Week #15 - Granados

HOLA familia y amigos!

This week felt a little crazy, but we survived!!

Thursday we had exchanges, and I spent the night and following day with Hna. Patrana in my area!! I was a little nervous having to lead the area for the day, but thankfully God blessed me to remember everyone we needed to visit and where they lived and it all worked out. Hermana Pastrana is seriously an angel. She is one of our Hermana Leaders out here and has only 9 months in the mission. She´s from Columbia, but lives in Arizona and can speak Spanish, English, Italian and Portuguese. Needless to say she´s amazing and I learned so much from the way she teaches and felt so good being there with her. When we practiced teaching in our apartment, she told me she was blown away by my Spanish and couldn´t believe I was still in my first twelve weeks. She told me that I should be proud of myself and that she was so proud of me without even knowing me for a very long time. I was so grateful for the time I had with her, and it really boosted my confidence, because it´s easy for me to be hard on myself. At times I still feel held back by my fears of misunderstanding someone and saying something wrong, but I know I was called to ¨go forth and not tarry, neither be idle but labor with (all my) might—to lift up my voice ¨as with the sound of a trump, proclaiming the truth¨ with everyone (D&C 75: 2-5). She truly helped me feel love from my Heavenly Father and helped me remember my worth. I tried to absorb as much as I could from her to be able to apply what I learned and also, so that one day I can be an effective and loving leader like she is. 

We had some super cool non-coincidental coincidences this week (because there are no coincidences here on the mission). When we were looking for Alesandra, we ended up finding her daughter, Alexandra, and taught her the Restoration. She was absolutely blown away that we have a prophet and 12 apostles today, and was so excited to look up talks on lds.org to listen to their messages. It was so cool to see her reactions and to feel so much love for her in just the shorts minutes we taught her. Something similar happened when we were looking for Roberto. He ended up not being at his house, but his sister was there. We ended up teaching the Restoration with her also, and she literally lit up as we were teaching. We´re really hoping and praying for those two golden investigators!

When we were contacting this week, there was a 20-some year old man standing by his motorcyle and Hna. Cahuapaza and I decided to talk with him. He ended up being super interested in the Gospel. We had a great lesson with him in the capilla with our mission leader, and he was really excited to learn more. President Marble during my interview with him, emphazied something with me at the end that really struck me. He told me I should seek oportunities to build up the Priesthood, even though it´s difficult to make appts. with them since we always need someone to accompany us when we teach men. But I know this is so true. It´s because of the Priesthood that we in reality have the Gospel today on this earth, and what better way to show that gratitude than to invite and teach young men to live the gospel and one day live worthily to hold God´s power and authority! 

We had a lesson with Meri Sunday morning, and Luciana, an amazing returned missionary, accompanied us. I ended up sharing a scripture in Matthew 6, becasue Meri had been experiencing some difficulties. My compi loves the song, ´Consider the Lillies´, and is always singing it in English. I just happened to come across the scripture that makes reference to this in Matthew 6:28-33 in my personal study, and it ended up helping not only Meri, but Luciana. We visited Luciana later, and she told us that she was going through a lot of difficulties in her job and didn´t know what to do. This scripture helped remind her to ¨seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto (her)¨. Lillies only focus on their growth and progression, and don´t have a care or worry in the world, even when there are storms. And they´re beautiful. God provides food for the birds and animals on the earth, and they don´t even ask for His help. So how much more is he going to bless us, His chidren, if we ask for His help? How much more is He going to give us if we have faith that He will help us?

I know this gospel is true, and that the Book of Mormon, even just one scripture, truthfully has the power to change people´s lives. Because of this, it´s so crucial that we read it everyday, because we never know what golden nugget we might come across to help us have that much more strength and direction in our lives. I love you all. Remember your worth, and that God loves you, no matter what. 

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Hermana Doney