Wow this week was absolutely amazing. Elder Valencia and I have been so blessed with so many spiritual experiences. This past week we had 2 exchanges with other missionaries. The first exchange I was with Elder Bermudez in his area. He has about 3 months in the mission and we were able to work hard and find a lot of new people for them to teach. Than on Friday we had exchanges with the assistants and I was with Elder Richies. I was in their area and Elder Richies and I were able to find a lot of success. It was also a good time because he is a huge sports fan so we were able to get a few chats in about sports.
On Thursday Elder Valencia and l had a very cool experience. We taught a family where the mother and daughter are recent converts to the church but the father still hasn't decided to be baptized. However, he has been coming to church for a few weeks now. We were able to finally teach him and his wife together. We were able to talk about the family and how his family can be together forever. This drew his attention and Elder Valencia and I know now that he knows that the church is true. The only thing is that this is the first time in his life that he has been attending a church. We are going to keep working with him to help him feel like he is ready to be born again and be baptized.
This week we also had an incredible experience with our investigator Alicia, she{s a young mother with a little girl and a newborn girl, before we arrived to her house she was praying to know the path she would follow to be closer to God, protect her family, and to leave behind the fear and depression issues she was having. During the lesson we shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon about how the pure love and faith of Christ wipes away fear. She felt as if the scripture was talking to her, she expressed that she felt a burning sensation in her heart, then we talked about the Holy Ghost and how it reveals the truth through feelings and thoughts. Also that burning sensation in her heart, she mentioned to us that she has never felt like that but she loves it. She then asked, how can I feel that more constantly in my life_ We started to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ, baptism, and the gift of the constant companion, even the Holy Ghost. She had some questions and fears about being baptized and then after fail with the commandments but we taught her about the sacrament and repentance. She was more determined to follow Christ, what a powerful lesson. The only need is that she needs to get married to her boyfriend, but we think it can be done easily. At church this past Sunday she came with her friend and with another young family (future investigators) to have their babies be blessed during sacrament meeting. I was the first time my companion and I had ever blessed a baby. Elder Valencia blessed Alicia´s baby girl and I blessed the baby boy of this new family that came to church with Alicia, it was super spiritual.
Also Saturday was very special. I am not sure if you guys can remember in my last email that I talked about that guy who isn't a member but came to church with his family and we had a lesson planned for Saturday? The mans name is Ruiz and we passed by on Saturday and had one of the most special lessons I have ever had here on the mission. We showed up and they were waiting for us to get there. We started off by singing the hymn families can be together forever. During the song the wife who is a member started crying. Later she expressed her gratitude to God that he had made it possible for her husband to change and to accept and listen to our message. We than taught the restoration of the gospel but focused on the family. Ruiz had a lot of questions. He was raised a family with different beliefs so he had a lot of questions. Despite all the questions, Elder Valencia and I were able answer each questions according to what the spirit dictated us to say. We could see that the Spirit was testifying to him the truth of our message. At the end of the lesson, Ruiz{s wife told us that her greatest desire was for Ruiz to get baptized and than be able to baptize their 8 year old daughter and than to finally be sealed to have an eternal family. Ruiz is now very encouraged to keep learning and to come to church. We are working a lot with him so that he can get baptized the 23rd, receive the Holy Ghost, The Aaronic priesthood, and baptize his 8 year old daughter the same day. God has been showing us that he truly is a God of miracles. I am so thankful to participate in such a great work. Have a wonderful week!
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