Baptism Plus More Small Miracles

This has been the fastest week of my life. Okay fastest month of my life. I can't believe we only have one week more in the transfer! We will find out on Saturday if/where we go. We are hoping to both stay here together, but we know that whatever the Lord has planned for us will be great! :) But I really do love it here so much. The people are so great. I really do love them! And my companion is the best! Like my best friend! Haha I'm scared to have another one.... We have lots of fun together!

I love my companion!

Silly faces!

Manuel... He is sooo great! Seriously my absolute favorite! We have been making so much progress with him. We taught the commandments to him this week, and he took it so well! We taught them all at once, (not as we planned, and not a good idea, too much at once) and he got a little overwhelmed. He said that he knew it was right and that it was what he should do, but that he was just hard to think about changing so much about his life. But he took it so faithfully! We told him to pray to Heavenly Father to get a testimony from him that these are the things that he wants him to do. He seems really committed to keep them! He even told us that he was thinking about getting another job so that they would still have enough money to pay their tithing. (I told him that the Lord would provide if he paid his tithing, but if he felt that that was what he needed to do, then he should.) He is the best though! Always bringing us food, and calls us every day to see how we are doing and to thank us for all that we do. He loves the gospel and is so grateful to have it in his life! He brought us homemade tamales the other day. SO GOOD. Haha the day after we taught the Word of Wisdom http://mormon.org/faq/word-of-wisdom, he brought us green tea and iced tea... Awkward. But so funny. Luckily the next day at church, the lesson was on the Word of Wisdom and we made it very clear what types of tea we can't have :) And he got the message haha. 

Speaking of church, there was a miracle that happened! He was super excited to see this miracle in his life! He was only going to be able to go to Sacrament Meeting because he had work, but the fish he was supposed to be cutting, never showed up on the airplane, so he was able to stay for all 3 hours! He told us that it was a miracle, and we said we had been praying every day for his schedule to change so he could come to church, and we helped him realize how much God wanted him to be there. The members were so great with him too. Everyone was going up to him and talking to him and welcoming him. It was a little surprising actually, but so good. He said a lot of changes are happening in his work too, so that he thinks he might be able to get Sundays off! (please pray for that :) ). He is super outgoing and friendly, so that helps a lot too. 

When Manuel (the investigator) calls!

We were a bit confused about what we should do about his baptism date, if we should move it since he hasn't been able to go to church very much. But he is just really prepared though, and the devil is already starting to put obstacles in his way for baptism. So we prayed about it, and we were feeling good about the 24th, but decided we needed to talk to him about it. When asked him how he felt about the 24th, he was like yes if I am allowed to! When we told him that we could, it was just the happiest moment of my life! Seriously Hna Leon and I could not wipe the smiles off our faces. The Spirit was just so strong saying that he was ready and that this was the next step he needed to take. MANUEL IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! Ahhhh I cannot wait! He is so ready and excited to start this new life! He has just been so prepared since the beginning! When we met him, I had no doubts he would get baptized! It is just so cool to me that we met him on my very first night here, and that he is getting baptized the last time he could before the transfer ends. It just shows me that Hna Leon and I were really meant to be the ones to teach him. I think we all are learning so much from each other.

We got a car on Saturday! Yayyyy! It is actually really weird to not ride bikes. It feels like we are so lazy haha, but we are really able to get much more done. It’s super nice, but hopefully we don't get fat now! Haha we made a health & fitness plan to help with that. But we have random meetings like every day, so we hardly ever get our exercise time. (And Mom, they let me drive! haha you always said that they wouldn't! (Only because of your two accidents Honey - Mom) Hna Leon doesn't have her license though so it had to be me...) We named our car Bolt. We love him. He is a 2013 Chevy Cruze I think... It’s just always really hot in the car... This week has been sooo hot! Like almost 120* it’s crazy. It’s not that bad as a missionary, but I don't think I would live in it by choice haha. I'm really used to it though, but that doesn't mean it’s enjoyable either.

 

One of the members made us this for dinner, and it was sooooo good! We died. So the next day, we wanted it so bad, so we called up at lunch time to see if we could have the leftovers ) We felt a little rude

Maria has been doing really well. Staying very faithful. She is just waiting for a few things to happen in her life so she will be able to be baptized.She has no idea when they will happen. Things will work out. Heavenly Father is watching out for them. 

Oh and you should ask Alycia about the letter I sent about the Arnufo! By a miracle, we found Arturo! (Mentioned in the post on 8-22-13) Super easily actually! We went to the rode we thought he might live on, and we just knocked on a house and asked if they knew him. And they did! And they just showed us where they live. Anyways he doesn't understand anything we say and we don't understand anything he says, but that's okay. The other day we stopped by and he and all his buddies were out drinking, and we just taught them all the Restoration haha. It went pretty well though! I don't know how interested they are, but we will see! I feel like at least one of them is. We also got a referral from the elders for a lady named Nancy. Her husband is inactive and right now her sons are homeless and drug addicts and she is so desperate for some hope. She seems really interested, but we have only been able to talk to her once so far. I think that she is really prepared though! I have a lot of hope for her!

 

Everyone has little animals.  This kitten is one week old.

We had a little scripture study for children this week! Manuel brought his son, and Rene brought his 3 nieces and nephews! It was so fun! It went really well! None of them were members, but they all seemed pretty interested and excited about it! We are going to do that every Tuesday night. Monday nights we have FHEs, and Wednesday nights we have scripture studies for adults. We also got a ward mission leader this week! Yayyy! We are so excited! I think he will help us a lot and hopefully we can start becoming more involved with the members.

Ashley with kitten

A new member with her son, baby an niece.

Well, I think that's all I have this week. I am so, so happy to be here. I love it so much. There are miracles everyday and I just feel so blessed. I just want you all to know that Heavenly Father is watching over you. He has a specific plan for each one of you. He wants to help you have the most happiness you can have, and he wants to help you become the best version of yourself you can be. We just have to ask for the help we need, and be willing to act on the direction that He gives us. But if there's one thing that I know, it’s that He really, really loves each and every one of us individually, even though we are so far from being perfect. He loves us and wants to help us, we just have to let Him. Read Mosiah 2: 22-24. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/2.22-24?lang=eng#21 Its so good and so true!

I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do for me! You are all in my prayers!

Con amor, Hermana Haynes

(8-19-13 email)