He is the Gift

Something I forgot to mention that I learned last Monday. Do not leave all the windows and the back door open while doing laundry and cleaning the house. It's very possible that two little sparrows will enter and begin to cause chaos. =)

This week we had an interesting contrast in experiences. First, we went to visit one of our investigators, named Esperanza that had finally committed to come to church after a great lesson but when we went to visit her this last time, she was overly friendly and just acting kinda funny. We entered her house where she had a small fire pit burning and where her music about the catholic church was just blasting. We only sat for 4 or 5 minutes before we began to feel that we had to leave. She asked us to sing a hymn for her and we did. Then she wanted us to read from the Bible but we continued to feel funny and like we needed to get out of there. We said that we actually had to leave because we had gotten sick during the day and needed to return home. (Not a complete lie) We got out of the house and stood outside the door talking to a young man who helps out Esperanza with her Lavanderia (laundry service). He then confirmed our suspicions that she was drunk...very drunk. She then came out and tried to get us to enter back in, telling us just how much she loved us but we continued to say we needed to leave and left. We both felt a little shaken to have seen her that way and to have seen the danger she had put herself and others in. When we returned to the house, we talked about it and what had happened and began to realize Satan's part in the situation and then God's part and how He had protected us from who knows what could have happened. We both began to feel a little nervous and jumpy but after we said a prayer and asked for help, we both felt instantly safe and comforted. We have not seen her since. It really kinda shook us both to realize that we had been looking Satan right in the face. This woman is wonderful and sweet and really wants to follow Christ, but as we read in the bible dictionary about Satan this week, one of his greatest tools is convincing God's children that they are following God while they are truly following Satan. How sad is that? However, even as we realized the power of Satan and just how real he is, we both agreed that it was incredible knowing that our Heavenly Father loved us and that He would always protect us.

The contrasting experience that we had was with another investigator named Jose Abel. He was an atheist who is beginning to believe in God and not only in his Heavenly Father but also in His church. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and has beginning to feel a change in his life. We all are surprised but how quickly he's been progressing. He came to church this Sunday and we thought that at the end he didn't like it at all. Especially because we could see the irreverence of the members and everything that was going wrong. When we saw his face after the services it was very very serious and we were worried to talk to him thinking that he was going to tell us all kinds of bad things he saw that he never wanted to come back. (Funny how we tend to expect the worse.) However, when we talked to him he just said that he was in awe. He loved the way the Church ran the services and all of the people. He said that although he now had more doubts and questions than ever, he just wanted to continue learning and understanding. Also, that he was never going to leave our church and that he would definitely be coming back. When we invited him to the Christmas Devotional that night he said that he would come to anything that we invited him too. I am so excited to see his progress and am so impressed with the Lord! It's an amazing privilege to watch the Lord at work