Emma

People Just Need to be Loved
Hola Familia!

Okay this week has been busy busy! We had a ton of service opportunities, which has been so fun! Because of the crazy storms, there has been some damage. A trailer park neighborhood had a few houses that were completely trashed, so we were able to help out and clean up a lot of debris. It was fun to see the neighborhood staring at us while were were picking up these houses. A few people even brought out their lawn chairs haha which I thought was super funny.

WE HAVE A GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR FOR YSA. Her name is Brittany. Hermana Smith if you are reading this....HER NAME IS BRITTANY. #MTCjokes

Brittany is so sweet and so prepared. We had out first lesson with her in the Temple Visitor Center on Thursday and she has already been to church 3 weeks in a row! She told us that she knows without a doubt this church is true, she reads the Book of Mormon, has a testimony, and the lesson we had with her was amazing. The spirit was really strong as the members shared their personal experiences with the church. I just really love this gospel. The gospel makes so many people HAPPY.

So we have also been teaching this girl names Erica. She has a lot of family that are LDS and again our first meeting with her she told us that she feels like the Book of Mormon is true as well as Jospeh Smith. This week we taught her the Plan of Salvation and I did this huge long thing to work up to see if she wanted to be baptized and then she said "Im already baptized" Then I started to talk about the difference between baptism with the Catholic church and the LDS church (because basically every Spanish speaker I talk to is Catholic) and then I realized that I just assumed she was Catholic without even asking. So then I stopped myself in the middle of what I was saying so ask what church she was baptized into and she said the Mormon church. Oh. haha

Hermana Aguilar and I just looked at each other feeling really awkward. hahah So apparently she is just menos activo and we didn't even know it....yeah I know...

The end of the week ended up being a little rough for Hermana Aguilar and I. Things were not going as planned, there was a lot of frustration, and just a lot of random things that members or people would do that would make us feel real inadequate. Sunday night comes, and going out tracking was something that I really didn't feel like doing at that moment. We actually went to stop by Erica's house, but she wasn't home. As we were waiting at the door, I had a past investigator's name come to my mind. It was followed by a similar feeling I felt when I went back to go talk to that random lady who was walking her dog last week! So I decided it was the spirit.

Back Story:

The name that came into my head was this woman named Jansse. Her husband was listed as a potential in our area book, so we decided to go check them out to see if they where interested A few weeks ago. She didn't want to let us in, but then a bee stung my finger so she let us in to take out the stinger (miracle) and we were able to sit down with the family and read the Book of Mormon with them! However, it went really bad. I remember her sons were crying and keept playing loud music and she was frustrated and the spirit just wasn't there. She kept saying that she is stubborn and not interested in learning more and we really thought that was the end of it. Hermana Aguilar actually dropped her afterwards.

SO as you can imagine I don't know why her name came into my mind right then, but she lived in the same apartment complex as Erica so we checked it out. As we were walking I was praying that I was acting on a spiritual prompting. No joke we walk up and we didn't even knock, she just opens the door. She was actually happy so see us and let us in. Honestly I dont remember what happened but I defiantly was crying during that lesson. It was probably the most spiritual experience I have had since being out in the field. I KNEW God sent us to her. Turns out she is INACTIVE TOO. I dont know why, but we keep accidentally teaching less active members thinking they are not members. Erica was baptized in Mexico and Jansse in Guatemala. Anyway, Jansse started to cry and told us that she wants to go back to church she just feels like people will judge her (she isn't married to the father of her children (Jorge) but they living together). It makes me so sad when people don't want to come back because of this! PEOPLE JUST NEED TO BE LOVED. That is what this Gospel is all about. I didn't say much, but I was praying for Hermana Aguliar the whole time they were talking. It was a "Teach people not lessons" moment. GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT THE WHOLE TIME. I am typing so fast, I don't know if this makes any sense so sorry about that. Basically I am just so happy because of that experience! I was praying for an experience like this and I know that God answered my prayer. Maybe the experience from last week prepared me for this week, I dont know, but for the first time I was able to really act on a prompting that I recognized.

We also went to the temple this week! So amazing. The Mesa Temple is so unique! I felt like I was in Solomon's Temple or something. Super ancient looking and so beautiful.

I haven't heard any information about my visa yet, so I'm assuming I'm staying for another transfer? We shall see!

Be Brave Little Champions!

Hermana Allen