Hola Familia y Amigos!!
Well, as the heading states, be careful what you wish for. I don't know if I told y'all, but we've been lacking on the water pretty bad over here. The governer declared us in a state of drought and the First Presidency actually sent a letter to the area asking the members here to fast and pray on Feb. 2nd (last Fast Sunday) for rain. Well, so we all did, and it started that day actually. That Sunday was like the 2nd or 3rd time it had rained since last year about this time. Then it was pretty dry the next 3-4 days, although it was pretty cloudy skies and I think it rained in the night a couple times. Then Friday came. It started Friday morning, but we had our weekly planning to do that day, so we were inside most of the day time up until dinner to which we got a ride from the other Elders. Then, after dinner we had about an hour to work before we had to bike to the Church. Starting at about that point in time up until now it's been really, really wet. Today it hasn't really rained much, and Sunday wasn't too bad, but Friday and Saturday it was pretty much non-stop rain, and fairly hard rain as well. Luckily other missionaries (who're home now) had given me some much appreciated rain gear, including a waterproof jacket, and waterproof rain pants. So I've been able to keep pretty much all of me dry except for my face, hands, and my feet/shoes. But that's ok, I've survived and now I have an incredible testimony of the power of fasting and prayer. We're not out of the drought, and we still need a lot more rain here, but it was incredible to see this miracle. The heavens were opened in response to the faith, fasting, and prayers of the members here in Northern California!
As far as our area goes, we've been having some pretty good weeks these last few weeks. This week we finally were able to have contact with Andres again, and he has a phone we can contact him at now, so that was a miracle that we were able to get his phone # and now we should be able to keep more contact with him. We also were able to pick up as an investigator his mom, Lidia, as well, which is a miracle as well because we've been trying for a few weeks now to do that. Lidia is a good woman who has gone through a lot of rough things and we're hoping that we can help her find more happiness through the Gospel. We were also able to teach Salvador, even though he missed his appointment. We were able to set up an additional day each week to come and teach him, and a day to teach his wife, Maria, who's a less-active recent convert, too. We hope that teaching them both will help them both keep the committment to go to Sacrament Meeting (with their family), and will lead to being able to teach their kids as well who have been a little stand-off-ish. We've had a good week, despite the rain, and have seen many miracles!
I love y'all and hope that y'all survive the ice and cold there in GA! Keep praying and God will answer your prayers! (just be careful what you pray for (: )
-Elder Whitaker
Well, as the heading states, be careful what you wish for. I don't know if I told y'all, but we've been lacking on the water pretty bad over here. The governer declared us in a state of drought and the First Presidency actually sent a letter to the area asking the members here to fast and pray on Feb. 2nd (last Fast Sunday) for rain. Well, so we all did, and it started that day actually. That Sunday was like the 2nd or 3rd time it had rained since last year about this time. Then it was pretty dry the next 3-4 days, although it was pretty cloudy skies and I think it rained in the night a couple times. Then Friday came. It started Friday morning, but we had our weekly planning to do that day, so we were inside most of the day time up until dinner to which we got a ride from the other Elders. Then, after dinner we had about an hour to work before we had to bike to the Church. Starting at about that point in time up until now it's been really, really wet. Today it hasn't really rained much, and Sunday wasn't too bad, but Friday and Saturday it was pretty much non-stop rain, and fairly hard rain as well. Luckily other missionaries (who're home now) had given me some much appreciated rain gear, including a waterproof jacket, and waterproof rain pants. So I've been able to keep pretty much all of me dry except for my face, hands, and my feet/shoes. But that's ok, I've survived and now I have an incredible testimony of the power of fasting and prayer. We're not out of the drought, and we still need a lot more rain here, but it was incredible to see this miracle. The heavens were opened in response to the faith, fasting, and prayers of the members here in Northern California!
As far as our area goes, we've been having some pretty good weeks these last few weeks. This week we finally were able to have contact with Andres again, and he has a phone we can contact him at now, so that was a miracle that we were able to get his phone # and now we should be able to keep more contact with him. We also were able to pick up as an investigator his mom, Lidia, as well, which is a miracle as well because we've been trying for a few weeks now to do that. Lidia is a good woman who has gone through a lot of rough things and we're hoping that we can help her find more happiness through the Gospel. We were also able to teach Salvador, even though he missed his appointment. We were able to set up an additional day each week to come and teach him, and a day to teach his wife, Maria, who's a less-active recent convert, too. We hope that teaching them both will help them both keep the committment to go to Sacrament Meeting (with their family), and will lead to being able to teach their kids as well who have been a little stand-off-ish. We've had a good week, despite the rain, and have seen many miracles!
I love y'all and hope that y'all survive the ice and cold there in GA! Keep praying and God will answer your prayers! (just be careful what you pray for (: )
-Elder Whitaker