There Are So Many Churches! Which One Is The True One?

Hi family!(Email 5-26-14)

I can't believe how much can happen in a week. I looked back at my journal and it seems like the things that happened at the beginning of last week happened a month ago. But we had a super great week. We are working hard and trying to grow our faith and exercise as much of it as we can. God is great!

Remember last week how I said I wanted to work on having faith even when it seemed like things weren't going to work out? Well, God definitely gave me experiences to develop that ability this week. Haha sometimes I think God has a sense of humor. Anyways, we had an awesome noche de hogar with the bishop and familia Lopez last Monday, and then Tuesday Lupita told us that she didn't think her husband would want to get baptized for a while because of various reasons. Then later Miguel told us he wasn't ready either. I started getting a little bummed/discouraged, but remembered my goal and changed my attitude right away. I started praying really hard for all of them, planning as best I could, teaching by the Spirit. Doing all that was in my power. We had a couple good lessons with them, and things started changing.’ By the end, we asked Jime if he would be getting baptized on the 31st, and he told us that he thinks its a big step of faith, then we asked him if he had the faith necessary to do it, and he said YES!

So many miracles with them this week. Lupita is too cute. She woke up early Sunday morning and bought dresses for church (uhhhh maybe we should re-teach keep the Sabbath day holy??? good thing we are teaching the 10 commandments today!) At church she was telling everyone she was getting baptized. So next Saturday at 2pm!

Lupita has been reading diligently everyday and she is so ready. Jime has been working crazy amounts at his job and on his house trying to put on insulation on the outside to protect it from the heat, so he hasn't been able to read as much. But he said he was going to everyday this week. On Saturday morning, 5 or so hermanos came over and helped him work on the house. I was so grateful for that. It’s so nice to see members reaching out to them.

Some hermanos came over and helped Jime work on his house.

Miguel, however, has started to avoid us. Apparently he isn't too excited about a couple of the commandments, but we are not giving up on him. I am not sure he will make it for the 31st, but I know he will soon! (we hadn't even taught Paula tithing yet, and she was talking about how it was dumb that he didn't want to pay it. She was like "its only 10%, that's not very much. God will give him back way more than what he has to pay. SO MUCH FAITH.) I love this family so much. I am SO happy for them. I have literally been able to witness the gospel change this family. The love and spirit is in their home now, and before it wasn't like that. I am so excited for them and their journey. Just wish I could hold their baby girl... kills me every time. Haha Jime calls us "las tias". (Editor’s note: Unfortunately, because of potential liability, missionarie are not allow to hold children.)

We also worked a lot with Natliea this week, and had some more very powerful lessons with her. We watched the Restoration at the Visitor’s Center with her family, and taught some other things. God is working so hard on her. She is having powerful dreams too, where it is obvious that her family beyond the veil has accepted the gospel and are just waiting for her to receive it as well. I love her so much. We were working so hard for her to come to church this week, but unfortunately she didn't. We had a big discussion with her yesterday, and I realized that the real problem is that she is having a serious battle with depression. Until she can overcome her depression, I don't know how well she will be able to keep her commitments. We invited her to read "Like a Broken Vessel" by Elder Holland that talks about depression, so hopefully that helps. Just praying hard for her and her family.

Well, last Sunday we got a text from Katharina saying that Juan was in a bad situation and came super close to dying and that they wanted help from us again! So we are teaching them again! We were able to teach them 3 times this week, and Katharina came to church yesterday. Then Juan's best friend passed away 2 days ago. God is working hard to prepare his heart. Juan is a great kid and has SO much potential, he is just making the stupidest decisions, and I think it's breaking everyone's heart. We read Alma 36 with him and talked about Alma the younger's transformation/the atonement, then we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to be baptized and to really make changes in their lives, they said yes! I just really hope that they stick with that decision. Kathrina works a crazy amount, but so far it seems like she really wants to make changes to help her son. She is so great. Juan didn't come to church unfortunately, but yesterday we stopped by and taught the plan of salvation. The elders are teaching a different one of Katharina's kids in a different ward, so that's great. 

We finally were able to contact this wonderful lady, Marta, that we have been trying to for a while. We taught her the restoration, and it went so well. It was great, when we were teaching the apostasy, she was like, "there's so many churches! Which one is the true one?" Haha we were like, well you know you aren't the first one to ask that question. There once was a boy named Jose Smith..." I was surprised that the lesson even went through because we tried so many times before, but Hna Hurd kept reminding me to have faith and believe that the best will happen. We are learning that there just isn't room for doubts at all. Doubts in anyone or anything. It's hard. It's like a mental work out every day. And with that hope, we have to do all that we can on our part. Then we can rest assured that whatever God wants to happen will.

Zone conference on Friday was SO amazing! Really great. My favorite part was a talk by Elder Boone, one of the assistants. He talked about consecration. It was so powerful and passionate. He talked about how our missions should change who we are for the rest of our lives, that it should really mean everything to us. President Jenkins also announced 5 new initiatives for our mission (family history, community service, focusing on Hispanics, using the VC to teach, ward counsels). We also had someone from the 70 come and teach us about how to hold effective ward counsels. Working with the members is a struggle in Spanish work. It's something that has always been hard for me, but I decided that I am going to overcome this obstacle! Hna Hurd and I have set some goals to better work with them. 

Well, that's about it for the week. This next week we have exchanges and will be preparing for the baptism! We are also going to work on finding some new investigators. I know The Lord has good things in store. I love you all so much! Thanks for all the love and support it means the world to me!

Con amor,

Hermana Haynes

Ps happy memorial day.