Familia!!!!
Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS BROTHER WILLIE!!! I am soooooooo proud of
you and am happy you are excited to go to Charlotte, North Carolina -- east coast rocks!!!!
We'll be in the same time zone! :)
We have seen a lot of miracles this week! I've been studying
a lot about diligence because it's been SO HARD having not very many people to
teach and no investigators. I've been getting really discouraged but I studied
about diligence one morning for my personal study and came across the story of
Alma and the bad king Amulon. Basically the people of Alma are in captivity and
go through a lot of stuff, but the put their faith in the Lord and in Mosiah
24:14 the Lord says that he will "lessen the burdens that are on your
backs that you will not feel them, and this I will do that you will stand
witnesses of me at the last day" (sorry I just translated that from
spanish so it's not word for word) I was really comforted by this scripture and
this story. The mlssion is super hard and at times I get worried that I am not
doing everything I can but I have faith that as I do my part the Lord makes up
for the rest. I'm learning a lot of patience and learning to push through even
when I feel like we're not accomplishing anything!!
So, we have a baptism date with our new investigator
Amilio!! He is living with a member family in our ward and was referred to us
by them. He's 27 and has been through a lot in his life. We met with him on
Sunday for the first time and he said he's ready to change. He has a lot of
faith in God and we gave him a restoration pamphlet. He read the whole thing
and texted us before we met with him yesterday (tuesday) and asked how he can
get a Book of Mormon. We went over to visit him and taught the restoration and
invited him to be baptized on April 13. He said yes! He also said that he's
done a lot of bad things in his past and he said he feels like he has a big
weight on his back and he wants to get rid of it. First let me tell you that I
LOVE TALKING ABOUT THE ATONEMENT. So when he said this I automatically shared
Mosiah 24:14 with him and told him that he doesn't have to carry that burden
because Jesus Christ already suffered for it! He looked so hopeful and I was so
grateful I could share my testimony with him about the Atonement because I know
it's real! I've used the Atonement in my life to get rid of burdens and it
works. We still have a lot to work to do with him but Amilio is on the right
track and I am so grateful for this opportunity we have to teach him.
We've been working a lot with members this week and less actives.
We have ALOT of less actives in our ward (it seems like there was a baptism
spree a few years ago and then they all went inactive. boo.) and so we have
been working with a few of them. Gloria is 70-80ish and we go over to
visit her sometimes just to keep her company. Her granddaughter Leah and Leah's
2 kids live there too so on occasion we run into them. Leah has two kids, Isaac
is 5 and Isis is 3. We went over the other day and before we even opened the
door we could hear Isaac backtalking to his grandma so we looked at each other
and said "Lets sing with them!" :) We went inside and they were all
their with their cousin who is 5ish. So 3 little kids, grandma, and Leah who's
the mom. The kids gathered on the couch next to us (The missionaries) and we
sang Joseph's smith's first prayer. The kids only speak english so when we
started singing in spanish one of them said "What language is this?"
haha they were so cute and they sang along with us. The spirit in the room
changed as we were singing (I LOVE singing hymns!!) and then after the song I
talked to the kids about in 3 Nephi when Jesus comes and blesses the children.
One of the little girls said "Wow I wish that could happen to us!" It
was so sweet and although nothing significant happened during the lesson we
were able to leave their home better than we found it and leave them with the
Spirit. That's one of my favorite things about being a missionary is being to
help people feel the spirit.
We are also working with a less active family named Pacheco
(from Honduras originally). Hermano Pacheco is 90 and was active but then had
surgery about a month ago so he hasn't been coming to church (I'm sending a pic
of us two:)) and when we went to go visit him after his surgery we found out he
has a 50ish year old daughter who is also inactive! And her brother (hermano
pacheco's son) was visiting from honduras with his wife who is not a member.
When we first met the wife (named Dilia) she said she was evangelical and
wasn't interested in our church. But in that lesson the daughter who is
inactive told everyone they were going to church on sunday. So they all came
that sunday and we were so happy! We went back and visited them a couple days
later and taught the restoration because Dilia wanted to know about it. Last
sunday they came to church again and then our bishop called us right after our
appt with Amilio and said that Dilia wanted the lessons! It was a miracle! She
went from not being interested to wanting to know about the restoration to
wanting all the lessons! Woot! We went and taught her and invited her to be
baptized but she said she wants to study more first. They'll be here for 2 more
months before going down to South Carolina to visit their kids. Hopefully we
can get her to commit to baptism in that time. Pray for her! :)
So yeah! Today we are going to the temple and I am very
excited because I loooove going to the temple. I am excited for Willie to be
able to go through for his first time. I love you all soooo much!! Thank you
for all your support and love and letters! It means everything to me to have a
family who is so supportive and encouraging in all of your letters.
Keep choosing the right and reading the Book of Mormon! :)
Love,
Staci
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