"The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble and calumny may defame but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent 'till the purposes of God have been accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done." -Joseph Smith

Monday, December 16, 2013

Putting the Faith in Christmas

Hello Family!
 Buisness before I forget:
 
We're planning on going to a member's house to Skype at 3 on Christmas. We figured that would work best so it's not too late for those in VA (Thanks Polly and Dan ;)).
 
Also I have a few requests, and I'm really sorry that they're coming now because I know you just sent out the package (which I'll probably get today because I haven't gotten it yet) but can you send out my big coat (I'm getting used to warm weather so 30 degrees is freezing... bah dum chh), a new laundry bag (preferably something not mesh. The hooks in my skirts snag it all the time and rips big holes), and our Canciones Para Los Ninos book (I actually don't remember if we have one... but I want it for Christmas). And if you could send this package directly to my apartment, I need it soon!
 
Okay. Now on to the fun.
 
We're super duper excited for Christmas! We decided to try to make the most out of Christmas, we're going to go carolling (which is why I need the song book soon.. more Christmas songs to sing). We are going to try to visit every person in our area, member, investigator, former investigator. Everyone. And we're going to sing a song, tell them how much we love them, see if there's any kind of service we can give, sing another and leave. Flor (one of the young women) wants to come with us. Speaking of young women, Hna. Cuevas said she was going to send the letters today... But that's our plans for the holiday, besides Skyping. We're really excited! That way we're not invading too much on everyone's family time. We're slowly getting a little group to come with us.
 
The big story for the week:
 
We went to go visit our family of investigators, Jorge (53), Jenny (17), Gabi (15), and Katy (13). We were all ready to teach a lesson on faith with Jorge, using Elder Bednar's talk from a CES Fireside this last year about having faith to not be healed. We knocked on the door and Jenny answered. We could tell something was up right away so we asked what was going on and if we needed to come back at a better time. This is when we found out that Katy had ran away. Erm... Alright... So now what do we do? So Jorge came out and started talking to us about what was going on and we could tell he was super emotional so we just let him say what he needed to say. At the end of it he asked me what I thought. I asked him if he had prayed. He said he does morning and night. I asked if he prayed since Katy ran away and he said he didn't have time to yet. I asked him if it was okay if we said a prayer with him right then and if it'd be okay if I said it. We got Jenny to come in and sit with us but Gabi wouldn't. Okay. I felt a strong impression to do something along the lines of a harvest blessing (I don't know if I ever told you about those, but it's something we did in the Riverside mission) so I did. As soon as I said, "By the virtue of our calling as missionaries and representatives of Jesus Christ, the Spirit filled the room. It was super cool. There was nothing spectacular about the prayer, but the Spirit was really strong. I prayed that we would be able to find Katy and that the family would see Heavenly Father's love. As soon as I closed the prayer, the phone rang. It was a woman named Guadalupe. Her daughter was friends with Katy and Katy was at their house. Miracle!

The saddest part about this story is the fact that Jenny and Jorge didn't realize what just happened. Hermana Harris even explained to them what just happened and they still didn't think it was a miracle. Jorge just focused on how bad his girls were, then proceeded to drop us.

We know he was mostly acting out of high emotions, so we weren't too insulted by him dropping us, we were just completely shocked. We figure we're going to give them some time to cool down and then check back up in a week or so. It just amazed us on how oblivious they were. We realized that moments like that are why Heavenly Father doesn't always perform miracles at the drop of a hat.

The moral of this story is, even if it didn't for them, this experience was a huge testimony builder for me on prayer, how Heavenly Father answers the prayers of the faithful, and just how sacred our calling is.
 
Tell me about it on the whole halfway through the mission thing. My brain wants to explode every time I think about it. I really think the main reason I won't want to go home is because I'll still feel like I just got here.
 
Well! I love you all!
 
Hermana Myers

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