Mission of Miracles

                                                                                                      October 10, 2016

Hola Familia!

 

Como están? Espero que todo estabien y estoy tan feliz para ver sus fotos y leer sus cartas!

 

I am sorry for alarming you last week with our crazy story. I realized after emailing that I forgot to tell you that everything was okay and safe! We don´t work in that area much and things are totally back to normal now so no worries!

Elder Sierra and I out exercising on our Preparation day

So this past week was cambios,(transfers) and.........NOTHING CHANGED!

Elder Sierra and I are still companions and will remain in this area. We were both very surprised because he started his mission in this area and at the end of this Cambio, he will complete a year of his mission. We also thought that they would open another area in our town which didn't happen either, so we get to keep all of our investigators! So he will finish my training and we are both pretty excited to do more this cambio.

 

The official name of our mission is, "Bolivia, Santa Cruz, Mission of Miracles!" And this week I really got to see why. On Friday we were able to see so many miracles!

 

After lunch on Friday we taught a woman named Sonia. She is an older woman who lives across the street from us and her granddaughter is a member. It was only our third lesson with her and we taught her about the Book of Mormon and then invited her to be baptized! She accepted for the 4th of November and we are so excited for her! She is just the sweetest lady and always gives us apple juice when we visit her haha.

 

In the evening we had a lesson with Familia Baudevin. Last week a little girl came up to us in the street and asked us to teach her family. Her name is Selbi and she is eleven years old and most of her family are less active members. During our second lesson with her on Friday, we taught her the message of the restoration, and then Elder Sierra invited her to be baptized. She immediately said yes. He then asked, "And why?". After a few moments, Selbi said "For happiness", and then with tears streaming down her face "and because I want to be a member of this church!" It was a powerful moment for us and she is so ready to take this step!

 

After this lesson we taught Claudia and Ximena. We talked to them a lot about baptism. They still don't feel ready and don't want to be baptized, but we testified that they don't have to be perfect before baptism because that is the reason we are baptized. They are putting more expectations on themselves than the Lord has for them. We invited them to be baptized in November, and Ximena said she doesn't want to, but Claudia said if she feels ready she will. At the end of the lesson, I was prompted to tell them that we love them and pray for them each night. As I spoke these words I was filled with the Spirit and felt an incredible love for them! It was a powerful moment and a great lesson.

 

Finally, yesterday we had a lesson with Secundino. He finally came to church yesterday which was a huge victory because he always tells us he is going to come and then doesn´t. Yesterday afternoon we taught him about the plan of salvation, and as we talked about baptism he told us that he has been feeling the changes the gospel brings to his life. He no longer feels like drinking or doing something bad and we testified that the Book of Mormon and his decision to follow the Savior are changing his life. We are so excited for him to continue to change and progress!

 

This week we saw so many miracles and had an amazing week! This is the Lord's work and it is so amazing to work alongside him! I love this area and these people so much and can't wait to see them enter the waters of baptism! 

 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

 

Elder Harris