Dearest Familia,
Sorry this email is so late, but we had to move some p day time so
that we could teach a lesson this morning :) it was an amazing lesson
so I will start there. It is this girl named Mariana. She is about my
age, a little older, and she has been through the ringer. She has 4
kids and has no shortage of problems. But she is incredibly sweet, and
desperately wants to change. The whole lesson consisted of her
tearfully explaining how unhappy she was and how much she wanted to
change and how she didn't know how. We had a really powerful lesson
with her telling her how much God loves her and how much potential she
has and how she changes by coming unto Christ through baptism so he
can heal her. We invited her to be baptized on December 20th and she
said she wants that a lot and she will try her very best to be
prepared for that day. So please pray for her. She's so amazing.
Anyway, as the title of this email says, and as you saw in pictures,
we did a lot of service. We started Monday with service to this
adorable 70yr old lady named Mini (Herminia). She is the mom of a very
less active member that we visit often. She recently broke her hand
and because she loves her plants more than her pride she allowed us to
come and transplant her plants for her. She was so grateful. Then on
Saturday, part of our day of service, we stopped by to see her because
an activity she was going to come to got cancelled. And it so worked
out that we raked her big huge yard, again overly grateful. But on
Sunday, president Fenn came and have a talk on families and be
together forever for an activity night, and we really wanted to go,
but we were only allowed to go if we brought an investigator, so we
prayed about who we should invited and we thought of Mini. So we went
with it, we were pretty nervous because we haven't even really taught
her yet, and this activity was going to be completely different than
the one she wanted to come to but we went with it. So we called and
invited her and she said YES! But then a new problem arose, she needed
a ride, and since this fireside was in English,(Mini, though 70,
speaks English fluently as well as Spanish) not many of our members
were going. We had no idea who to call. We tried a few people and
nothing was working out. So we decided once again to pray, and the
name of this member in a different Ward that I have never met came to
my mind. So we called her and she also said YES! Wooohoooo! So cute
little Mini, who is 4'5" if not shorter, and with a big cast on her
arm came to this fireside about eternal families, and she loved it.
Then later she was talking to this man, and she said, in reference to
us, "I have only known them a week and I love them already, they're so
loving". It was a tender moment. We love Mini so much. She is darling.
And final thing about Mini, last night when we were praying I had the
thought to ask her if she wanted a priesthood blessing (which
conveniently President Fenn had talked about the night before she she
already knew what it was) for her arm/wrist, so we called her this
morning and she said, last night her wrist had hurt so bad she
couldn't sleep, and she would really like that. So tonight we went
over there with the Elder's for her to receive a blessing, and she
loved it. It was so powerful. She said wow after the blessing and was
in tears. She is so cute. Please pray for her.
So yes, this Saturday we did a lot of service, we heart attacked our
members, wrote them cards and tried to serve them. It was a really
really good day. Initially we were really bummed because we were
suppose to have a branch Halloween activity, that quite a few of our
investigators had committed to come to, but it got cancelled. So we
were like great, there is 4 hours we have to fill all of the sudden,
so we decided to share goodness with the members to bring joy and love
to them.
This week was so great. It feel like it was so long, but as Hermana
Hunsaker and I look back we realized we did so much. We complete
almost all of goals and surpassed some, for example we found 6 new
investigators which is more then we have had since I have been here,
and we had 4 people at church. It was such an amazing week.
We are also currently teaching some former investigators(means they
use to be taught awhile ago) named Rodolfo and Consuelo. They're so
great. They have such a desire to change and to have an eternal
family. They're excited to learn more and to 'learn why we are the
people we are with the family values we have'. So please pray for
them. They're great. At first we weren't so sure. We tried 3x to get
in with them but they kept canceling last minute, but then when we
finally did they were so receptive.
We are also still teaching Roberto, I am not sure if I have mentioned
him before. But he is the 39yr old son of a member, and he also really
wants to come unto Christ but has so fears. We have invited him to be
baptized but for some reason lately he has kind of slowed down in his
progress. So we saw him this week and we had a really great lesson
with him, without the distraction of his mother(who sometimes says
crazy and unhelpful things haha). Anyway, we basically broke it down
to him and were very bold in asking him if he had prayed to know
Joseph Smith was a prophet. He hadn't and he said it would. And he
said if he did get an answer he would be at church on Sunday even
though he was suppose to work. Well this was last week, and he didn't
show up at church.....awkward. So this week we went back and he hadn't
gotten an answer and he was kind of disappointed but we were able to
resolve a lot of his concerns and teaching him so valuable doctrine
that God doesn't give you answers if you are not going to act on them.
God knows the intentions of your heart and if he gives you a precious
answer and you aren't going to act, well that precious answer was a
waste. God does not throw his pearls before swine. Long story short,
Roberto came to church this week, and stayed longer than normal, and
really enjoyed it. Please pray for him so he can overcome his fear and
come into Christ and be healed of the pain in his life.
Well that was this week in a nutshell. I love being a missionary and I
know this work is true. I love revelation and being able to receive
answers to my prayers and recognize that they are answers to my
prayers. I know that Heavenly Father is real and that he loves me, and
I know he loves you. Pray to him. Seek answers from him with real
intentions to act no matter the answer and he will give you answers.
I love you all so much. Fight the Good Fight.
Con Cariño,
Hermana Simmons
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