Labor Day

Dearest fam and friends,

Love you all, we had a fantastic week, a great rebound from some adversity. Monday, we kinda got dropped by Hy. - we still don't know exaccctttllllyyyy why but we've been able to do some digging and I think she got spooked by tithing. Also, the girls (12 and 9) get made fun of for 'being Mormon.' Sweet.

We're giving them some space but I still love them to death - not gonna give up. I gave them one of my 2 usb music players so Hy. can listen to the LdM since she can't read. We'll see how that goes. 

Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs were all miraculous. We've been struggle to find new investigators but getting dumped by them kinda got me amped to go hunting again for more of the elect (los escogidos!!). All 3 days we had plans fall thru so we just sat down in the street and prayed. Tues - we found a humble fam of 4, the Cardozos - we'll see, stay tuned!

Wed, a woman named Marta.

Thursday - woooowwww, a ton of new people! including some of Le's (recent convert) sisters. Alright, gonna back up. 

My absolute home dog Adr., the older fellow whose pretty quiet and reserved, tried to break up with us too. He's scared of breaking his family traditions. However, we listened, and just told him to trust God and start praying - he's looking for work and also as he says, a companion (compañera - specified in Spanish as a female companion) - LOVE IT. 

Anyways, he took the advice, and I let him know we love him and will be at his side. Friday, we had a dope lesson where he bore testimony of the power of prayer, and even taught one of Leandro's friend how to pray - taught it better than most people I know. Speaking of that, Leandro is just the biggest boss - he wants to visit ppl with us every day and he pesters all his friends and family to listen to the Restored Gospel. Wow.

Fab. and Flo. and making me kinda sad and frustrated. Flo. is fine, turns out she was just waiting in the police station to give her side of the story. She's in another part of town with her mom right now - haven't seen her in 10 days, since she told us she believes the LdM is true. We saw Fab. a ton during the week. He's friends with Ldro. (wwicked small world here) and well he's relapsing into an addiction to computer games. He spends all day in the ciber rotting his brain. Really frustrates me. At night, he's never home. Ughhhh. 

We had some great progress with Ju. and Ro., 16 and 13 respectively. Turns out another contact that has come to church 2wice now is their uncle! He's Hg., who's going blind. The 3 of them are each in their own path to conversion with different obstacles, but are progressing. We had such a great lesson with Ro. on Sat - we met in the Church with Ldro. and Ser., a less active member who knows Ro. We showed her the baptismal font and the chapel, then taught the Restoration. Her mom was gonna get baptized like 3 years ago, but passed away before she could. We taught about the temple and baptisms for the dead, the whole plan of Salvation last week - Ro. got really excited to know she can get baptized for her mom. Well, at the end of the lesson, we told her to pray and ask God if the LdM is true. She said she didn't believe He'd respond right there. We said - try it, if you ask with faith, he'll answer. 

She prayed sooooo sincerely, and stayed down like 2 mins, and got up with tears in her eyes. She said she felt something she hadn't felt in years. We were all emotional, and I told her, "Sometimes the veil is thin. I can feel you Mom's presence here, right now. I know God loves you all and that He and your Mom are so happy for you."

Yesterday, we had a lot of new investigators show up to Church, as well as Hu. and Ro., and my booooiiii Adr. 

The work continues to roll forward. I am sooo grateful for God's goodness and mercy. This is His work. I have felt in this week more than ever the power and necessity for prayer. 2 Nefi 26:15 - "Las oraciones do los fieles seran oidas" !!!

Thank you all for your love. Keep praying for our pool and our ward!

Hydee

Marianella

Nacho

Lucia

Julian

Fabian

Florencia

Flia Erazo

Adrian

Hugo

Agustina

Isabel

Rocio

Flia Velasquez

Flia Brajeda

Flia Cardozo

Flia Fernandez

Flia Maygua

Flia Orellana

Flia Zerpa

Flia Barrancos

Elder Blake

 

In red are some questions I asked Isaac (thank you DSZ).

1.    If you could spend your missionary time doing only one activity, what would that activity be? Why?

Listening to investigators pray. When someone prays for the first few times, and especially asks God for specific blessings and answers, the Spirit is soooo strong. I can't not smile . 

2.   If you could learn how to do something new next week as a missionary, what would you choose? Why?

In the mission, there aren't "learn how to do somethings."  I would love to keep developing skills/attributes like charity and patience, but for me, it all has to do with serving others, not necessarily personal activities. Understood? hahaha

3.  What aspects of DISCIPLESHIP are you learning and how will you use them when you get home?

OOooo, great question. Selflessness. It's tough, especially as natural men, but here as a missionary, I don't have to worry about myself that much - food, clothes etc aren't a problem. I'm learning to dedicate ALL that I do to the eternal progress of others. See life from their shoes, find ways to make them happy. Specifically, when I get home I'm gonna STRIVE to make new members and investigators feel loved and welcomed and cared about. I wanna continue to lose myself in the needs of others, and help them feel the Saviors´s love.