This week we had our paseo del barrio (ward vacation or something) where our whole ward rented a place where people could swim and eat. It was out of our zone so we called our Mission President and got permission to go. We brought some of our investigators and they really enjoyed themselves; swimming and playing soccer and talking with people. We got to stay there for some good hours before we went back to our area. It was very very fun and awesome.
We had a good week of work this week: lots of lessons, lots of new investigators, lots of people reading, and because my area is small, lots of running into investigators in the street. Its nice when that happens because you get to talk to them for a bit and ask them how they are.
Its very common in a normal day to see the same person sitting in the same store at least five times a day. I've gotten to the point in my area where I say hi to them by name and ask them about their family. I still have a lot of more time in my area (I'm pretty sure) and my goal is to get to know even more people.
There is an elderly man who is always sitting next to a fruit store called Daniel. He is the sweetest and is always looking out for us. Sometimes we see him walking to the clinic. But he loves to talk to us about God and helping out the people. He's over ninety years old and takes care of himself, going to the doctor and everything.
I only realized it was Valentines Day an hour ago. Happy Valentines Day to everybody who celebrates it. Or as one of my brothers always says, happy single-awareness day.
Anyway, this week was also really good. We have a paseo del barrio planned for this Saturday, which is a day that the whole ward goes somewhere to have a fun time. We called our President and got permission to go for 4 hours, so we are pretty excited too. Some of our investigators are planning on coming and are pretty excited to come. I'll let you guys know what happens.
We had some great lessons this week. I would love to go in detail, but I ran out of time and now its time to go and trabajar en la obra.
There is a really funny version of Hello by Adele made for missionaries. You should find it or something because my companion has it in her music. I don't know who made it but its funny so you should find it.
I had such a great week! Wednesday was full of miracles! One of our investigadors accepted a baptismal date and is just the best ever. Her name is Miriam Pardo and it would be great if you guys could pray for her. She has cancer and she finished her chemotherapy a couple weeks ago. Her tests came out really good, but she is going to continue to have tests and everything. She has been reading and came to church one time, but will just have to keep coming to be baptized. She's awesome.
We also had another miracle happen with one of our other investigadors named Astrid Cerda. She has a daughter who has the mental capacity of a 5 year old. She's suffered through a lot of hard things in her life. When we first started meeting with her she didn't want to come to church. But a while ago we made a huge step in finding out the real reason is that she has trauma with large groups of people because of her daughter and people harrassing her. We promised to help her out and everything. This past week we taught the ten commandments, and she recognized that she does not live the Sabbath day. So we invited her to church and she committed! We brought her to church, and it happened to be fast Sunday full with testimonies and a baby blessing. Everything was just so great and she even talked in Gospel Principles and Relief Society. It was awesome and she really liked coming.
Also another small miracle that happened this week that I find pretty significant. I was in intercambios with another hermana in my zone when it was near the end of the day. I consulted with her on whether we should go try to find our investigadors who live on the other side of the area, or stay in the area we were in and visit someone closer. She suggested we stay closer, so we went to visit some neighbors of some members. As we were on our way, I noticed a family I had talked to, so we took the opportunity to talk to them again. They hadn't been receptive before, and that day was no exception. Silvia, the abuelita who lived in the house, said she respected us and everything but didn't want anything more, but then somehow we ended up talking about the temple and the promises of an eternal family, and set up another appointment. When we left, the other hermana and I talked how we viewed that the granddaughter was more receptive and everything, but there was still a hope that even someone super Catholic like Silvia, to listen to us.
So we went back on Sunday to talk to them with two of the kids of the LDS family who lived right in front of them. We started teaching and the member kids testified of how they gained their testimonies. It was so great! They could see how much the kids had grown and immediately let us know their needs. They had even asked the father of them to give blessings to their own child who had cancer, and the following day the child was 100% better. As Silvia shared some experiences I could see how God has slowly opened her heart. I left the cita feeling amazed seeing a completely different person that we had known previously. This is how I see that God is Almighty. Like the experience of Elias, he stayed behind the rock and refused to come out not for the storm, not for the earthquake nor the fire, but for the still small voice. God really shows his power in the small things he does to open our hearts again.
It also bore testimony to me to keep working hard. Sometimes I get frustrated trying and trying, but the more I lose myself in the work and the joy of serving, the more I can see God's miracles.
Something that has made me know even more the power of God is the testimony of our investigadors. When they come to church, they have had the opportunity to bear their proper testimonies and have testified how we as missionaries appeared in their lives when they needed us, and how we have made a difference to them.
