Week 90

Hey guys! So Johan wasn´t baptized on Saturday because he got stuck in traffic and missed his interview several times this week. and neither the president nor his counselors could do an interview on Saturday, so we postponed it for next week. So he´ll be baptized on Saturday with his family. He´s still happy. Erika and Ali are excited for their baptism too. Today in the family home evening with them and the bishop´s family we´re going to teach them about keeping the Sabbath day holy. This week we had a very spiritual lesson with them. Erika had heard about the sealing in the temple at church and she wanted to know what that meant. After explaining what it meant, Sebastian, a young man preparing for his mission, the bishop´s family, Elder Bates, and I all shared our testimonies about the temple and what it means to us to be sealed to our families. It was a very tender moment and they understand that their goal is the temple one year from now. Also we were a little afraid that they wouldn´t accept to pay tithing, because they have a lot of money, but they accepted it right away. They´re excited to pay their tithing and they know that it will bless them. I´m really grateful for the opportunity I´ve had to meet them and be an observer of their conversion.

We met a lot of really prepared people this week. We met so many that I don´t have time to describe them all. We met a family that is half Croatian and half venezuelan. They know a family from another ward in the stake. The parents are catholic, but the mom, Romi, spends most of her day on familysearch.org either looking up names of ancestors or indexing. She loves family history, but she´s never talked to missionaries before. They have 8 children, but so far we´ve only been able to teach the parents with 2 of their daughters: Romina, 17 years old, and Yanina, 16 years old. Their daughters aren´t members of any church because Romi wants them to look for their own religion now that they are old enough to think for themselves. They are awesome, they have so many questions because they are actively searching for the truth. It´s really convenient for us being missionaries of the true church because we can answer all their questions with true doctrine, and with clarity. Yanina feels like she has done too many bad things in the past to be acceptable to god. She also has a smoking addiction and knows that in our church we don´t allow smoking. She experiences same sex attraction, and whenever she investigates a church they tell her that she is a bad person because of it and that she needs to be cured. From the very start they were both very sincere with us about what it is they are searching for and what they struggle with in life. That has helped us really address their biggest questions first. We felt like we should share Ether 12:27 and 2 Nephi 26:33 with them and explain about how weaknesses come from God. He gives them to us to allow us to be humble, and if we are humble and come unto him, he will make our weaknesses a strength for us. But even though god gives certain weaknesses to certain people, it doesn´t mean that he loves some more than others, because all are equal in his sight. We also talked about the atonement and baptism. There isn´t anything that can separate us from god´s love. He will always welcome us back, and it is possible to come back t through repentance and baptism thanks to Jesus Christ´s atonement. Romina doesn´t have as many immediate problems, she just really enjoys the book of Mormon and she´s already read quite a few chapters this week. lds.org is answering all her questions we haven´t had time to answer yet.They came to church yesterday and they loved it. They love singing and the bishop, without knowing it, invited them to join the priests and Laurels prepare a special musical number for church in a couple of weeks. The young men and women did a really great job of making them feel included. At the end of the meetings Yanina told us "I can give up smoking for this", and they are going to make sure that their parents come to church next week.

We also had a really great lesson with Hernan. Miguel, our ward mission leader, and the bishop were there with us in the lesson. Hernan hadn´t read the chapter we had left for him, and he wouldn´t budge on his answer about being baptized, But he said that he had been praying and that he was finding a lot of guidance. So we started reading the chapter that we left him and I felt impressed to ask him if he has ever in the time he has been listening to us, directly asked God if this was the true church. He said no. So we started to explain the importance of an answer from God, and how nothing else will matter if he receives an answer from God. We invited him to kneel down with us and to ask God if this is the true church. He did so sincerely, and after the prayer he remained kneeling with his eyes closed. It was silent for a few minuets, and during that time we were all praying that he would recognize an answer. When he finished he decided to be baptized, but on friday he´s going to pick a date. That is the power of prayer.

I hope you guys have a great week! 

Elder Jones