Such a good week! Slow, but so good!
Ok, where can I start? Let´s start with our less active members that we´re working with because they are the stinking best!
So we got a call this week from this really nice guy and his number was not saved in our phone. His name is M. He asked if we could meet later that day and luckily we had time. So we set something up and met. He's the best! He told us he is a less-active member because he is an interior decorater and works Sundays. He is a convert and is really strong in the gospel still. He goes out with the Elders occasionally and is constantly reading and praying. He had a calling in the Stake but had to be released because he was working all the time and that was a huge bummer for him. Well anyway, he´s pretty much the most amazing person ever and he teaches me so much more than we teach him. He has such an amazing testimony, he just lacks the opportunity to come to church. He told me the missionary who taught him was Hermana Griffin (a sister who went home 2 transfers before I got into the mission). He said when I answered the phone that day and said I was Hermana Griffin, it was a sign he needed to try and change things in his life. He´s currently trying to work out some immigration papers so he can get a better job so he can come back to church. [PLEASE pray for him]
Our less active, N, has been sick these past two weeks. He is the 19 year old from Argentina. So we got a call from the Elders saying he was really sick and asking if we could passby and just check on him, so we did. We had a good lesson with him and at the end, talked to him about priesthood blessings. He had never received a blessing before in his life. So we got to be there for his first. And it was honestly one of the most powerful spiritual moments thus far in my mission. He also told us he is trying to change his job so that he can also come to church, and that´s not even something we had told him he needed to do. He just decided that was the change he needed to make.
We´ve been working with J a lot. She is really progressing! In the 4 weeks Ive been here, she hasnt missed a single Sunday or church activity, which is apparently a first for her. We´ve been teaching her how to teach the missionary lessons so we can see what doctrine she doesn't understand and where we need to brush up, and also so she feels more comfortable to come with us to lessons. She has been doing so good! We role play and one of us pretends to be her companion and the other is her investigator. She is a wonderful teacher and really is doing an amazing job! Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting, she got up and bore her testimony for the first time since joining the church. She said she is preparing to go on a mission. I just about started to cry. She has made such turn around! Also, her sister is the only other member in their family and she also is inactive. J is such an amazing example and to decide for herself that a mission is in her future is incredible. If I had to go home now from my mission, I would be content.
We taught (another) J the Plan of Salvation this week! It was such an amazing lesson. The spirit was so strong the whole time. We talked a lot about repentance and faith too. It was just what she needed. She has so much desire to change her life and her heart and I know that the Lord is preparing her to do so.
Ok, so the ward loves my companionship. We have been doing this activity that my trainer, Hermana Fuller, had given me with the ward. It´s called 7 Dias de Salvacion. It is a scripture and prayer activity that you do for a week and end with a fast to try and think of someone to share the gospel with. It´s been super successful. Well, we shared it with the young women´s president and her family and she then asked us to share it with the young women. So the young women decided to do it for one of their personal progress activities. Then, they were in charge of the ward Family Home Evening and they taught it there and then asked us to finish teaching the lesson. Then, in ward council yesterday, they brought it up and suggested it as a ward activity. I love it! Everyone has the desire to share the gospel and we are really seeing the fruits of their labors. People are reading and praying with faith to receive answers to their prayers and are really receiving answers. Which is something I´ve really noticed this week in particular, the Lord hears and answers our prayers!
The Lord does answer prayers. We met a woman this week on the street and she told us she had been praying all morning for help from God and for an answer to some problems she´s currently having, and then we stopped her to talk to her. The Lord put us there just for M, because she needed us. We got her information and passed it to the missionaries in her area. Later this week, we went to see a member named M E, who everyone calls Abuelita [Grandmother]. She is sick and is always in the hospital. Well, we went by her apartment and she wasn't there and just as we went to leave, she turned the corner. She had been praying for someone to come visit her and help her back into her apartment, and we were there. Both of these times, we literally had no reason to be in the area we were which just shows that the Lord puts us where we need to be in our lives to help those around us.
Yesterday we went to the devotional by Brad Wilcox. I got to see everyone too, all of my CCM friends and the Alcobendas missionaries too. I miss them so much! Anyway, this devotional was so good! It was like a spirit bomb. Seriously, no other words for it. He was so funny but it was so spiritual too. Just what I needed to hear. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have been given blessings others have not been and thus have the responsibility to share the gospel with those around us. We are not just passengers on the boat, we are part of the crew.
Sorry, this is getting rather lengthy. I love you all. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord. The Lord knows each and every one of us perfectly and really does hear and answer our prayers.
I love you and hope you have a good week!
Hermana Griffin
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