Hermana Courtney Cox Argentina Mendoza Mission 2013-2014: October 21, 2013 - ¨Prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul.¨‏

Just another solid week of miracles!

Week 6 of the transfer is always the hardest for me. It´s like that crazy mixture of wanting to kick it up a notch to make every moment count, but also the unsettling unknown of what´s going to happen, and above all it seems to be that time when Satan is working hard on the hearts of investigators and missionaries alike.

BUT. The Lord has his hand in todos aspectos de esta obra!

This week we had a bit of a slow start. Some of our most solid investigators, ie Veronica and her family didn´t come to church again next week, and were struggling to keep their appointments. Not progressing. SO as hard as it was, we decided that maybe we needed to refocus our efforts and give them some space to really see if they wanted it. We didn´t pass by all week. But there was a Relief Society activity on Saturday, so we passed by just to invite them. When we got there, Ariana was way excited to see us, and they pulled us in the door. We started talking, and they told us that they´d read EVERY day! They were so excited to tell us all about the things they learned about Lehi´s family, the difference between Nefi and his brothers. They loved the story. ¨AND,¨ Lourdes told us ¨We´ve been praying as a family every night, and we pray for almuerzos (lunches) too!¨ I couldn´t help but grin as they so excitedly told us of all of their success, and how they´d noticed such a difference in their lives. YES! Desire!!

Then Veronica told us that her neighbor friend told her how she was meeting with the Jehova´s witnesses, and Veronica said ¨But they don´t meet with your whole family do they? No? Well, my girls LOVE MY missionaries, and they´ve helped our whole family.¨ Hahaha We got a new referral from that one!!!

The next amazing miracle was....... RAUL CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! let me emphasize the !!!!!!!!!. We passed by on Thursday to do a follow up on the dream lesson, and also to really just pound it in that they don´t have to wait for God to come tell them to go to church, WE are here, as representatives of Christ´s church to invite them! We had a SUPER powerful experience with the whole family, and really just testified of the blessings that are awaiting their family. I challenged him to pray to know RIGHT THEN if this was what the Lord wants for him and his family. The spirit was so strong, and he did it! His prayer was amazing, as he asked to know with a surety that this was ¨GOd´s will¨for him.

We passed by on Saturday to ¨remind them what time it started¨, and Raul said ¨Well, i´m for sure going, but I´m not sure who else will come. Come by in the morning and we´ll all go together!¨

So we passed by on Sunday morning, and Raul, and 3 of his daughters came. And they LOVED it! A family from the ward set up a FHE with them, and we´re going by tonight with the Zone Leaders tonight to talk about their baptism. ha baptism by FIRE.

With each of the people we taught this week, I was always impressed by the intense importance of prayer. Prayer is one of the first things/my favorite thing that we teach people. People always think they KNOW what prayer is always about, but the more we talk about it, I realize that these people don´t understand the incredible blessing that it is to pray. When we really come to an understanding that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that we are his children, we WANT to pray, we recognize that we NEED to pray. in Jesus the Christ, James E. Talmage says: ¨A man who has never really prayed, that man...is a stranger in the family of God´s children.¨ I thought about some of our investigators that for one reason or another didn´t want to pray, or didn´t feel like they could. But then as I´ve watched them learn, really learn how to pray, and take it seriously as a conversation with their loving Heavenly Father, miracles unfold, hearts are softened, and lives are changed. Their doubts fade, they have that desire to do God´s will. ¨It is well to know that prayer is not comprised of words, words that may fail to express what one desires to say, words that so often cloak inconsistencies, words that may have no deeper source than the physical organs of speech, words that may be spoken to impress mortal ears. The dumb may pray, and that too with the eloquence that prevails in heaven. Prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul.¨

I´m so grateful to be a part of this work, and to watch these changes and progression in the lives of so many of these people as they come to a knowledge of the truth. That there is something so much better in this life! God lives, Jesus is the Christ. And they want ALL of God´s children back in his kingdom.

I love knowing that I have a loving Father who hears me, listens to me, and knows what I need. God loves all of His children so much.I know that I can´t even begin to comprehend.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do and are for me!

until next week,

xoxo Your Hermana C