June 16, 2014

Familia!

I hope your Father’s day was as wonderful and filling as mine. Our members took great care of us :) After church we had a cookout with la Familia Cortez; rice, beans, chorizo, carne asada… all that good stuff. It was so good we couldn’t stop eating… which was great except that we came to find out our next appointment had cooked us dinner as well… chicken tortas. Needless to say that we had a pretty eventful father’s day!

This week was great, we have seen so many miracles. We have been using Elder Ballards talk with our ward members, committing them to begin their study of Preach My Gospel and making plans to invite one person before the end of this quarter.

(Which is the end of this month!! So any of you that haven’t done it yet, repent and start praying for it now!!! Here is the link to his talk if you need a refresher of what he invited ALL members to do! https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/following-up?lang=eng)

This morning we reaped the fruit of our labors (well of Gods labors)... We had an appointment with a ward member, Hermana Cuevas, and her sister-in-law Priscila. She is a miracle. She is so prepared and seeking truth. She told us that she has finished with the Jehovah’s Witnesses after weeks of study because she finished all their books and she is "still not convinced." Somehow or another she got in touch with the Mormon missionaries in Salt Lake City and they have had a few over-the-phone lessons in the last week. Today we taught her in Hermana Cuevas’s home about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end of the lesson she accepted our invitation to be baptized. We are very excited to keep working with her!

Another miracle. Jan is a grandma who just moved into our apartment complex about 3 weeks ago. We met her the other day and helped her move some stuff into her apartment. She has lived in Illinois her entire life and was raised Catholic. We wanted to thank us for helping so invited us over yesterday to have some apple juice. We got talking about the church and taught her about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and the spirit was so strong. We showed her how to download the book of Mormon and she is excited to read it. As she said the closing pray she told God, “thank you for sending me to these young ladies. They had a light in their faces and it just shows me how true this message is.” She is so great, we are going to introduce her to the English missionaries but now I know the promise is true. D&C 100:4 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation‍ of souls. I know that God puts each one of us in places for a specific reason. We are in our specific homes, neighborhoods, works, schools to meet those that are being prepare to accept the gospel. All we have to do is pray and have the faith to open our mouths, invite those we know and love to learn a little more and God will do the rest.

Hermana Sewell is great, she always tries to implement what we study and learn into our lessons, she never settles for mediocre when it can be better and she was is always willing to serve those around her. The members really love her happy spirit.

This morning I was reading in King Benjamin Sermon, I bet he was a very powerful man much like yourself. I love Mosiah 2:20-24 “…if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you… if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another – I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.” V. 22 “and behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land…” Something like that, you know how it goes. I am continually humbled to know that everything God does for us is completely selfless. Even the commandments are given for our benefit. And all we have to do is obey and he will bless us, IMMEDIATELY. I know that to be true. I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven that continually blesses us even when we are so undeserving and indebted.

Please keep Alejandra in your prayers; 20 year and 3 children later, she is making a hard decision in order to enter into the covenant of baptism. Thanks for all you do! I love you all! I got the package but want to wait to open it on Wednesday. Can’t believe I’m almost 22. Time just flies, its frightening. Have a wonderful week!

Con mucho amor! Hermana Johnson