Date
October 26, 2015
Area
Resistencia
Companion
Elder Karmanov & Elder Henderson
In the Right Places
Hola Mami!
So, first of all, I was really amazed when I saw the subject line of your email. I was about to put the exact same title to my email! The Lord is watching over us. I have been really feeling that that statement is more than true this week. I know that our heavenly father really really really loves us.
So this week has definitely been different. Working in a trio is a lot different. We have had to learn to teach, contact, and study differently this week, but I think we are getting the hang of this. Elder Henderson has been a huge blessing for our companionship and for our zone. I have learned a ton from him this week. He's just a calm and loving guy. So yeah, we have had a lot of fun this week in our companionship. Lots of joking around, light spirits, funny experiences (like people calling us spies and teaching the english classes), as well as many very spiritual experiences.
We have some really incredible investigators right now. I feel like this week we saw a lot of the seeds that we have planted, sprout and grow and blosom. First of all, M. is great. She is actually going through a very hard time. She struggles with heavy depression and it has hit her very hard this last week, but she keeps fighting. On Tuesday, I went to visit her with Elder Bautista (who was staying with us because he had to wait until Wednesday to go pick up his new companion). Well, we got to the house and she was in bed, but her granddaugther got her out of bed and she came and listened to us. We had a little charla about the temple. Her son died about 6 years ago, and the loss is still very hard for her. We explained very simply that she would be able to help her son by doing the work for him in the temple. At the end of the lesson, I had a strong impression to offer to give her a blessing of comfort. When I asked her if she would want a blessing, she said yes almost before I finished asking her. Well, we gave her the blessing. As she stood up, I asked her how she felt. She said, "better." But then I asked, "M., WHAT do you feel?". She started crying and said that she felt a great RELIEF! She's still going through a hard time, but she is still fighting forward. We went back the next day, and she was a completely different person. She said that she felt so much better and that it was like the burden was lifted right off of her. it was incredible. The power of the priesthood is very very real.
Mza. She is just a lot happier. She is really understanding what we are teaching her and she is just absorbing it in. It's incredible. This week we taught her about the 10 commandments and we also taught her about the plan of salvation. Our lesson about the plan of salvation was bomb. When we asked her what she thought the purpose of life was, she said that is was to obey god. Boom. I whipped out Abraham 3:25 and we kept explaining the plan using "obedience" as the theme. She totally understood. After the lesson she gave us some pasta frola (A really yummy cake they have here) and mate cocido! Also, in the lesson, when she referred to the church she had said "Our" church!
D. turned 17 this week. This week we taught him about the Word Of Wisdom, the 10 commandments, and the Law of Chastity. At one point we asked him why he thought that God gives us commandments, to which he responded, "Because God is perfect, and he wants us to be perfect and pure like him to. So he gives his children commandments to know how to be more like him." We were blown away by his answer. Great kid. He is also excited for his baptism which should be on the 7th if all goes well!!!!!
Okay, now onto S. I dont even remember how much I have told you about her, but she is incredible. She is sooo prepared. It's really interesting. She is like a massage therapist, and it sounds like she does a little bit of energy or relaxation work. Anywho, she had been investigating the church about 5 years ago, and the only reason that she didn't get baptized was because her husband didn't want her too, and they weren't married. But now she is separated, living alone with her kids, and she is now certain that this is where God wants her to be. She always has the most AMAZING questions (about the holy ghost, about commandments, about the church) and she is always very sincere in her desire to learn more. One of her questions was about the Sabbath Day, so on Friday we went by, ready to teach her about the Sabbath. Well, she told us that his past week she had a lot of people giving her a hard time for listening to "the Mormon Missionaries". She had a friend tell her that we were in error, and she defended by saying, "how? How are they wrong?!" Her friend couldn't reply. Her cousin was also telling her things that weren't true about us, and she told her that everything that she has learned about God and Christ, she learned from the mormon missionaries! As she told us all about these experiences, she looked at us and said that through these interactions that she had this week with her friends and family, she realized that God really HAD answered her prayer from 5 years ago. She just hadn't recognized it! Now she wants to act. So it took her 5 years to recognize her answer!!!! I was amazed! I know that the seeds we plant really do grow....some faster than others! That was one of the miracles we saw this week.
So English classes have been going well. It just a funny experience. We are trying to teach very basic things like greetings, pronouns, and simlple verbs. This week in the class we taught how to say a prayer in english. It was great. I dont know if anyone will remember how to do it for this weeks class, but we will see.
So yesterday were the Argentine elections, so we had to stay indoors all day after church, but church was absolutely incredibly fantastic. M. came with the Familia garcia, and S. came with her daugther, K. I called Mariza, but she said she couldn't because she had to watch her granddaughter. However, as sacrament meeting started she walked in. Whoo hoo. And guess what....she even brought us torta frita that she made just for us.}....btw the exclamation point button on this computer just broke...that's why there aren't any exclamation points....but if it worked I would be using a ton right now....anyway. in the gospel principles class S. shared her testimony that she had received her answer before, but just realized it this week. She also shared that this week she had learned about the sabbath day and that she decided to come to church. The night before she had to reject her work to come to church, which she really wasn't supposed to do, and now she wasn't sure what was going to happen. Such faith. After church, she also asked us how she can start to pay tithing....wow. We haven't even mentioned tithing to her. but she wants to start.
Well, after this week, I am sure that the Lord wants me here. He wants me to see these things and to work with these people. The spirit that we have seen and felt this week has been incredible. Its totally not good enough to just write about it. I will tell you all about all this soon enough in person. I love you so much. I love what you said about charity too. This week I have been studying that more too. My ponderize scripture of the week is Moroni 7:45 and 47. Have a great week. Know that I am praying for you
Elder C