FAMILY!!!
Hello again. Sorry I didn't write yesterday, it was Martin Luther King day and all the public libraries were closed. Just know that whenever a holiday falls on a Monday, I will be writing Tuesday instead.
So....AWESOME WEEK!!!!!
It was hard but awesome at the same time. Sister Wheatley was sick all week, and I got a little sick, so our energy was really low some days. That really affected our morale. But we really boost each other up when one of us is having a hard time. One day during our lunch hour, Sister Wheatley told me to go take a nap while she made me Mexican food. She's that awesome. We make each other lunch and clean up after each other all the time. We're a really good team. When one of us is struggling, the other's positive attitude helps bring the other up until we can work through it. Missions are awesome.
I've learned on my mission that I'm OCD. I've always known that cleaning is my favorite thing to do, and it do it when I'm stressed, tired, happy, upset...no matter how I'm feeling, I love to clean. I really can't stand it if our apartment and car aren't perfect. Definitely a huge change from my high school days!!
Sooo, this past week or two has been all about developing faith, about understanding what having faith really feels like and realizing that it really can move mountains! Faith is incredible! It's amazing to me that "...it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.....the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites....the faith of Ammon and his bretheren which wrought so great a mireacle among the Lamanites. Yea, and even all they who wrought mireacles wrought them by faith" (Ether 12:13-16). I thought WOW....is Heavenly Father telling me that if I simply expect that something will happen, it will? Even moving a mountain? Yep.
I realized that to have faith isn't to say to yourself "I believe I believe I believe I believe" in a self-deceiving kind of way, when you actually don't know if it will really happen or not. We have to 100% believe completely in our own hearts that the miracle really actually is coming to pass and we can be really excited for it to happen. Last Sunday, I knew without a doubt that our investigator Dameon and his brother and their friend would attend church. They are ages 17-20. Dameon has done a ton of drugs in the past, and he talks and responds differently than normal and has scars on his face. It's hard to understand his comprehension of the material sometimes but from what he responds we can always tell that he is understanding what we're teaching.. During one of our lessons he was trying so hard not to cry telling us about how he wishes he could feel love in his life again, how his life has become so cold. He is such a good kid and loves and takes care of his family, but has made bad decisions in his life. He has a lot of influence on his friend and brother. They both said "I'll go to church only if Dameon says he is going." Soooo, last week, I knew with all my heart that they would go. We stopped by on Sunday morning as they had just woken up and told them their ride was on the way. AND ALL THREE OF THEM WENT TO CHURCH!!! I was soooooo worried the whole time, I really wanted them to be welcomed into the ward and have a spiritual, uplifting experience. I was watching them all sacrament meeting to see how they responded. They were welcomed by what seemed to be everyone in the whole branch, stayed all three hours, and said that they loved it and are coming next Sunday, as well as attending mutal this Wednesday night!!! I couldn't believe it!!! It really was a miracle. Dameon's face was just beaming and he couldn't stop smiling and laughing. The other young men said they sat and talked with them for all the classes. It was a miracle.
Another miracle is that Dameon's grandmother, who said that she didn't care to change her religion at all, but wanted us to teach her grandsons, has reallyyy warmed up to us lately. She is always welcoming us inside and feeding us and during the lessons she is very concentrated on what we're saying. I think she is really happy to see a change happening in her family, but as she hears the truth, her own heart is softened.
We've been teaching a new family! The Silva family. They are so awesome. The dad is hilarious. The mom and daughter were the first ones we started teaching, and now the whole family grabs their Libros de Mormon and listens to the lessons. The 19-year-old son, Edgar, always participates and does the reading assignments and really thinks a lot about what we are teaching. We were nervous last week when we extended a baptismal date for Feb 11, but were blown away when the dad paused and said, ".......maybe." The rest of them nodded. They said they really want to learn more and need to know more but think the lessons are beautiful. Miracle.
On Sunday, we taught a woman Ramona and her friend Reina for the first time. The Spirit was so stong in the lesson and both my companion and I had full faith that we had to extend a baptismal date, like we are supposed to in every first lesson. Both women accepted a date for the 11th of February and said they would need a ride to church on Sunday. We are teaching them again today. Miracle.
ROSA WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! After studying with missionaries for almost two years, she finally made it happen. It was so awesome! One of our investigators, Filemon, came to the baptism. Our mission President came and brought his family, and President sat in on a lesson with us in the chapel afterwards with Filemon. We were both sooooo nervous hahha but the Spirit was so strong. We committed Filemon to pray about baptism in front of the President. Miracle.
What I want to learn is how to change my attitude when I'm having doubt or disbelief with one of our investigators. I remember in the Bible, when a man asks Christ to heal his epileptic child. He says, "Lord, help thee mine unbelief." When I'm not sure if an investigator will progress, I'm just going to pray with all my heart to Heavenly Father to help my unbelief, to help change those feelings to faith. Richard G. Scott says that every time we follow promptings of the Spirit, that is a manefestation of our faith, a "trial" of our faith, and our faith will be strenghtened by doing so. So, I'm going to do that to work on having more faith. Last week, as we were walking out of our apartment, I had a strong impression to invite our neighbor Ray to church. We went up and invited him, and he said that he really appreciated it and would try to go. As we walked out today, he caught us and said that he will know by tomorrow if he can get work off for SUnday. I really never saw Ray as wanting to attend church. Miracle.
Well time is up and I wish I could keep writing about all the miracles we've had but we have to go. I'm excited to see more miracles this week.
Grandma and grandpa, I'll have to print off your email and take it with me to read tonight. Your emails mean so much to me. Thank you!
Love you all!!!!
Hermana Wadsworth
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