Well everyone it has been another great week. I hope the pictures actually work this week! The computers here, are... interesting sometimes.
This week we had 24 investigators coming to church! The other week we had the most investigators come to church in the whole mission! The AP called us, and we were super nervous because the other two times he has called us it has been to tell us that there are emergency cambios and that I need the rabies shots. However, this time it was happy news :) I asked him if he could get us some worldwide stats but he is still working on that one... Maybe oneday!
We had some exciting drama happen this week. Well... not drama but we were searching for one of our investigators, Julia. She lives with her mom, and we saw her mom near her house carrying a bunch of wood. So we ran over to ask if she needed help, she said no, and then asked us if we were looking for Julia. We were like yes, and she told us she had moved. So we asked where she had moved, and she was all, she moved to the colony over and she lives in the second entrance near the calatera in a green house. We were like okay, time to go search for her. We found some other lovely people, but no Julia, and no green house. Later we found out that Julia still lived there and her mom had lied to us! Apparently the Evangelicals here really do not like us, and they talk bad about us a lot. Which is funny because I barely even know who they are. It is all good, because we have decided it is better if we have our lessons in the church with her.
Also, for all you who remember Lucy, she has been working a lot but her two kids came to church yesterday! Mabia, her daughter, is the reason why we are teaching her because she had asked us to come teach her family (actually lots of kids ask us to come teach their family... but most of the time the parents are pretty uninterested). But her brother Arnold also came, and after church we went and visited them. Lucy told us that when Arnold, her son came home, he told her that he thinks he wants to be Mormon. Great news!
My two ninos, Isabel and Ronan also came. I adore Isabel. She is eleven years old. We found them one day a little after Christmas while we were walking. We passed them and then I remembered I had candy canes from my package that I was supposed to give out to kids. So I ran back over to them and wished them a feliz navidad and gave them the candy canes and we went on in our merry way. A few days later we were walking and this little girl tells me thank you for the candy it was super good. Then I remembered who she was. She told us where she lived so we went and visited her. Her family had gotten the discussions before. Well, actually she lives with her aunt and cousins and some other cousins. But her tia (aunt) had before. They told us we were welcome to come back but did not seem super interested. We have another investigator who lives farther up that we have to visit so I convinced my companera a few times to pass by for Isabel to invite her to church. Anyways yesterday was her second time coming which means we can teach her. Isabel is one of the specialist girls in the whole wide world. Before whenever I would see her she always looked like she was about to cry, but now she is looking a lot less sad. Ronan is her cousin, and I think he is like 12. He is cool too :)
This week I have been thinking a lot about the atonement. I feel like it is something that is so deep and so large that it is hard to every truly understand. Many people, when we ask them if they have heard the word atonement (expiacion en espanol) they have not. Most people have no clue what it is, and often our five, or ten minute explanation does not even start to explain what it is. I do not think I truly understand the immensity of the atonement. I have been thinking about how the atonement is what saves us from physical death, and how if we let it it can also save us from spiritual death. Only in and through the atonement can we live with God again. We cannot even begin to grasp what the Savior suffered in the Garden and on the Cross. Yet he chose to do it for us. God had set up this plan of the atonement before the world began. Why do we choose not to use it? Why do we not let the Savior ease our burdens and take our yoke? Why do we let our pride and stubborness get in the way of our own happiness? The atonement is not just for our sins, but for our pains, for our sicknesses, for our loneliness. Christ understands when I am here on my mission sad, homesick, and cold from the rain. He also understands the pain of the 88 year old woman I am talking to who has lived her whole live in Honduras, and whose children never called her for her birthday two months ago.The atonement is such a gift, and it is our choice to use it.
Christ has promised us:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me... and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light"
I love you all!!! And I hope every one chooses to use the atonement in some way this week. If it is only a prayer to receive comfort, or if it is to change, Christ is just waiting for you to make the decision. He already made the sacrifice-- He has nail marks in his hands and feet to prove it. For us it is our choice whether or not we will accept his sacrifice.
Hugs and kisses.
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