Milagros!

June 9, 2014

¡Hola Todos!

Espero que todo esté bien en sus vidas! :) This last week was a good one! I can’t really decide if it was a slower week or a fast week. Weeks and days here are basically the same as the MTC. Every day still lasts a week and every week still lasts a day. Interesting the way time works here in the mission. 

So, where to start? Well, I guess I’ll jump right in to the miracle we had on Saturday. (In our zone we are looking for a miracle that happens every day and then we tell our Zone leaders and they send it out to everyone. It’s amazing how evident the Lord’s hand is in the work when you’re looking for it!) So anyways, Saturday we had a meeting with a lady named Angela. We were going to meet her in front of a casino and then she was going to take us to her apartment so we could teach her about the Plan of Salvation. (Her mom just died last week.) Well, she never showed up so we went to plan B. (We always have a plan B.) We went to one apartment building (super humble building if ya know what I mean) so we could check up on some people and hopefully contact some people. While we were there we visited a member in order to get a skirt for Gabriela for Sunday. After we left the member’s apartment we went to an old investigator’s apartment in the same building. So we get there and her mom (around 60 years old) answers the door. We tell her we are looking for Fiorela and she said that she wasn’t there but immediately she’s tells us to come in. So we come in, not having told her who we were or anything. She gets us stools and then we start chatting. Turns out she thought we were psychologists for Fiorela´s children. (Hey, I’m only 19 years old and apparently I could pass for a distinguished psychologist. How cool is that??) We tell her that we’re missionaries and immediately her face fills with joy. She sighs and says something to the effect of, "Really? Wow! I’ve been praying and praying and asking and asking for God to send someone that can help my children and grandchildren!" I was floored! So then we begin teaching her and she says "Wait, can I go get my grandson? I talk to him about God a lot but he doesn’t know if he exists." etc, etc. So we teach Carmen (the grandma) and Rodrigo about the Restoration. Rodrigo was super uninterested to be honest. He had already gone to church before with the missionaries last year, and Carmen doesn’t go to any church, but she was super interested. But wow it was amazing! Carmen accepted a baptisimal date and I can really see her following through with it. She is such an elegido! I can’t even explain how excited I am to teach Carmen! She lives with two of her daughters and grandchildren so there is a ton of potential to teach lots more people there. Wow, I can’t even believe the miracle that happened. The Lord knows His children. I testify of that! And God DOES answer the prayers of His children! What a loving, merciful God we have!!

So I know this email is already long so I’ll only mention a few more things. A huge thing I have learned on my mission already is the importance of putting in practice (I hope that makes sense, in Spanish it’s "poner en practica") our faith. I mean, I thought I had a lot of faith before the mission, but I have realized here on the mission that is completely different to actually put our faith in practice every day. I preach that every single day and I’m still bad at it. I’m trying so so hard to improve, but it is something I have to commit to doing every day. I need to be better at practicing what I teach. jaja. I am a representative of Jesus Christ, which means every day I must show Him that I am willing to do whatever it is He would do here in Congreso, and then have the faith to actually do it. I encourage you all you find new ways in your own lives to show Christ the faith you have in Him. ¡¡Pongan en practica su fe!!

Well folks, I still feel like the Spanish is super rough, BUT there’s hope. I’m at the point where I’ve had quite a few people tell me that when I first got here they couldn’t understand what I was saying, but now I’m much better and they know what I’m saying for the most part. SO....THERE´S HOPE!! I also love the fact that they feel comfortable telling me that jaja. So I would assume that my Spanish has improved quite a bit...even if I can’t see it as much, or if I still feel so lost. 

To close, I will inform you of some things I ate this week. Friday, Saturday and Sunday I had the exact same salad for lunch as a side. I basically never know what I eat here. I just eat what they give me. So I wasn’t the biggest fan of the salad, but I was like whatever, I’ll eat it. Because that’s what you have to do, eat what you get. Well, Sunday I finally found out what the red goopy salad was. It’s beets. Just tons of chopped up beets with a few other stuff in it. Now I know some people really like beets, but after I found out I was eating beets, it was really hard for me to eat. Bleh! Oh also, Saturday I had Blood Sausage hot. I gagged while I was eating it so I hope no one saw that. Jaja. Anyways, I’m officially done trying all kinds of Blood Sausage. It was way worse hot. Bleh, never again blood sausage. Never again. 

Wow, what a long email! I apologize for that!!! Just lots to say jaja! Anyways I hope you all have a great week! Remember, when you love the way the Savior does, miracles happen! And, of course, Stay Anxiously Engaged!! :)

xoxo,

Hermana Van