Week 14

Happy Monday!

It sounds like ya'll have had a pretty eventful week! I loved your emails.

We've had a pretty good week! Unfortunately, I don't have too much to tell, but we did have a really cool lesson.

 

We have been teaching this girl and her brother (Reyna and Ian) for a little bit. We ran into them in the park and then never followed up on them. The other sisters gave us a referral and when we went to meet them we recognized them as the people in the park! It's not often you get second chances to talk to people. We were pretty excited. As we started talking to Reyna we realized she had been really prepared for the gospel. She loved everything we talked to her about. We also found out that her brother Ian, is actually a member. Apparently, we have a knack for finding people that have already been baptized but still dont know anything about the church. They are 18 and 19 so it was really fun ot teach people our age. They were reading in the Book of Mormon and really into it! We had a lesson last wednesday where we talked about faith and repentance. Woah! It was pretty awesome. They all had a really good understanding of faith but repentance was really cool. We had them imagine everything they had done wrong or that they felt bad about in their life, and then imagine it being gone. Reyna (whos a little stubborn) spoke up and said she didn't believe that it could just be taken away. She has a firm belief that if she did it, she has to pay for it. It can't be undone. I then had the sweet opportunity to explain the role of the Savior - how he takes the place for her errors and how he already paid the price. She just sat there with a concentrated look for a minute and then look up at me. As I looked into her eyes, I could just see that peace and realization. She understood it! It was the first time she had really started accepting the Atonement in her life. She told us that no one has ever been able to change her mind on that before, but the spirit did! It was so powerful and really just strenghtened my testimony of the Savior. Unfortunately, they would rather go to an English ward, so we had to turn them over to the English sisters. I don't know what's going to happen, but I hope they keep progressing. That same night we were able to teach Oscar (Julieta's husband) about the baptismal covenant and again explain the repentance aspect of the Atonement. That same look came to his face as he realized the miracle of forgiveness. I just love that look.

 

Thursday we found a cute little family. Reina and her 3 little kids. She's a single mom and wants to become Christian some day...or in other words be baptized. She is just in the beginning of discovering Heavenly Father so we take it really slow with her. It's been really fun to go a little slower and more in depth so she can understand. She's really cute. In answer to mom's question about the Gilbert temple - we are allowed to go if we have investigators. There are a lot of restrictions such as: it has to be before 6 and only during the week, and we have to have their fellowship family with us. We're working really hard to go on Thursday with this family. The first time we met them we talked about temples and I showed the little kids a picture of the SLC temple. The next time we talked to them, as soon as I got in the door the little boy was like "Can I see the pretty picture again?" It was so cute! We figured the temple would be really good for them.

 

We also had exchanges on Friday. This time I stayed in the area and Sister Taylor went to South Phoenix. It was the first time I had to take over the area by myself! Ahh! It was so scary, but I learned so much and gained so much confidence. All of a sudden I could actually understand Spanish and speak it back! I miraculously was able to find all of our investigators houses and coordinate with the members. I know the Lord was behind me every step of the way. It was a great experience for me to see that I know how to do a lot more than I think I do.

 

We rode bike a couple times this week because we are running out of miles. Wooga! I'm definitley saddle sore, but not as out-of-shape as I thought I was. It's a blast! We get to talk to sooo many people. The eloteros (guys with the Nacho Libre bikes and corn with mayonnaise) give us free soda and elote all the time. We never have money but they give it to us anyway, so we sneak a BofM on their cart. :) It's much better than money anyways, right? I feel like a real missionary now. We ride bikes and I was chased by a dog for quite some time. At least, that seemed to be the vision of missionary work that I had before I actually became a missionary.

 

Yesterday we had a charla fogonera (fireside) with our ward and the cielito ward (our roommates). It had a pretty good turn out! We had one of the councelors of the misssion presidency speak and we sang a song as missionaries. It was really fun and a good way to strenghten the membesr. I hope we'll see some success come from it.

 

Well, that's pretty much it for this week. It's been wonderful and I'm sure this next one will be too. The sunshine really does help with the attitude and I'm really grateful for it. I thought I'd just leave ya'll with a spiritual thought! It comes from the best missionary chapter : Alma 26:9. It says:

"For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have been strangers to God."

As we go about the day, we try our hardest to talk to everyone. If we pass by someone without talking to them, we could have missed an opportunity to share the gospel with someone who has been prepared for it. If Ammon hadn't turned back and talked to the people again, no one else would have done it and they would have been without the gospel. It's the same with us and our friends. Sometimes we may be the only portal to share the gospel with them. If we pass by them and don't share what we have, no one else is going to do it - or they will have to wait a lot longer for it. So this week, I challenge you all to remember in your prayers to pray for someone who has been prepared to feel of your love for the gospel and I promise he will put them in your path. As I have learned time and time again, he will never leave you stranded if you open your mouth, but if you don't open your mouth you feel a whole lot worse than if you had an awkard converstaion. I hope that makes sense and I hope you take this challenge! It's a good one!

I've truly felt your love and prayers this week - thank you, thank you! Have a good one!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Homer