Here's the lowdown on my life recently...
So the past week we've started to teach the mom of a member
in our ward. Her name is Edna. She really didn't like the church for a really
long time because her son, Dino, wants to serve a mission and she doesn't want
him to leave. I remember visiting her one time when I first got here and seeing
that she wasn’t interested, but last week we invited her to read 3 Nephi 11
anyway. We were doing a service project for her with electricity, and when I
asked her if she had read and she said no, we decided to read with her. Sister
Ochoa was working in the other room and I started to read with Edna. The Spirit
is a powerful being I'm telling you because as we started to read and stop
every couple of verses you could see the understanding she was receiving on her
face:) She said that she was feeling goose bumps as we read about how Christ
came to the people. But my favorite thing she said is that she feels like she
understands only a little piece of how Christ feels for us because like when a
mother sees her child hurting, she wants to do anything to comfort them, even
take the pain upon herself. And this is how Christ felt for us. How he FEELS
for us. That He came to the Americas and showed the marks on His hands and feet
so that the people here could know that He died for them too.
I almost cried. Edna too. We continued reading and the next
thing Christ did was give the people the authority to baptize, in His name, in
the way that he was baptized.
33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Edna stopped reading and said to me, now I understand why
your church talks so much about baptism. I want to be baptized.
I can't even describe the joy I felt in that moment. And now
since then she's been making amazing progress. What's even greater is how happy
Dino is:) He's helping her a lot too:)
And so that's the result of many many missionaries passing
by her house, her son sharing the gospel when she at times didn't care, and
people never giving up on her. Not only am I gaining a huge testimony of the
power of the Book of Mormon, but I've seen firsthand that you never know who
has been prepared to hear the gospel.
I love you all!
Read your Scriptures because there's power there!
Get ready for G Conference!
Eat peanut butter in my honor;)