The Lord's Mighty Plan

                                                                                                                                 August 5, 2013
Hola mi familia!!! Thank you for your emails!  Thank you all for praying for my investigators! It is time to share the miracles of the week!!!

An inactiva named Sis. S. whose husband is the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency, came to church for the first time in 30 years!!! This was the greatest miracle we received this week! We also had an amazing lesson with Sis. C. She is having a hard time receiving an answer because she doesn´t believe in God. She doesn´t believe He exists, because of all of the trials she has gone through, and she doesn´t feel like He helped her in these times. I was able to testify of how grateful I am for trials because through them we are stronger. We talked about Joseph Smith and Liberty Jail, and then I mention the painting of Jesus knocking on the door without a handle to open it, and how we need to come to Him first. She began to talk about how she has been trying to open the door, but He is God, He should be able to open the door Himself and He hasn´t. I then said, but He has, He sent us. The Spirit was so strong in this lesson, and we are going to visit her again this week to see how it is going. Her mom left when we began teaching but returned in the moment that the Spirit was the most powerful! Please continue to pray for Sis. C. and her mom. Your prayers help so much!

Sis. V. received her blessing, but she still hasn´t been able to stop smoking. She didn´t attend church yesterday because she was sick, and we told her that we are here for her, and that we know it is hard.  We left a list of tips of what she can do when she has the desire to smoke. I know that people usually smoke because it helps them relax, and so I was able to share some of the ways in which I have learned to relax when I feel anxious. Prayer, reading the scriptures, positive self talk, crying, dancing, talking to someone, breathing. I hope these will help her!

We had a pioneer activity this past Friday in which we all dressed up as pioneers, and talked about them and their sacrifices, and then watched the Joseph Smith movie. We had 6 investigators come.  They loved learning about Joseph Smith and Sis. M. was telling us about her spiritual experiences, and how she felt such joy in these moments.  We told her she could feel this joy all the time. The activity was great! I will try to send pics of the members dressed up as pioneers! They are so wonderful!

This week I realized how grateful I am for our Heavenly Father´s Plan for each of us. He allows each of us to pass through different trials because He knows we can endure them with His help, and He knows we will be stronger because of them. I am so grateful for my trials and that I can say that I have found my Savior and my Heavenly Father through these trials. I can´t do anything without them. I need them everyday! And I am so grateful that I have been given these specific challenges, and been placed in this specific place, and this specific time, with these specific people, so that I can share my testimony and what the Savior has taught me. I get to share with Sis. V. everything I have learned that helps me when I am anxious, I can share with Sis. C. my testimony of the Savior and how He can help us with everything if we come to Him, I am able love these people and focus on helping them, just as the Savior would. I am eternally grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for everything He suffered for us. I am grateful for agency and the ability to choose and to learn. I am grateful to know that they Savior can and will help us with anything, and that with His help, we can return safely to our Heavenly Father, and be with our families for eternity. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission and help these people! They are so important to our Heavenly Father. His plan is perfect. Everyone of His children will have the opportunity to accept the gospel in this life or the next, but He watches over everything, and when we follow Him we can witness the miracles that He does everyday for His children. this weeks challenge! look for one miracle each day; and i want you to send me a list of miracles you each saw everyday this week! i love you all! i hope you  have a great week; and can¨t wait to hear from you next week! love you!!!!