Hola Familia y Amigos!!
This week was amazing, well, this weekend was! We saw a number of miracles that I'd like to share. It started Saturday morning: we had a couple potentials to visit and an investigator that we felt like we should stop by and see. The first potential was busy cuidando ninos but she talked to us a little and we were able to leave her with a prayer on her doorstep. When we asked her what would she ask God at that time she first told us she'd ask for a lot of things, so we asked what kinds of things, specifically. She told us something like this (translated of course), "I don't think God would let me see that person..." We asked to clarify, and she said because it was her dad and he'd passed away. We were able to bear short, powerful testimony that she'd be able to see her dad again, and then bring the Spirit with the prayer we said with her. She wants us to come back Thursday and we'll hopefully be able to teach her then.
Then, we went to see our investigator, Marcela and her husband, Miguel. We didn't have much time, but they've been going through some rough times lately, including this past week where Miguel drank again after a while of not drinking (like 1-2 months or something like that), so we wanted to stop by again this week to see how they're doing and see if they could come to church. We've had trouble in the past keeping lessons focused, and with them both having real desires to do what we invite them to do, but this time something was different. They were there to get help, we were there to help them, and I don't know this time was different. When we asked them to come to church Marcela immediately said yes, she wanted to come, like she has in the past. Usually Miguel then says I'm not sure if I can make it and doesn't come which means Marcela doesn't have a ride and doesn't come. He said that again and said he'd be at work, but this time Marcela suggested he could leave work for just an hour and then go back just to make it to Sacrament mtg. He perked up at this and said, yeah, I think I can do that, and said he'd come and bring Marcela! We ended the lesson right on time (a small miracle in itself!) and left feeling so happy to see this small, but powerful change in our investigators, in their willingness to commit to coming to church.
As an added miracle they were able to make it to church, despite difficulties that arose. Miguel couldn't leave work on time to make it to Sacrament meeting, but was able to come for Gospel Principles, Priesthood and the Baptism that we had after Church, and Marcela called a member that she knows from previous lessons and asked for a ride and was able to come to all of Church, the Baptism and Sacrament meetings, too. Hopefully they will continue to change and to accept Christ more fully in their lives so that they can live happier and make it through their rough times, now and in the future.
We also had another investigator that came to Sacrament meeting, Lorena. We've only had one lesson with her, but have been able to keep almost daily contact with her for the past 2 weeks or so and this was the first Sunday she wouldn't work during Church, and so told us she'd go. She needed a ride, and we arranged for a member, Diana, to pick her up. We didn't know this, but Lorena had to leave right after Sacrament meeting to go to work, but Diana went ahead and took her home and said she got to share her testimony with Lorena, too!
We didn't deserve these miracles, but we are soo grateful to the Lord for blessing us with these, and many more, miracles. I now have had a glimpse of what it means to have the windows of Heaven open (a phrase we use in our mission), and I want to do all I can to have things like this happen more and more frequently.
I love y'all and hope everything is going well!
-Elder Whitaker
This week was amazing, well, this weekend was! We saw a number of miracles that I'd like to share. It started Saturday morning: we had a couple potentials to visit and an investigator that we felt like we should stop by and see. The first potential was busy cuidando ninos but she talked to us a little and we were able to leave her with a prayer on her doorstep. When we asked her what would she ask God at that time she first told us she'd ask for a lot of things, so we asked what kinds of things, specifically. She told us something like this (translated of course), "I don't think God would let me see that person..." We asked to clarify, and she said because it was her dad and he'd passed away. We were able to bear short, powerful testimony that she'd be able to see her dad again, and then bring the Spirit with the prayer we said with her. She wants us to come back Thursday and we'll hopefully be able to teach her then.
Then, we went to see our investigator, Marcela and her husband, Miguel. We didn't have much time, but they've been going through some rough times lately, including this past week where Miguel drank again after a while of not drinking (like 1-2 months or something like that), so we wanted to stop by again this week to see how they're doing and see if they could come to church. We've had trouble in the past keeping lessons focused, and with them both having real desires to do what we invite them to do, but this time something was different. They were there to get help, we were there to help them, and I don't know this time was different. When we asked them to come to church Marcela immediately said yes, she wanted to come, like she has in the past. Usually Miguel then says I'm not sure if I can make it and doesn't come which means Marcela doesn't have a ride and doesn't come. He said that again and said he'd be at work, but this time Marcela suggested he could leave work for just an hour and then go back just to make it to Sacrament mtg. He perked up at this and said, yeah, I think I can do that, and said he'd come and bring Marcela! We ended the lesson right on time (a small miracle in itself!) and left feeling so happy to see this small, but powerful change in our investigators, in their willingness to commit to coming to church.
As an added miracle they were able to make it to church, despite difficulties that arose. Miguel couldn't leave work on time to make it to Sacrament meeting, but was able to come for Gospel Principles, Priesthood and the Baptism that we had after Church, and Marcela called a member that she knows from previous lessons and asked for a ride and was able to come to all of Church, the Baptism and Sacrament meetings, too. Hopefully they will continue to change and to accept Christ more fully in their lives so that they can live happier and make it through their rough times, now and in the future.
We also had another investigator that came to Sacrament meeting, Lorena. We've only had one lesson with her, but have been able to keep almost daily contact with her for the past 2 weeks or so and this was the first Sunday she wouldn't work during Church, and so told us she'd go. She needed a ride, and we arranged for a member, Diana, to pick her up. We didn't know this, but Lorena had to leave right after Sacrament meeting to go to work, but Diana went ahead and took her home and said she got to share her testimony with Lorena, too!
We didn't deserve these miracles, but we are soo grateful to the Lord for blessing us with these, and many more, miracles. I now have had a glimpse of what it means to have the windows of Heaven open (a phrase we use in our mission), and I want to do all I can to have things like this happen more and more frequently.
I love y'all and hope everything is going well!
-Elder Whitaker