We had a small miracle towards the end of our last P-day. We stopped by Erica and her family, the person who called us out of the blue. She has been kind of side stepping us and we've never been able to meet with the whole family because all her older sons work and her husband works like 12 hours a day. We parked outside and the husband Constantino was working on the car.
We talked with him for a bit and we asked if we could have a few minutes to talk. We talked about what we do and shared the first discussion. The little girls that are crazy in the lessons all played outside and the door was closed. The house was quite and peaceful and the spirit was so strong. Constantino was clearly feeling the same. We had our first peaceful lesson and put them both on date. At the very end right after Constantino said the closing prayer, where he asked if our message was true, the little girls ran in screaming. Miracle haha. Sadly we stopped by twice for two different lessons with them that we set up and they are always side stepping us and having to leave for "something."
Wednesday was like I wished everyday of missionary work was like. We started the day with a really good district meeting and district lunch at Costco. We then had 5 lessons in a row. It was so good. We started by stopping by this old lady that's in the ward who recently moved. We shared some scripture and we talked about preparing for the temple. She shared this one really long story without giving us gaps to say anything, but the spirit was there so I can't really complain. We then stopped by another investigator and talked about what we expect of her to do. It was an okay lesson, but the thing is she doesn't really think about what we say. Beyond being able to say was we said back to us, the message isn't really touching her. We then stopped by a lady who has been hiding from us for the last three weeks. We finally got in her door and had a good talk. After that lesson we had a lesson with the Aguilar family. We shared the videos "patterns of light" by Elder Bednar.
Elder Bednar's talk
It's all about receiving personal revelation. After that we went to our last lesson of the day with someone who used to be a member and wants to come back and her husband wants to learn from us. Super awesome lesson and the lady had been away from the church for something like 30 years and has some really bleak health problems. She shared her testimony and told us that a few days ago her brother gave her a priesthood blessing and that she knew the church was true. There is so much more to this story, but it was such a nice moment. If only everyday would be like that day.
Thursday we had one of my best lessons yet, at least spiritually. We took the bus and walked to German's place. Arrived exactly on time. We walked in and asked him the baptismal questions to very bluntly see where he was spiritually and to specifically outline what he needs to know before he makes this covenant. He was so spiritually edifying. It was so rewarding to see how far we've come together. Once we finished the questions we all knelt down and German in prayer asked for guidance in choosing a date. The spirit was so powerful in his quiet house. He pulled out his phone. Opened his calendar, paused and looked at us and said June 24. Elder Waters and I looked at each other and said "you are going to be baptized on that date." It was so insane. We literally fight so hard for our investigators.
Yesterday we had a great lesson with the Aguilars. We went though the baptismal questions as well. They are totally ready. They are feeling the effects of leaving behind coffee, but have a good replacement. Hot coco. We also talked about repentance a little bit. One of the baptismal questions asks if they are willing to partake of the sacrament every week and give service to their fellow church members. 90% sure it was a joke, but he asked if they'd be "cast out" if they miss a day. I think he was also slightly sensitive to that topic because they were out of town for the weekend and missed church, but he also was likely jumping off the repentance stuff we were talking about just prior to that question. The principle is God wants us to go to church. Obviously sometimes we can't. Since we got the Aguilars to church they've come without the need of reminders every week, with the exception of one day they were sick and this weekend they were out of town. We knelt in prayer to ask for a date, not a goal but a date to be baptized. We looked at a calendar, and almost picked a date. Natividad almost picked June 24 but something is keeping him from committing. We just need to dig some more. They even said they know its true and they will get baptized. On top of that they said that they talked with their friends about their church over the weekend. They are already missionaries!
This kind of thing unfolded over a few days, but one day we were knocking on a street that I felt guided to from our morning planning session. We met one guy and talked a bit and set up a lesson because he was going to work. We continued knocking the street because we had about an hour an a half before our first appointment. We got through nearly the whole street that day with no other success. I figured that was the guy we needed to talk to so I wasn't that annoyed. Our lesson came and he wasn't there after we confirmed so we kept knocking the street. We were on our third to last house and we turn the corner and there are 4 Hispanic guys drinking. As we walked up to them one said to another "you talk to them you're bilingual," jokes on him. We talked a little in English but no one even looked at us except the guy who spoke English. We dropped into Spanish and they all turned in their chairs and gave us attention. We asked if they had some time to listen to us and they all agreed. It was weird but we said an opening prayer and everything. We bore witness that we knew what we were teaching is true and that they could as well, as well as a big portion on Christ and repentance. It turned out that one guy had met with missionaries in Texas. We got everyone's contact info and a return appointment with all of them. It was a really interesting experience because normally it's super awkward walking up to a group of people but I was comfortable and we were able to invite the spirit to our lesson. At the end when getting one of the guy's contact info he apologized for drinking in front of us. I love it that the spirit can tell us what is right and what is wrong. There is a scripture in Mosiah 5 it says that "they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." That guy felt the spirit and knew that what he was doing was wrong without us saying anything.
Repentance is real and powerful.
If those guys are willing to actually meet with us on the times we set, I foresee a lot of success. The hardest thing is getting people to actually have the first lesson. We will meet people and they'll say all kinds of things but when it comes down to it most people flake. It's all about supporting the members to find those people who are prepared.
The Lord is blessing our area like crazy. Alma 13:24
THE BOOK OF ALMA
THE SON OF ALMA
THE SON OF ALMA
CHAPTER 13
24 For behold, aangels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.
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