A Light Shining in the Storm

                                                                                                   March 31, 2014
Hola mi familia!!!  This morning I made pancakes with instant oatmeal  and egg whites and a little vanilla. It works!!! And on top I put vanilla yogurt and fresh peaches! What are you all enjoying there?  I am so excited to hear from you!! 

 

This week was crazy!!! So many things happened! Guess what!!! We found 12 new people to teach this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The standard of excellence is 10 and we found 8 on Tuesday, 2 on Wed, and then 2 on Sat. It is the first time I have ever gotten it on my mission!!! And they are families! They are all amazing and we are praying that they will continue to progress! We taught Francisco and Elizabeth, who are so interested and love learning about the gospel. Elizabeth is praying for her answer! We also found Crelia and her daughter Martina, who have shared with missionaries before but never were baptized. Crelia wants her whole family to share with us! We also found Marcela and Connie, who is a mom and her daughter who are also interested. And we have a family of 3! Joel, Carola, and Maria really want to learn and are so great, their schedule is what makes it difficult to visit because they both work late. We also have Gerardo, who is a young man who wants to know about the church and has so many questions. And finally, we have Eugenia who is an elderly lady who needs the gospel, and we have Jorge, who is the husband of a less active! We had a ton of great lessons with each of them, and we hope to be able to share more and help them progress towards baptism. I know we were blessed to find so many people to teach because we have been striving to talk to everyone we pass.

 

We are still teaching Ignacio, and he had an amazing experience when he prayed! He received an answer and had a baptismal date for the 19th of April, but he didn't come to church. His aunt Jaqueline, is reactivating and we want to teach her son, Diego as well. We also had a great experience with Javiera, she is the cousin of a young woman in the ward, and she is reading the Book of Mormon and will go to conference this week! I am so excited!!! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Women's broadcast on Saturday, but they will rebroadcast it this Saturday in the morning and we can go then! Crelia and Martina, Fransisco, Ignacio, Carolina and Carolina were all going to come to church yesterday, but they didn't come :( Carolina(hija) was sick and her mom had visitors come last minute and she forgot to watch the time, and missed coming. but they are still doing amazing and are excited for Conference this week. They switched their date to April 12th  FOR REAL THIS TIME!!! It will be easier because Cesar will have finished working out of town (the elders where he is are teaching him!), and it would be difficult to have their baptism in between Conference sessions. Also, Carolina the younger isn't reading and praying, and so we are going to work more with her this week. We will have a family home evening with them tonight! Please pray for them that they can be ready in time, especially Carolina (hija)! But, Mirta came to church! We hadn't been able to visit her during the week, but she showed up to church. She had been waiting outside of the home of her neighbor who is a member and they came to church together!!! We are going to visit her! The work is progressing so much and I love it!!!

 

This week we went to Seminary at 6:30!!!! Woohoo!! So many memories! That was Tuesday, the same day we found 8 people to teach!!! Seminary does bring blessings!!! It was so fun to be with the youth. They are each taking turns giving a Book of Mormon to a friend! 

 

All of the members in the Ward had a temple trip this week, and it was so special! They were gone on Friday and Saturday and they shared their experiences yesterday. The Spirit was so strong! I am so grateful for these faithful latter-day saints who do everything they can so that they can go to the temple. There was a family who was baptized 2 years ago that was sealed, and they had 2 weeks full of trials before and they weren't going to go, but then they did! They made it!

 

Another young woman was struggling to get permission from her mom, but she did everything and with miracles, was able to have the money and the permission to go. I am so grateful for the temple. It is our light in the storm and it helps us and helps others. It is so important that we remain worthy to enter the temple and help others receive the blessings!!

 

There was another light in the storm this week! We had a huge storm here on Saturday. Sadly, the weather suddenly changed from summer to fall/winter. It rained all day here on Saturday. We worked through it and we were soaked through, but we kept shining our light and sharing the light of Christ and the light of His restored gospel! We were smiling and laughing as we saw so many funny sights and had funny experiences. At one point, we were trying hard to not step in puddles, and we weren't paying attention and walked into a huge puddle. Our feet were soaked, but it didn't matter, now we could walk in all the puddles haha

 

It is amazing how happy the gospel makes us! I know that we have the light that Christ has given us, so that we can be a light shining in the storm. We can be a light in our own storms/trial, and we can also be a light in the storms and trials that others have. it is because we have the Savior and the light that He gives us. He wants us to share that light with everyone. I know that everything about His restored gospel is true, and all of it is light! As we go about our everyday lives, I hope and pray that we can shine the light of Christ 24/7, in all that we say and do. May we look for the opportunities to be a light to those who are passing through storms.

 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!! Be a light to everyone especially when it rains!! We will enjoy the rain together!!! Love you!!!! Hasta luego!