overjoyed to learn this. After so many months of a vague time frame, it is truly a delight to be dealing in more concrete figures. I am hoping and praying both for the time to pass swiftly and for a positive answer. 6-8 weeks means I will know about my baptism by the end of September at the latest!! I am so happy and excited! Blessings are coming forth as I continue to work towards my baptism. I know that the next few weeks will be both good and challenging. I am going to stay focused on my scripture studies and keep working with the Sisters. I need to stay close to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ as I prepare for my long-awaited baptism. With them on my side, I cannot fail.

Yo hablo español!

       I had such a neat experience yesterday that I just have to share. I went out on a team-up with Sister Toone and Sister Clark and we went to visit a less-active part-member family. We were there talking, and the husband (non-member who speaks Spanish) said something and, not thinking, I replied in Spanish. He was surprised and was like, tu habla español? We spoke for a couple moments in Spanish (the whole time I was grinning like mad, lol). Then the Sisters asked how his reading in the Book of Mormon was going, he pulled out his Spanish BoM and showed us that he was in chapter three of 1 Nephi. I was like, mi favorita escritura es aquí. (bad Spanish grammar I know). I pulled my Libro de Mormon out of my backpack (so glad I brought both copies) and shared 1 Nefi 3:7 with him, reading it in Spanish from my Book of Mormon and talked about I know that Heavenly Father won’t ask anything of us that He isn’t prepared to help us with. It was so funny when I was talking to him in Spanish, Sister Toone was staring at me with these big eyes and Sister Clark seemed to understand part of the conversation.
        It was sooo awesome!!! I have only been really studying Spanish thoroughly for the last few weeks and it was amazing to me that I was able to carry on a short conversation with a native-speaker. I am so super excited to start working with the Hermanas on team-ups too! I have the Spanish phrasebook that they give out in the MTC and have begun studying the phrases associated with the lessons. I also was able to say a short prayer in Spanish a couple nights ago. Was slow and simple but in understandable Spanish. I love Spanish!!!