Sept 7, 2015

Well this week has been rather eventful. We had to stop working for a couple of days because my companion had what we thought was appendicitis...is that what it's called? But as it turns out she's just fine. She just had a nice UTI and after some meds she's healthy and happy and laughing out loud again. =P

Mayra is still working towards her baptism on Saturday. Chay is not going to be baptized with her for some changes that he's not willing to do right now but at the very least they will be married so when he decides that he's ready he can start preparing to be baptized. The only rough thing with Mayra is that she's been very busy and things just keep going wrong so she's also very frustrated and doesn't want to take time to do the homework that we give her. This is a problem because she doesn't believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and how in the world is she going to be baptized into a church if she doesn't believe that the person who restored it was called of God?!....I know, I'm confused too but we're working on it and we pray that the Lord will do His part as He will and that she will receive a testimony of this part of our history as a church.

The Nazario Sanchez family is doing great. They seem to be working things out and Hugo (the dad) is reading the Book of Mormon of his own free will. We haven't even given him reading assignments yet and she's already started reading it. He seems to really enjoy it and they accepted the lesson of the Restoration when we taught it this last week. They are great. The only hard thing is that we can't invite members to our lessons with them because Hugo has a hard time accepting that people can change and doesn't like it when members come in, whom he's known for a long time, and try to teach him the gospel and the marvelous changes that they have seen thanks to Jesus Christ.  I'm simply grateful that they're progressing well. =)

We've decided to drop Estefani for a while. Since she's only 10 and can't go to church without permission and no one in her family wants to give her this permission nor do they want for her to be baptized, we feel that we have done just about all that we can do.

These last couple weeks, I feel that the Lord has shown me one of His tender mercies. 

In my second area, I spent about 3 months working with a family that was progressing rapidly. The only thing that kept them from being baptized was the fact that the husband (Sabino) has to get divorced from a previous wife and get married to his current wife (Alma). During my time with them, I never saw this happen. They moved from my area and I was transferred. Later I heard that everything worked out and that they were both baptized. I was very excited for them but not nearly as excited as I was when I met Sabino personally about two weeks ago. We're apparently in the same stake right now and I ran into him as he was walking into the stake center for an interview to receive the Melquesidec priesthood. The next Sunday I got to raise my hand as it was put to a vote that he and others would receive this priesthood. 

The second experience was when my companion and I had to go to Puebla, last Sunday, to pick up a tank of gas that we were lacking. A member and his fiance drove us down and while we were packing things up to head back to Tlaxcala, a man walked up to me and greeted me by name. I recognized him as a member who had moved into my second area not too soon before I was transferred but I didn't remember his name. I later remembered him as Mario and that we had been asked by him a year earlier to teach his wife, Claudia, who had been taught by missionaries in Veracruz but had not wanted to be baptized. We had spent about a month looking for her and making appointments but she never received us. After greeting me he told me something like this, "I saw you Hermana and just wanted to tell you something. I want you to know that my wife Claudia was baptized yesterday and confirmed today. I hope you know that your efforts were never wasted."

I may not have seen nor had the opportunity to teach this woman but I still found great joy in receiving the news that she had entered the gate on the road to her salvation. 

I hope you have a wonderful week and that you all continue to see miracles in your lives! Love you!