August 10, 2015 - Deja que el Espiritu te ensene

Sisters

There were so many cool miracles this week! It's really cool how the Lord has people prepared always, and leads us to the people who are ready to receive Him!! 

So, one amazing story happened with Andrea, the miracle reference that we had! So she went to church last week...and she really, really didn't like it. She had such a testimony before, and was so excited to go...but she just felt a little uncomfortable because it was different than her Evangelical church, and she was sick, and everything. We didn't get to visit with her for awhile, and then she texted us Wednesday saying thanks for everything, but I'm going to stay with my old church. And she wouldn't answer our calls or texts, so we went to her house that night and like sat on her porch for like a half hour, but she wasn't home. So we came back the next night, and it was so incredible. We had a member with us, and it was just a crazy experience...she totally has a testimony, and is completely willing to try going to church again! One thing I love that Elder Holland said in a video that we have that "Salvation is not a cheap experience." Something I've really learned is that really, salvation isn't easy, conversion isn't easy! It's something that takes sacrifice, daily effort, lots of praying, lots of reading the scriptures.  We thought that Andrea would get baptized really fast, be so ready to be a member, because she was a reference from Utah! But really, that's not how we should think of things, in terms of baptisms--these are children of Heavenly Father, and yes, He wants them in His church, but He wants people to be truly converted. 

Another cool experience was with Andrea's neighbor! The night that we sat on her porch forever but she wasn't home, after we walked down the road and there was a lady sitting on the side, and we just said Hello to her, but that was it. And then yesterday, we were trying to get a hold of Andrea, but she wasn't answering, so we were leaving, walking down the road. But then we felt like we should really turn back, and we knocked on her neighbor's door, asking if she knew when Andrea would be back! And she said she didn't really know Andrea, but we asked if we could share a message with her, and she said yes, and said that she was that lady we said hi to earlier in the week, and that she'd been thinking about us ever since!! And they were incredible, and super super willing to learn about the gospel! 

And then one final experience...like two months ago, on a Sunday night, we were super low on LPEs so I just did one fast one because we had to run catch a bus. His name was Ricardo, and his name had just been on my old agenda for these last two months, but I kept seeing his name, but we never called him to see if we could put an appointment. Finally yesterday afternoon we called, and he wanted to meet right then, and even though it'd been forever he still remembered who we were! And he said he's been looking for a church for like 2 years, and he and his two children were INCREDIBLE--also super willing to learn!! and he said, It's so good you were persistent in calling, because I've been in Nicaragua for the last two months and haven't had my phone with me!" The Spirit really guided us to just not call him for that time, because if we had called him and he didn't answer, we really would have just have given up, checked him off the Future Investigators list! 

The Spirit is super incredible, and really, missionaries could do nothing without it--and it's amazing that little things that I wouldn't have thought of are all really part of God's great plan--we were supposed to go sit on Andrea's porch that night so we could just say Hi to that one woman, we were supposed to not call Ricardo for months--because He has such love and a plan for all His children!! He really has people prepared everywhere, all the time, and we just have to follow the promptings of the Spirit to be able to find them! I love this gospel and this work so so much. :) 

Also, I LOVE my companion a whole whole lot. haha, people ask us at least like four times a week if we're sisters, and like once a week if we're twins! ha, I don't really see it, it's probably just because we're Gringas...but I'm totally fine with being twins with her! :) I'm trying really hard to pretend that transfers aren't coming up in two weeks. 

Sisters