That´s awesome you got my package! That´s so cool that nothing broke! The pictures haha…uhh.. yah my eye. I got mugged two weeks ago, it was awesome!
Haha just kidding! The last Saturday that Elder Sander was here, we were hurrying to visit a family that said they could come to Church with us. We got in a taxi and hurried off, when we got there I jumped out of the car in a hurry and dropped 10 pesos, when I went down to pick it up I turned around real fast and hit the door of the taxi with all the hurry of a missionary that only has 5 minutes before he has to be in his house! I didn´t realize what happened at first, I think I blacked out. I picked up my glasses (which didn´t break, woo hoo!) and turned around to leave. Elder Sander looked at me and said “ooh, que paso?!” It started bleeding pretty bad so we hurried to the closest members home, when they weren´t there we turned around, I couldn´t see very well and didn´t see the huge GERMAN SHEPHERD chasing us. Aye cay aye! Elder Sander chased it away, and we hurried to the next closest members home. We got there and the Brother started calling everyone he knew to find a doctor. The doctor of the mission told me I just needed to go to the hospital because it was too late to go to DF. Turns out there is a sister in the ward that is a doctor, they took me to her house and she talked to President and told him he could trust in her. She gave me anesthesia and stitched me up! It was pretty funny, because that picture makes it look way worse than it was. It was right after she had put iodine on it. The next day at church everyone asked me “ooh que le paso elder?!” (What happened to you?!) I told them and with the most serious face I could, I said- “ Elder Sander hit me.” Then he would say, “Hey I had to give him something to remember me!” It was pretty funny. Now I don’t´have a scar or anything, the sister stitched me up pretty good!
So, this week was absolutely amazing. Elder Mora and I saw the hand of the Lord in the work. We saw miracles- so many I don´t think I have time to write them all.
Last week, a member found us to give us a referral. Julian a less active member, but wanted to know where and when church was. He also wanted to give us the referral of his girlfriend, Ibon, that lives in Palmar. Turns out the missionaries before us taught her but she didn´t want to be baptized. She went to church with her boyfriend, and I am pretty sure she will get baptized.
I gave my first blessing this week. We were walking to visit an old investigator, and an older guy yelled at us “Elder! Como estan elder! Hey you´re elder too?!” haha, he told us to come in to his neighbors house and visit her. This older sister is very sick, she´was baptized about two years ago, and can´t go to church because she´s so sick. We went in and visited her for a little bit, shared a scripture and when I asked if we could help her she asked if we could pray for her. I asked if she had received a blessing and she started to cry. I guess the doctors had just visited her and she was a depressed because of what they told her, she asked for a blessing and when I turned to Elder Mora he told me to do it! I was a little scared, but it was amazing. In Spanish when you give blessings you have to use the “tu” form of words, which we don´t use ever, we use the more formal, “usted”. As I gave the blessing, I was able to speak in tu and I know it wasn´t me! The sister was crying after and thanked us for passing by. We told her we weren´t planning on coming this way and she just looked and said thanks.
Last week, Beatriz and her husband told us they would get married in August. Elder Mora and I decided to really work with them and try our hardest to help them realize they need to complete with the commandments. We prayed so hard for them and that was when we saw the miracle. We went to visit them in the middle of the week, and Beatriz said she had a dream that she and Gonzalo were down the street from their house, but had to walk all the way around a long ways to get there. She asked us what that meant, and that’s when my creative companion stepped in. He said “ Hermana, the Lord is trying to tell you that you can have all these blessings right now if you´ll just walk down the street, but you want to walk all the way around to get to your house. Hermana, you need to get married this week.” “ You know, I was thinking the same thing.”
We helped them get everything in order, and we went early with them Saturday morning to take pictures. The judge is our buddy, he likes the missionaries because they always bring people to get married! Elder Mora and I were their witnesses. We were so happy they were finally married! They took us to a seafood restaurant after, I haven´t had that for a while! We had this awesome soup in a huge bowl. The weird thing was that it came with just about every type of seafood there is!
Sunday finally came and it was so awesome. It was ward conference for Constitucion (Beatriz and Gonzalo´s ward) and it was awesome! So powerful. The Bishop (Gonzalo´s brother) gave an awesome talk on families, missionary work, the temple. He started to cry as he talked about being sealed to his family in the Mesa Temple. After, Elder Mora and I were both busy receiving referrals! Everyone was motivated to give us referrals. We have a lot of work this week, lets just say that. Oh yeah, and they didn´t have a pianist so I played the piano. Haha, lets just say I need to practice a little bit!
It was awesome, all of my converts were there. Belen and Diana came with their mom, Euri was there with his whole family, Ana was confirmed in Palmar. Consuelo, Leilani and Joel were there too- guess what? Joel is the first counselor in the Deacon´s quorum! He passed the sacrament to us, and he was wearing the tie I gave him. It was awesome.
Elder Mora and I tried to make their baptism as special as we could. We brought a whiteboard and wrote “ Welcome to the Baptism of Beatriz, Pablo y Ariel” We had the fake flowers from the sacrament room in front of the door for the baptismal font, and music playing. Jessica gave me a CD with piano music that we´ve used a couple of times, tell her thanks for me.
Bishop Ortiz (Gonzalo´s brother) gave an awesome talk on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I baptized Ariel first, then Pablo, and then Beatriz. When I asked Beatriz her name she told me her married name, I didn´t know you have to use the single name and had to baptize her twice. The Spirit was so strong in their baptism. The kids were so excited. After when we were changing, I heard Ariel and Pablo talking. Pablo asked Ariel, “ Ariel, como te sientes?/ How do you feel?” “Siento frío!/ I feel cold!” haha It was hilarious. Then Ariel surprised me and said, “ I feel clean, and new!” It was neat to see a 9 year old notice the difference.
After the baptism we watched the Restoration, and Beatriz closed with the prayer. She asked Heavenly Father to bless those who weren´t baptized, that they could be baptized. We had two investigators in the room, remember Ibon? She was there and we could tell she felt the Spirit. Also, there was the mother of two teenagers. She isn´t a member, but they are. After the baptism she said “ I can´t wait for my baptism!”
This week was truly amazing. A lot of hard work, but it always pays off. Jorge is hopefully going to be baptized this week. He knows he needs to be baptized, he just doesn´t know with what church! We´re going to work really hard with him this week.
Time to go, love you all. Thanks for all your support.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Ras (that’s what elder Mora calls me, I guess my name is too long! haha)
