I´m so glad that Ryan is better. I think we prayed the roof off for him. I think you all talked about him in Texas and what a stud he is. I´m so glad he´s keeping up the family name. :) This week was insane. I have so many little stories I want to tell, but I´ll have to choose the best ones.
Here´s one story just for the heck of it, because it made me laugh: We were walking down the street, when an elderly woman saw us and turned back to shout into a house ¨The Mormons are coming! Careful! They might try to talk to you!¨ She thought she was being so sneaky, and when she turned around she quitely returned our ¨Buenas tardes¨ and continued walking in the other direction. We heared her loudly ¨whisper¨ to someone ¨¡Qué suerte no te hablaron, los chabones! (How lucky those punks didn´t talk to you!)¨ I was dying. It shouldn´t make me laugh, but it did for the rest of the afternoon. No matter how ridiculous the ridicule, I´m forever proud to be a representative of Jesus Christ.
We converted an atheist! Haha, we were talking to one of the young men in the Branch, and his friend, Ignacio, came up shyly waiting to talk to him. We started to talk to him, and he told us that he didn´t believe in God, because he believed in the sciences. We asked him ¨Who do you think created the world?¨ He looked at us sincerely and said, ¨huh, you´re right.¨ Haha, all of that in about 2 minutes. But then we talked with him a bit more about how God created all things in order, and about the Plan of Salvation. He became sincerely excited about it all, accepted baptism, and a time to keep talking. We invited him to share the Gospel with his family, to which he was extremely nervous. He says that his parents are extremely anti-religion because of a series of bad experiences. We encouraged him, saying that it may be hard, but that God will always be with him if he is trying to do what´s right. He doesn´t live in our proselyting area, but we gave his name and address to the missionaries over there, and we´re praying like crazy.
Also, we´ve had quite a few misfire lessons. One man excitedly invited us to his house with questions about Joseph Smith. We invited his whole family to listen, most of them declining, but his wife sitting down hesitantly. We had a good discussion about what a prophet is, and why we don´t worship Joseph Smith, but appreciate all He did for the Gospel of Christ. But they really couldn´t get around the Book of Mormon being additional scripture. They accept the idea that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that his method of direction during the Bible was through prophets with Priesthood authority, revelation, and scripture, but they insisted that it was only for ¨aquel día¨ and that in our day, we only need the Bible. I don´t understand how they can accept such a contradiction, but we tried without much success to politely explain and testify in the name of Jesus Christ.
These two experiences reinforced something that I already knew. People are converted by the Holy Ghost. You can teach with all of the logic available, through the Bibles of the investigators, or by the theories and philosophies of men. But it´s never going to work unless the Spirit is there and they accept its testimony. Satan has done a frighteningly fantastic job at stirring up the world into misunderstanding of the true and simple Gospel of Christ, thinking that it contradicts the natural laws of the universe or the nature of God. The only thing that can fix this mess is patience, an inexhaustable supply of charity, and the divine help of the Holy Ghost. Thanks for your stories about sharing the Gospel, and may our loving God bless you all in continuing this great work.
Hurrah for Isreal!
Hasta el lunes que viene.
¡Por fin! ¡Está computadora no está racista no más!
Pictures!
1. The 8 New Years Eve balloons
2. Slenderman drawings outside my apartment. Luckily if we arrive before curfew they´re not so creepy.
3. We all ate these icecream alfajores for Christmas. If you can ever find one in your life, buy as many as you can.
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