July 13, 2015
Hola!! ¿Que tal? ¿Que pasa? ¿Como estai? So somehow the week just flew by and I am sitting here in this cyber again! I dont´ even know how that happens. Somehow 6 days fit into a blink of an eye now. I don´t really understand that.
We had a great week. Especially because we found people to teach this week that aren´t adolescent boys!!!!!!!!!!! YES!
So at the beginning of the week we found Pricilia, who is just amazing! She lives with her boyfriend, but none the less AMAZING!!! We had a SUPER como comenzar with her! Como comenzar is like the first lesson you have with someone where you explain your purpose, what we teach, and usually give them the Book of Mormon with the challenge to read a little and then pray. But in her 'co-co' we literally taught something from every single lesson! She just had so many questions that moved the conversation along in a way that it all just flowed together and she learned a lot! The best part was when she says, " I just don't like other religions that decide to put their own rules on people and don´t just leave it with God´s rules, like there´s this one religion that I heard that doesn´t let the people drink coffee! Can you believe that?!" hahahaha and then she stopped and looked at us and was like wait that´s not you guys is it? And we were like yes! That´s us! But then we taught the word of wisdom really quickly and simply and she says, ' oh well that totally makes sense.' haha it was great. We invited her to be baptized and she said, ' no I´m just not ready but maybe in the future.
Then we went back and visited her the next day and she said she had called her boyfriend after we had left and told him about the visit and he wants us to come by when he´s home (he works 12 days away from the house and then is home for 12 days) and she also said, 'it was really cool, after you guys left, there was this peaceful feeling that stayed in the house. I really like when you guys come.' We told her that peaceful feeling is the spirit!! And that´s what you feel when something is directly from God and how you can know something is true! And she said, ' oh that´s so cool.' Then we taught her the plan of salvation and she just loved it and wants to go to the celestial kingdom. I mean who wouldn´t want to go there right? We tried inviting her to be baptized again but she still wouldn´t accept a date. AH!... It was weird she went off about how she thinks reincarnation is a thing and we were like BUT THE PLAN! Look at the plan! And she says, ' oh right'.... I really don´t know how we managed to walk out of there without her accepting a baptismal date.. but she´s not married for the time being so I guess it´s ok, but I´m really excited about her! She´s just so awesome!
Then we were teaching another one of our investigdores that we found a few weeks back named Yorma. And we taught her about the restoration of the gospel and at the end we shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and afterward it was so cute she just goes, ¨Do you guys ever feel sad? Like do you feel pains and sorrows?¨And we said, well yeah of course! We´re still human. And she was like oh well it´s just one of those things you have to ask because you guys just radiate this happiness and this confidence that I just thought you guys don´t even feel sad. It was really humbling having someone tells us that. And it´s just proof that the gospel is what will bring any person that truly lives it true happiness. Because obviously we feel lots of sadness. We get rejected every day, people tell us to go take a long walk off a short pier all the time. They give us a wrong address. They aren´t there for the appointments they don´t read the Book of Mormon, the place that sells the best completos is always closed when we decide to eat one..... Like lots of sad things. But the gospel can give us a perspective that reaches WAY beyond the disappointment of the moment. That outweighs the pains and sorrows of living in a very imperfect and unfair world. The gospel not only tells us that it´s all going to be ok in the end but it gives us the tools and experiences we need to let those bad moments and hard times make us become better and stronger people. In the best of times and the worst of times we have an anchor of faith and a surety of hope, that we have a Savior who knows us and loves us. We know why we are here and where we are going. We have scriptures full of faithful people who have a lot of problems and what they did to overcome them. We have prayer which is always available, 24/7. We have the Holy Ghost that gives us a peace that just tells us it´ll be ok. So for that, we can feel sad but sadness is not something that will define us. It something that helps us appreciate all the good that there is. I´m so grateful for the gospel and I´m so grateful for the true happiness that it fills my life everyday.
The other day we also had an interesting experience. We found a menos activo de mucho tiempo and we asked him if he still had his Book of Mormon. He goes off on a rant about how only the Bible is the word of God and how the Book of Mormon is a dead book. I don't know what happened but it felt really good how I was able to control the wrath I felt in my heart when he said libro muerto and use it to calmly but firmly tell him that the Book of Mormon is not a dead book. In fact it is filled with a living and real promise that we can read it and then ask God if it is a true book. And how God always will keep is promises and always respond to his children that truly search for answers and then I quoted the scripture in the Bible that, ask and you will receive, knock and it will be answered. And how I knew that promise is true and it is a living book because I have read it and prayed and asked God. And his face changed and he accepted the Book of Mormon and said that he would read it when seconds before he was totally hating on the book. It´s so cool to see the spirit work his magic and soften people´s hearts. I really hope that he will read it and pray about it like he said he would because I know that he can receive an answer that will change his life and only make sweeter everything he´s read in the Bible and loves about Jesus.
Last Sunday, as a country of Chile we all did a fast for rain because well we need it REALLY bad. The area presidency asked that all members fast specifically for rain here. I´m more in the north now and so here it´s especially harder for it to rain. I was actually way happy that I got to spend the Winter here because I´m not down for rain as a missionary. But last Sunday we fasted for rain. And yesterday it rained! The ayuno worked!!! But this is the best part... It started raining hard when Sacrament meeting started. Then a member drove us to lunch so we didn´t have to walk in the rain and get really wet. Right as lunch ended, it stopped raining so we could walk around and stay dry. Then as we came in for the night, it started raining again really hard. It´s like God not only answered the fervent prayers and fasts of the Chileans but was also mindful of our missionary schedule! SO COOL.!!!!!!!!!
Ok one last story before my time runs out... We found a family this week! a couple (AND THEY ARE MARRIED!!!) and they have 3 little girls. We taught them lesson 1 and I´ve never seen someone so excited to receive a Book of Mormon as the husband was! It was awesome and they accepted a baptismal date for the 25th! But then they didn´t come to church because it was cold and rainy-ish so that date fell through.... But then we read with them yesterday in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 31 and talked about why baptism is important for the family and they loved it! They accepted another baptismal date for in August. But it´s so cool to be able to teach a couple together! You can just see that they want the very best for their daughters and they are willing to read and pray and look for answers. The husband works all during the week so we can only teach them on weekends but I really hope they read the Book of Mormon this week and pray and can recognize the spirit telling them it´s true so they can be an eternal family!!!!!!!
Well that´s all that time allows for this week but I know that good things are about to happen here in Sindempart. I know that the spirit is preparing people to receive the gospel and I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that His authority was restored and exists and is here in this church. I know that God listens to our fasts and prayers and is always there to help and comfort.
Con todo el amor en mi corazon,
HErmana Evans
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