This week started out great. We had a baptism scheduled and we started more to work with the members, having Family Home Evening at their homes so the members can invite their friends and we could all work together to make new investigators and have greater success in sharing the gospel to the people here. One of the greatest things we can do as missionaries is use the members to help us find people to teach. We worked hard this week to find people to invite to the Family Home Evenings we have every night and asked every time we ate at people's homes for people that they know that we can go teach.
Tuesday was another day of working and it seems like we are blessed everyday to receive blessings from people. On Tuesday nights, we pick up our clothes from the washers and there is a lady in the ward that helps us with the clothes. As we were walking home, there was a taxi that drove by and started to honk at us, which is normal here. But as we kept walking, he followed us. We then turned and talked to him and he offered us a free ride to our house. The people here are so humble and most of them will help anyone that is a representative of Jesus Christ. Another night, we went into the 7-Eleven--that is really close to our house--to buy a jug of water and a couple other things. As we went to the check stand, we put our items on the counter. Right as we were about to pay, a man just standing there asked if he could pay for our things. We accepted and then afterwards, we asked him why. He told us that he knew that we were representatives of Christ and that we paid for our own missions and he wanted to help a few servants of the Lord. As time went on, we had some amazing experiences that really touched our hearts.
One night, it was pouring rain and we were freezing cold. We were on our way home when we felt that we needed to stop by one more house. We walked into a random neighborhood and knocked on the first door that we felt impressed to knock on. Then, the blessings flowed. A man answered the door. He invited us in out of the rain and we began to talk to him about the church. He told us that he was a member and hadn't been to church in years. We talked to him more and he told us more about the missionaries when he was a boy and how he loves the church. We began to talk about the sacrament and the blessings that come when we go to church. We then turned to the wife. She was sitting there, in the corner, really quiet and we asked if she had anything to ask. She is Catholic. She asked if we were married. We told her that we were missionaries and we can get married after we return home. She then asked if we could fix a marriage and we got a little confused. Then, it got really emotional. They both have been having struggles in their marriage and wanted to fix what was there. We shared with them the Family Proclaimation to the World and said a prayer with them for their family. We ended that night, all in tears, as the power of the Spirit was almost tangible in the room.
Anyway, to say the least, the family that was going to be baptized this week, the family Jimenez Garcia, they bailed the day of. BAILED DAY OF!! Who does that?! We will be working with them more this week to try and build their faith a little more so they can be baptized. They have their agency to choose, we are just here to invite, not to force.
This week has had its ups and downs, but our Heavenly Father has watched over us. He knows all of us personally and He puts people in our paths to change our lives. I know that through prayer miracles are wrought. But it only comes when we are looking for the answer and personally intend to follow through on the answer that is given to us. I know this Gospel changes lives in a matter of one, 30 minute meeting. We saw it happen this week. Through prayer we can change the hearts and the lives of the people around us, and even in ourselves.
-- Elder Corom Jones
"I suppose the Church would be perfect only if it were run by perfect beings. God is perfect, and His doctrine is pure. But He works through us - His imperfect children - and imperfect people make mistakes." -Dieter F Uchtdorf
No comments:
Post a Comment