A Week of Blessings

Dear Family,
I think often of you, especially of Ben, and I hope you are all well and adjusting easily to the big changes that are coming when Ben leaves. Here is what I did last week:

Monday: made tacos in the apartment with Hna Navarro-- despite the absence of jalapeño juice, they were yummy. Then we had a great Family Home Evening with the Herreras, an active family in our ward (the ones who made me birthday cake), about missionary work. Best quote of the week is awarded to Micaela (six years old.) Me: What are some of the things Jesus did to help people? Micaela: He helped poor people who couldn´t take baths be clean again. (see the healing the leper scene in Finding Faith in Christ when the little leprous grandpa gets healed and says"I´m clean!")

Tuesday: had divisions with Hna Salazar, who has just one more transfer left-- we found some new investigators and she gave me some good advice: "Don´t be sad about what you aren´t doing well. Be happy for all the things you are doing well."

Wednesday: Left the keys in the gate, traveled all the way to Merlo to reunite with Hna Navarro (it was really good to see my companion again!) and didn´t realize I didn´t have the keys until we arrived at the gate again. We searched the ground and the trash (eww) before concluding that I had indeed left the keys in the gate. Fortunately, our neighbor had found them and we were able to get them back and enter the apartment-- phew! How could I be so scatterbrained?

Thursday: We went to pick up a lunch the Hna Hornos made for us to eat in the apartment. As I thought about our plans to visit the Tejedas, a dirt-poor family in our ward, I thought "Maybe they need our lunch." At first I thought I was nuts, but just in case I called Hna Tejeda and asked how she was doing. She said lousy, so I asked what she needed. She said her husband needed work and the family needed food. So I told her we were coming right away. Hna Navarro said she had also felt that we should give the Tejedas our lunch. Wow! I assumed they had food, just not very much, and that our lunch would be more of a comfort gift than a real help. But when we arrived and gave them our lunch, Hna Tejeda said they had absolutely no food, not even enough for dinner that night. As soon as we left we called the RS president, who was able to bring them more food that night. This was a really cool experience, because Heavenly Father knew that the Tejeda family needed our lunch, even though I didn´t, and he let us be instruments to work a miracle for them. Moral of the story: always listen to the Spirit!

We also contacted a reference from the Saravia family and found Teresa and Pamela, who really liked lesson one and agreed to pray! Pamela came to mutual that same night and loved it!

Friday: We taught SIX LESSONS IN ONE DAY! A record for our companionship, and very welcome because we have had embarrassingly low numbers all transfer long. Also, we taught the Law of Chastity to Marta, and she accepted the principle and seemed open to the idea of talking to her boyfriend of ten years about marriage.

Saturday: We taught SEVEN LESSONS, including a really good lesson to Marta and her daughter Julieta about obedience. Julieta said she wants to come to church too! We also taught Miriam and her daughters Dahiana, Mariana, and Ramona. Dahiana and Mariana accepted baptismal dates last week, but Dahiana has doubts now because the three of them are preparing to take communion in the Catholic church. We told them it was their decision and that they should pray about it, but tried to explain that they won´t be able to have the same blessings in the Catholic church. Mariana said she is sure she wants to get baptized, but Dahiana and Ramona still weren´t sure after the lesson. We really hope they decide to get baptized with their sister.
We also taught Olga, who has been progressing pretty slowly because she is too busy to have a lesson more than once a week. I challenged her to be baptized, but she says she doesn´t know enough yet and she will tell us when she is ready and doesn´t want the pressure of a baptismal date. She still wants to listen to us and come to church, which made me feel good, but I was upset that I´ve taught her for a full month but haeen´t been able to help her understand that a testimony isn´t about knowledge of facts, it´s about getting an answer from the Spirit. I felt like my teaching had sort of failed. But as we returned to the apartment, at exactly 9:28, I saw a man with a mohawk and his young son waiting for the bus. We walked past, but I felt like we should go back to talk to them, even though we were supposed to be inside at 9:30. We returned to talk to the man, whose name was Cristian. He said he´d already met elders and had a book of Mormon. He said he has a lot of respect and gratitude for missionaries and what we do, because we don´t discriminate. He said that most people would not have turned back to talk to him and he thanked us for helping him to feel included. He told us to never get discouraged because what we are doing makes a difference. I felt like Heavenly Father was sending me a message through Cristian-- not to be discouraged about my teaching and to know that I really am helping people. Cristian doesn´t live in our area, but we wrote down his address so we can send the elders to him again.

Sunday: We lost some of our little sheep on the way to the pasture, but Ramona, Mariana, Olga, and Pamela came to church and really loved it. And Seba Sires´ (recent convert) non member brother came to church and agreed to let us visit him. So we had 5 investigators again! And Pamela is already thinking seriously about baptism! Life is good in Hurlingham!

This week the big struggle will be helping Mariana (11) get ready to be baptized and trying to help her mom support her by taking her to church every sunday and trying to help her sisters get baptized too. We will be busy, but very happy.
I love you all and hope you are as busy and happy as I am!