Yesterday I sat in church. Just Hermana Lybbert and I, NONE of our ¨promise to be there¨ investigators came.
This week has been one of those hmmm, this isn´t working. After the amazing miracle of having Raul at church last week, we passed by with the zone leaders, who wondered why on earth we hadn´t baptized him yet. Long story short, he told us he is ¨still waiting for a dream of his baptism in THIS church.¨
¨Notwithstanding the mighty works, and miralces, and proclamations of the truth, in great power and authority (D&C 138:26) Nothing.
I just think of the story of Korihor. When Alma says to him ¨Thou hast had signs enough! Wilt thou tempt God?¨
I´ve been thinking a lot about the fact that not everyone will choose to accept the message we bring. That´s the hardest thing about this work. Because you wish they would. You know what´s at stake. But unfortunately we can´t make them accept it. We´re here to save those who want to be saved (D&C 138:31). I´ve learned that while it´s extremely disappointing at times, you can´t get discouraged. ¨Discouragement destroys desire¨ someone wise once told me. And it makes it easy to lose sight of the purpose. But while there are others who willingly reject this message, there are others who come along and happily pick up what others have cast aside. That´s not to say I don´t hate to see these people who I´ve worked with, laughed with, cried with, and prayed with and for choose to deny the greatest gift anyone will ever offer them.
We´re not lacking in people who are being prepared by the Lord to accept the gospel. This week we´ve been focusing a lot on finding new people to teach. Which can be frustrating, but honestly it can be so rewarding.
Ana. A woman that I opened my mouth with at the grocery store about a month ago. She is the director of a hospital here, and wants me to work for her as a nurse, haha. But she is great, and looking for something new. We passed by this week and had an awesome first lesson with her.
Cintia and Carlos. Another woman we met at the grocery store. We were behind her in line, and started making faces back and forth with her 1 1/2 year old in the cart, pretty soon the 4 year old joined in, too. I started to ask her about her kids, and we got talking (one of the blessings of having to wait in line FOREVER). Ultimately we got her info, and she told us to pass by.
Went by the shop, and she wasn´t there, but her husband, Carlos, was. He invited us in, told us that his wife had told him about us. He is every bit as lovely and open minded as she is. We´re super excited!
Carina. A lady whose husband was about to shut the door because he´s Catholic. But we started talking about her dying brother, and God´s plan, and had an amazing lesson with them!
And finally, remember that guy who asked me on a date a couple weeks back? Alfredo is his name. We were walking along that main road again, and had to pass by his work. At first we didn´t see him, but we said hi to his coworkers and kept walking. Then again we heard him running behind us. ¨Chicas!¨ Hesitatnly we turned around, He asked us when we were going to go visit him. When we exchanged a glance he said to me: ¨Look, I actually read that folleto that you gave me. It´s really interesting stuff, about Christ´s true church. I want to learn more. When can you come teach me?¨We had some trouble finding a good time, so he finally just said ¨Next Thursday, 6 o clock, I´ll wait for you here, if you can´t come, you have my number, call me and we´ll figure out a different time.¨ Ha. so we´re going to pass by with an hermano from the ward. We´ll see!
It´s amazing the things that happen when you pray to find people who are prepared. sometimes they literally jump out at you.
In Jesus the Christ it talks about ¨The Lord´s Prayer¨or the way in which we should pray. It finishes by saying; The Lord´s prayer is closed with a solemn ´Amen´, set as a seal to the document of the suppplication, attesting its genuineness as the true expression of the suppliant´s soul; gathering within the compass of a word the meaning of all that has been uttered or thought. So let it be is the literal significance of Amen.¨
This is His work. The only way to do it is by seeking His will. The Lord knows the hearts of his children. It´s weeks like these that I pray A LOT. For patience with stubborn -hearted people, for love and compassion, for discernment to teach to their needs, for strength to keep walking, for courage to open my mouth, for power and authority to help them understand.
And while I know there are days where I don´t understand the intricate workings of his grand plan, or why sometimes ´success´ is so hard to measure, I trust in his timing. After all, he knows so much better than we do.
And so I´ll say....without singing the Beatles....LET IT BE.
I love you all so much.
Until next week,
xoxo Your Hermana C
oh, ps. Hermana Lybbert and I are.... STAYING TOGETHER IN SAN JUAN!! We are stoked! Finally I feel like I belong somewhere!
Photos:
Voting day plus Sunday. meaning we walked for 4 hours, basically our entire area, and talked to 2 people. Some days we live in a ghost town.
apparently there are only two split palm trees in the world. we have one of them in San Juan. ¨That´s pretty neat!¨
¨Look at all the people...¨
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