February 23, 2016

Hello hello!

Good news:
-Jackie isn't moving!
-My good friend Elder Acevedo (that had to go home a couple weeks ago for medical stuff) IS COMING BACK TO THE MISSION!

This week was a real toughie but looking back on it there was a lot of good stuff that happened.
We found Patti again! She had moved and we couldn't find her new apartment for a long time but we finally did and then went back and taught her a different night. She is so awesome! We taught her the plan of salvation and she had happened (totally not a coincidence) to have been watching some program about salvation the night before and she said that what we taught her felt so much better and right than what she had watched.

We invited David to prepare to baptize Ericka and Gabriel to baptize Jackie. They are both really excited about it and want to do it! Also Jackie and Gabriel came to church on Sunday and stayed ALL 3 HOURS for the first time! It was so great. Definitely the highlight of my week. smile emoticon

We invited Juan Cigarroa to pray about being baptized on March 12th. He is so so ready but is just having a hard time taking the step. His son (the Bishop) told me that he told his dad that I wanted to baptize him before going home so he better watch out! Haha! (but yeah, so true). Also he bought us carmel apples this week. What a gem.

The Pope came to Juarez last week so everyone was out of school. Most of the people that we found at home were Christians because all the Catholics were in Juarez. It was a really good opportunity to teach our investigators about the prophet though!

We were really frustrated last week about not having many people to teach and that the ones we are teaching aren't really progressing. And then I got a first hand taste of spanish ward drama. We got pulled into it and it was... just ridiculous. So on Saturday afternoon we had a breakdown. We just felt like we were trying really hard and doing everything we were supposed to and not seeing anything good coming from our efforts. I felt stressed because there's a lot of pressure on me with having so little time left. And so I decided to text all the potentials and former investigators in our phone (there are a TON) and we actually got some replies! One of them, Rosa Sifuentes, replied right away and we were able to teach her last night! The missionaries stopped visiting her in 2014 when she was going through a divorce and asked them for a break. She was so happy to have us and missed that spirit in her home. We had a really powerful lesson with her last night. She is really longing for truth and for the healing power of the Atonement. It was so great to be able to teach her and to feel the Spirit so strongly with her. I think she really is prepared now to receive this restored gospel! Miracles!

The Lord really is aware of our situations and is with us every step of the way. I strive to be an instrument in His hands and have felt the purest joy in doing so.

Lots of love,
Hermana Dearden