September 23, 2013- "Oh that I were an Angel"

Hola Hermosas!

So I´m going to start this letter by telling you what JUST happened to us as we walked to the cyber!

We went to a fruit stand, and were walking along the highway eating our peras, when this man rode by on a bike. We saluted him and said hola, and then he went past, did a double take, stopped, and when we caught up he said ¨Hey! Are you missionaries from the Mormon Church?¨ ¨Yessir!¨ He then proceeded to tell us that he met with elders over 20 years ago, but then he´d moved and lost contact. He started to tell us about the things he´d learned. And then he asked us how the prophet is doing. ha.

We found out he lives in the other area (downside of being in centro), but I asked if we could get his info to give to the elders there. He said yes! And said ¨do you think they could bring me a libro de Mormòn? I lost mine and I want to keep reading it!¨We had one with us, and he asked us to write our names in it. He told us how grateful he was that God had let him see us, and that he knew we were going to see each other again ¨Maybe not in this life,¨he said ¨but in heaven, and then I´ll remind you that you two rubios (blondies) from America helped me find the church again!¨ 

Well honestly, we did nothing. But OH MAN I know that the Lord puts prepared people in your path!

Antonia and La Familia Ibaseta: They´re progressing, reading, praying. THey´re tough, let me tell ya. Raul, the husband, has SO many questions, and honestly we had a lesson the other day where he asked us to prove some things between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. And then some really hard church history stuff. He´s brilliant really! But I have such a strong testimony of the scriptures, and the promise to missionaries, that if you study and teach by the spirit, the Lord will give you the words to say.

We have so many progressing investigators, and people that are just honestly so prepared for this message! 

I´m way grateful for my comp. She´s awesome, and let´s me be a working maniac! I make her RUN to lessons sometimes, and she is so willing to just work hard right alongside me. It´s super great, and we come home beat every night! Something that I love is that we have THE greatest comp studies, and conversations, it really translates into the work and setting goals and making inspired plans is such a blessing! Our lessons still are not perfect, far from, but honestly she has a love for the people too, and we´re doing this thing!

This week we had a multi-zone conference with Elder Nuñez, one of the seventy. It was INCREDIBLE. I love missionary conferences! He talked to us a lot about the amazing blessing that it is to BE a missionary, and having pride in this time. 

Something that he focused on several times, was the scripture in Alma 29:1-2 which says: ¨O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

 2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.¨

He talked about the importance of having these feelings as a missionary. He told us ¨I wasted 22 months of my mission just being obedient and good. But never having that feeling in my soul of wanting to proclaim the gospel to everyone! Don´t make that mistake!¨It really was eye opening. Today is my ¨Only have a year left¨mark. TImes like that really make you stop, think, and reevaluate the things you want to accomplish. I loved Elder Nuñez´focus on making the most of every minute of your mission. It´s something I´ve made an effort to do from day one. I´m not always perfect at it, but really time in the mission is so short. But the significance of this work is so much more.

I love you all, and I hope that this finds you happy and knowing how very much you mean to me! Until Next week,

Your Hermana C