Safety for the Soul - October 22, 2016

Hello Everyone!! Well this week I was really influenced by a lot of testimonies that I heard about the Book of Mormon, and something that I have been really looking forward to sharing with you all this week. But first off Ill let you know how everything is going in Casa Blanca. Anyways so this week we continue to progress with Madai. It is pretty amazing the missionary work that she is doing and she isnt even baptized yet. A few weeks ago when we started talking to her I have said before that she invited her cousins and grandparents, and uncles, everyone that she knew!! Our work in this area has mostly been based on teaching her family just because her influence has been so strong with them. This week we found her great uncle named Gabino, he is 80 years old and lost everything that he had when he got sick a few months ago. He said he would do anything that was possible to take away his burden and pain that he has and we testified to him of the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ in that plan. In each lesson he has opened up to us and cried about how painful it is for him but we know that God still needs something from him here on the Earth. This week we also found Madai´s cousin named Josue, he went to church with her a few weeks ago but after that we could never find him. When we were in splits the other day my companion found him in the street and asked when we could talk to him, he set an appointment the next day and we taught him and he accepted baptism. Something really amazing from all of this though is 3 weeks ago we left a homework challenge in the youth Sunday school to share the gospel with their friends that they have in their contacts or on Facebook. We hadnt heard any results until Thursday when we had a family home evening with Eloy and invited some members and Madai´s family. Madai showed up alone and said that the rest of her family was busy that she wanted to be there. When she got there she said that she had done the homework and had invited 3 friends to listen to us and go to church with her, as well as her parents and her whole family. She was a little sad because a lot of them rejected her and said that they didnt have time or that they werent interested, but that she had never been happier before because she was happy that most of her family was listening to us now. It has been amazing to see the door that has opened up through her to her whole family that is now interested, and the influence that she is having in all of them. This morning we had a soccer tournament and Madai´s brother and cousin showed up to play in it. This is the work that we are doing here right now, is working with all the parts of Madai´s family just because she is so willing to share it and she knows that it is true. We are looking forward to her baptism in a few weeks. Some of the other progress that has been made, with Jose and Lulu, the couple that needs to get married, last week we were at church and Jose didnt show up. We asked Lulu where he was and she said that he was sick, but that he wouldnt take any pills because he was fasting and he wanted all his papers to get through faster. Fasting had seemed to be his biggest challenge but he did it and we know the miracles will come soon. Then there is Angel, he is 10 years old and is part of a less active family that is currently in the process of reactivation. This past week he took us around his apartment complex and showed us all of his friends and asked them if they wanted to hear us along with their families. He is pretty awesome and is always inviting all his little friends to listen and go to church. Then Pamari, she was the reference that had been going to church in a different ward for the past 6 months and she continues to progress and has invited her family to listen to us as well. She put her own baptism date and we are just making sure that she knows everything. Now, what is amazing in all of these is the willingness to share the gospel, and they arent even baptized. When we went and helped Hermana Angela cut her tree down the other day she said that the Book of Mormon bore witness that this was all true, and we worked hard this week to make sure that our investigators read the Book of Mormon and then asked if it was true. The ones that I mentioned above have done it and I have seen the change in their hearts. Madai for example, I know I have said her story before, but my companion and Elder Madera had dropped her before, then she found a Book of Mormon in a bookstore looking one day for something that could help her and felt prompted to buy it. She read it and had a change of heart and began to share it with everyone. Angel, read it with his Mom and had a desire to share the gospel as well. I know that it is a book inspired of God, I know that it is revelation for our day and for each one of us. I know that this world that we live in is a world that is filled with doubt and hopelessness, especially what is happening now with the Presidential Election, Wars, Lying, Stealing etc. The Book of Mormon, I know without a doubt, is our protection that we have if we read it and study it as families and individually. It is our direct conduit towards heaven to receive divine protection and guidance in all things. And I challenge you, I beg you all to read this book. It is true. I know it and just as Elder Holland said, I want it to be clear when I stand before God that I testified of this book as well. Just something I would like everyone to see and read is the video and talk that I am attaching to this email, if you have trouble or difficulty reading the Book of Mormon, please take the time to see or read what I have attached. It will help you and bless you. I know that this work is a divine work that I am so blessed to be a part of. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng

Picture at Hermana Angela´s House this week.