Well this has been an awesome week!
The best part about it were the awesome experiences that we had! Ok so i´ll start with one...
So on the mission we have this goal, the Abrir La Boca goal. We are supposed to contact 24 people a day, thats including having lessons with invesitigators and lessons with members. Its usually a challenge to cumplir. So this one night, it was almost time to go home and we wanted to do that last 24 abirir la boca right? So we do it! We contact this one house with the door closed. Annnnnnnndddd.....that outcome that you think is going to happen, that perfect missionary story that everyone always talks about...doesnt happen. We meet this nice older guy whose name is Felix with his wife. They let us in and let us share a message with them, they were not positive at all. We wanted to hurry up and leave honestly haha. But then once we got up we asked if there is anything we can do for them...lavar la pila, lavar ropa o trastes, lavar el perro, cocinar, o como sea! (that usually makes them laugh!) but then the mom says well, you guys can talk with my son, he is going through a really hard time. And we look at the back corner of the house and we see this man that you can tell has been crying. So we said Yes of course! So we put a cita with him. We go back the next day and he is really positive! He just went through a divorce and his kids kicked him out of his house. We felt like we had to teach him about the Book of Mormon, he said he is really excited to read it. We go back after a few days and he read about 10 chapters! what?? He says he is obvisouly still curious about the veracity of the book which is understandable. We taught him about the Restoration and how he can know if all of this is true, and he says that it all makes sense! Which is what i always say and why i love this gospel! IT ALL MAKES SENSE! While we were testifiying of the truth of the church, he really opened up to us and says that hes learned that everything happens for a reason, he really believes that us showing up that very night was meant to be, he really needs help and he really hopes that we are the ones that can help him. I know we are. He left for a 15-day vacation but he says he is really exciting for reading more! and of course, praying.
Next story!
So I have to explain some things first, three weeks ago, apart from our usual investigators, there was this investigator that went to church that wasnt someone we invited, but some other member. But she lives far! She went two weeks in a row, but then stopped. While she was at church we wanted to visit her but she would always say that she lives too far and its really hard to get there, but she´ll just keep going to church. The thing is that she stopped going to church! She hasnt gone for like 2 weeks or something. So this particular day we dont have much planned, we are just kind of walking around talking with people but no one is positive. I honestly didnt have much motivation, not because I was tired or anything, I just had pereza... but I think for a reason! We were walking past the bus terminal and I remember looking at a bus, thats says Los Llanos-El Paraiso. I had a feeling that we should go to LosLlanos to look for that invesitigator and help her go to church again. (Lets take a little pause here: Los Llanos is an area farthest from El Paraiso, only way to get there is on bus for 10 minutes. We have nooo idea whats over there, the people only say that its just mountain and not many houses, and there is no cell phone reception over there so we cant just call). But we had the motivation to go over there and everything will work out. Resume) So we get on the bus and we go to see what happens! The bus drops us off, and we start walking to what people told us should get us to some houses. Contacting along the way we meet a bunch of cool new people! Just like Morristown, everyone pretty much knows each other. So they tell us about some members that live hasta ayaaaaaa! far! So we go! Luckily enough, theyre there! Well just the daughter, which is really all we needed because she was the one who invited Ingrid, the invesitigator who went to church. So we go there and she says: Wow! What are you guys doing here?? We tell her we are looking for Ingrid, and she says, its far....are you ready? We say ready for what? She says To go! Ill take you guys there! We have to down that road pass the river ad go up that mountain. So we got really lucky she was so willing to help us! We start walking and we get to the river, when we see that there are some parts where there was running water my comp and I turn around and start picking up rocks to be gentlemens so that the hermana doesnt have to get wet. We grab the rocks and when we turn around shes already on the other side.......... that was embarrasing haha!
So we finalllly show up to the house, praying she is even home! and guess what? Shes home!!! So we talk with her and hse is super happy we were there! We taught and she is super positive and we animated her to keep going to church and she was so willing! The fact taht we made it all the way out there really made her realize that isnt just another person. We were out there most of the day but it was all worth it! We were sooo happy we followed the prompting to go on this adventure when we felt it! But did I mention we missed the last bus that takes us back to El Paraiso?.........
Anywayyyy... another story!
So we have this investigator that I told you guys about before who is super positive! Her name is Cynthia. So heres the thing, shes been reading the book of mormon and has been praying, she feels like she has recieved an answer to her prayers and she really wants to get baptized. Theres one problem, she is 16 and her mom does not let her for some unknown reason. No one really even knows who the mom is because she just works and then hides herself in the back of house! So it is really difficult to talk to her! I keep telling Cynthia that I really want to talk to her mom, I dont have pena, Ive done it a lot of times. But each time, she just kinds of says Ummm... I dont want my mom to get mad, so i dont think its a very good idea. This has been happening for about 2 weeks. Members have been trying to help us and talk with the mom and she keeps saying no. Even family have told her but still no. But then one day, while doing divisions with Elder Garry, I felt the need to go to Cynthia´s and do the baptismal interview, even without the baptismal permission of the mom. We find Cynthia at the house and we do the interview, she passes! Now here the really cool part... During the baptism interview, the grandma came to me and said, Hey when you guys are done, can you give me a prayer? (She said it while tapping on her head, meaning she wants a blessing, and then she went to the back room) So I say Of course! We get done with the interview and then we Cynthia, Well your grandma wants a blessing, and it is the perfect excuse to go see your mom while we are at it! So Cynthia leads to the back room where the granma and mom are, of course the mom is REALLLY surprised. And we state our business fast, saying we are here to help her mom. We give the grandma a nice blessing and then we just kind of sit there and break the ice with the mom, after while of course, we talk about the baptism. We talk to her about what baptism really is and why it is of great importance. We had really nice talk with her, which is was a little hard trying to gain her confidence at first. So then we took out the baptism registro and and said, Look everything is ready, your daughter has the desire and she is prepared, all we need is your signature, and....she accepted!! Not only that but she wants to go to the baptism!!
We left there and Elder Garry and I were just in shock how everything just worked out perfectly! Once again, I can see the Gods plans are always better than ours, we always need to be ready to follow them when the time comes. Doing the interview, then the grandma saying that she needed a blessing, was part of Gods plan, I know it!
