Week 90

This week we had many wonderful experiences with families we are teaching and people we find and I`d like to share a couple experiences. First we were given a reference by a member named Sister Beltran who`s son is less active, but about a year ago had accompanied the missionaries to give a friend of his a lesson. She said she never heard what ended of the young man named Angel Ramirez and it would be nice to visit him ourselves to find out. We struggled to find the address for some reason, but the Lord has his plans. Only when we were accompanied by an ex-missionary named Moroni we "magically" (when I say magically I mean were led by the Spirit) ran into his street, long searched before, and also Angel just so happened to be home (which is rare since he studies and works all the time). I know there were no coincidences in this encounter as the Spirit led our lesson and moved upon Angel to accept baptism and even put a personal goal for a baptism in January! He`s just about to turn 20 and wants to turn his life around because he dropped out of school for a while and was a little lost, but now he just got back into school at a college and has high ambitions:)

The next experience is of a family I think I mentioned before, the Lopez Mendoza Family. We had a struggle and test when we were let down for the highly anticipated family night on Tuesday where we had planned a member family to accompany us and everything, but upon arrival, no one answered the door, although the lights were on and we heard voices... Discouraged but diligent, we decided to try again the next night on Wednesday and this time had better luck, but only found the father and his daughter Tania (16) home. We had a nice lesson with them two, but in contrast to the family night we had planned and hopes to teach all 7 of them, it was hard to be filled with the same enthusiasm. They agreed to come to conference and said we could find all 7 of them on Sunday night. So we continued with our week. until Saturday night we were close by and decided to stop by to remind them of the conference on Sunday. We were welcomed in by the mother and here 5 kids this time and they gave us hot chocolate and hamburgers (I know weird combination). We had a very open conversation with them about their family and they expressed their struggles as the father of the family has never been there for them in their lives and the oldest daughter, Cassandra, filled his role as father. Their father, Roberto, has always had a drinking problem, but has a high paying job, which has allowed him to lose himself in the pleasures of the world and only be with the family when it`s convenient to him. He recently came back to them asking forgiveness and they are trying to forgive, but it`s hard after so many years of neglect. We explained to them that his sincere desire, we could feel in our first lesson with him, shows us that he can change, if he lets the Gospel of Jesus Christ work upon him. Also the son Roberto Jr. (19) asked if he could serve a mission too because he wants to learn English. I love it when that happens! They didn't make it to conference yesterday, but we visited them in the evening and they are still very excited to know more and will strive to make it next week. Also the father arrived mid-lesson and we tried our best to incorporate him in the conversation, in hopes to bring the family together. We have been teaching the Plan of Salvation and watched a video on it with them, which they loved, and they are learning so fast. I know God has chosen this family and we were blessed to be led to them while contacting one night. I love the mission and hope to continue to have experiences like this in the time I have left.

The weather is sooo nice lately, with cloudy skies and cool nights (finally!) I love the cold! Have a wonderful week everyone, love you all!:)

The Temple, when we arrived super early last time I went :)