Miracles

Well this week was really good.  We had many miracles and I had many experiences that just really meant a lot to me and I felt like they were real faith building experiences. 

Sister Gray and I knocked into this lady named Carola.  She is form Peru and we scheduled a return appointment with her.  When we went to her house she wasn't going to let us in but when we went back for our appointment she was waiting for us and graciously welcomed us in.  She has had many hard experiences with her family, marriage, past religious life etc that have made it difficult for her to open her heart.  She has built a wall and the door doesn't easily open.  She would talk about not wanting anything to do with us in one breath and in the next breath say that she knows that she needs to make a change in her life and the life she is living isn't giving her what she needs.  She knows that there is more and that if she doesn't do something she will loose the things that she hold true and dear.  We were making some huge progress with her when her husband found out and called her a traitor for reading the book of mormon and paying attention to a religion beside Catholicism.   We scheduled an appointment to meet with her and her husband but she called us the night before to tell us that she had talked to her husband and he refused to listen to anyone.  We were super sad.  There are all these people we run into and they say they are praying for God to lead them to the path he would have them take. So what does God do?  He leads them to the missionaries.  Then when us missionaries offer them eternal life they tell us and God that they don't want it anymore.  It's quite silly and honestly super sad.  They are looking for something so hard and are determined its a particular place that they don't turn their head to realize it's been under their noses the whole time.  It's a good life lesson to be applied in many situations.  Take a step back to look at the bigger picture.

My other experience for the week was with Flor. She is a family friend of the Fuentes.  I don't know if you rmember me telling you this but we went to the Fuentes family for Thanksgiving dinner.  Alondra was there and she has investigated the church on and off for several years.  I was talking to Alondra on the side after dinner while everyone conversed.  From what I picked up she hadn't got baptized becuase her boyfriend and her were not married.  I joked with her a little bit and told her how romantic would it be to get married so that they could enter the kingdom of heaven together.  She laughed told me that would be nice but that her and her boyfriend had talked about it and decided that they didn't need a piece of paper that says they were married in order to be happy together.  I thought to myself that true but somehow Gods laws are always the higher laws and there is substance to them. Well tragically this last week her boyfriend passed away suddenly from a freak accident that happened at work.  So fast, So sudden.  We found out rather fast because hermana fuentes was supposed to help us with a lesson that night and just never showed.  She called us the next day to apoligize and explained a little what had happened.  She invited us sisters over to talk with Flor.  Flor was  as you can imagine a little bit of a wreck and fragile.  The first thing she said to me when I walked in was "no hay boda" Which means,  "There was no Wedding".   My heart just ached for her.  We talked a little about the plan and just listened to her for the most part.  We went to the funeral with her on Saturday.  It's strange because both Funerals that I have been to have been to were conducted by LDS members but on a Catholic background person.  I guess the catholics can't let go of their religion but like our beliefs better or something.  It was really good and there were a lot of poeple attended.  Here was this man that had never paid attention to God and had always felt like he would have more time to prepare later.  He was only 24 years old.  Now his time had come and past and he missed out on those opportunities most important in life.  Flor came to church on Sunday and sat by me.  She leaned over to me in Sunday school and asked me.  "If I were to become a member of your church, what could I do to help my Husband (or man that I wanted to be my husband)?"  I explained a very brief portion of the plan to her and told her that God is merciful and if she did her part now she could expect the blessings in the future and for her loved one.  I could tell the spirit touched her and she was very happy with the news that she had found for her aching soul.  We just never know.  I learned another life lesson. It's true, you don't need "a paper to tell you are happy" but you do need to live the commandments of god if you want the type of happiness that will last more than just a few brief moments in comparison to the eternities. Do your part to have no regrets.

One of my tender mercies that made me really happy was that Raquelle called me before church yesterday to tell me she wanted to come to church and that she had helped her 2 boys and they were all ready.  I said great, we will have someone come pick you up at half past the hour.  The only problem was that all of the leaders of the ward were already at church for a big meeting that we ha had. So.... I called every member and their dog and cat and no one was being cooperative last minute.  I was pretty bummed and a little discouraged.  Sister Gray and I were getting pretty desperate.  We had the idea of one of our investigators pop into our head. We are teaching Wendy and her family right now.  She lived in the same area as Raquelle and we decided to call her to see if she would help us out.  Wendy didn't even hesitate or ask where she lived before she willingly and happily accepted to pick up whoever we needed.  Wow.... it's pretty awesome when your other investigators offer to go and pick up other investigators.  Wendy is legit and my hero that for sure.  I've never had an investigator quite like her.  She told the story of how we came to start visiting/teaching her to one of the members in the lesson earlier this week.  She had sat in on lessons of one of her friends taking the discussion about 4 years ago and then stopped because she had felt confused about religion.  She was also studying with several other religions at the time.  She talked about how she just decided to close her door to all of them. She hasn't ever let the missionaries back in until sister Gray and I.  Now she feels so lucky to have us in her home.  We love her so much!  We were so grateful that she went to go get Raquelle.  Wendy was telling us that on the way over Raquelle was so nervous and telling her that she didn't know what it was going to be like.  She wouldn't have gone if her 2 boys hadn't have wanted to go and that she was catholic and she didn't want to change.  Wendy just smiled patiently and then calmly said, don't worry, your going to love it.  Raquelle came and stayed all 3 hours.  Raquelle came up to me after and said this church has something special.  I've never felt this feeling in any other church before.  Thank you for inviting me.    We are coming back.All of that was in spanish of course lol. Her 2 boys also ran in and just loved everything about the church.  The boys said mom whne are we coming back? When are we coming back?!  It was so good!  Wendy then told us on their way home that Raquelle couldn't stop talking about how much she loved her experieince and she hopes that her older girls will come with her next week and that someday her girls will want to serve missions just like us. It was so cute.  Wonderful lady she's had a rough life and it's only through the gospel that it gets better.

Anyway, I love you all.  I can't believe it is the holiday season.  Mom you want to send me the recipe for upsidedown pumpkin pie?

Loves for all

Hermana Lewis.