We went to the Christmas/ New Year’s
open house at the Mission President´s home. It was so wonderful to be in their decorated
home and we got a less active family and an investigator to go. We had good American
food, which was wonderful! Hermana Eyre played
her violin, Hermana Robinson played her flute, and Hermana Pace played the piano.
It was beautiful to be there and the Spirit was so strong. I got a lot of pictures
and videos. When we were leaving Pres. Pace yells out my name to come back up the
stairs. He said "I didn´t get to say goodbye to you yet." Then he said,
"Does your family know how much of an amazing missionary you are?" Then
he pointed at my companion and my investigator and he says "You have a really
good influence on the future of this mission and on the future of this church with
these people right here." "I love you and keep working hard and Merry
Christmas." What a nice thing to say.
This has been a week full of miracles
that is for sure! Hermana Rivera, is wonderful and we are doing great together-having
fun and working hard. At the end of each day we have been discussing the miracles
that we have seen throughout the day. Saturday and Sunday were both wonderful days
full of miracles.
We have been working with an investigator
named Xavi who is 23 years old. He has been visiting with the missionaries since
February. His dad is a very less active member and his mom and sister are not interested
in the church. He has a lot of doubts and struggles that he is dealing with. He
has been reading in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. He has met
with plenty of Elders and Sisters and comes to church every Sunday and to every
activity and to English class. His second home is the chapel. You will often find
him there if he is not at school or at work. He wants to get baptized very badly
but knows that Satan will attack him harder after baptism. He knows the importance
of the covenants made at baptism and does not want to risk breaking them. He watched
the videos and listened to the words of the prophet and apostles on the church website.
He read articles. When we saw him at English class on Saturday morning, it was the
happiest I have ever seen him. He said that those have changed his life and feels
that he can be baptized in January. His prayers are more sincere. He says he better
understands his purpose and his life. We'll see what happens.
Our week is full of citas with members,
recent converts, and our two fechas that we now have! A lady named Lupe wants to get baptized on January
12th. She is amazing and SO PREPARED.
The other fecha is Fausta. She is
probably around 70 years old and living with her less active daughter who is now
coming back to church. They are from Peru. We learned that we have to teach her
VERY simply or else she will not understand. This is challenging my companion a
lot, because she loves to talk. But it is perfect to simplify things and to really
put Elder Richard´s counsel to practice-simple yet powerful lessons. She has been
to church and likes it a lot. She also has been reading the Book of Mormon slowly. Her daughter, Cristina is so excited for her mom
to finally be baptized on January 24th. She told her, "Mami, finally there
is nothing to hold you back for more years. This is your time."
We have been doing a lot of the 12
weeks, a lot of the activities, and a lot of watching the District videos. We love
doing it because it is so informational and helpful. We have been working on Lesson
0-"How to Begin Teaching" and Lesson 1 "The Restoration." My companion loved the video of the "Purpose
of Missionaries with the Robles Family"-their story and them making it to the
temple (my temple in San Diego!) in the end. It was a sweet experience watching
it and that is really our goal-to help these people make it to the temple.
After our lessons with people throughout
the day, we have been evaluating ourselves to help us realize what we can improve
and what we did well. This has really been helping us better ourselves and knowing
what we can do to help the investigators more.
Happy New Year!
Love, Laura
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