Basically, that's mine and Hermana Brown's new favorite
line.
I mean, who isn't and doesn't need him?!Hence, why "A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying." is my favorite quote ever. Props to Elder Renlund.
We had quite the week. It's hard to believe it went by. It feels so unreal. I feel like each week is even quicker than the previous. I don't really like that.
Ricardo has been progressing. It's super neat. He absolutely
LOVES the Book of Mormon. He reads it and several chapters each day. We've been
meeting with him literally every day. It's been super neat. We just love him so
much! We've watched the Atonement change him as he's read and likened the
scriptures. It's been incredible. He's not a grumpy old man anymore (: He's
become such a great friend to us.
Our Branch Mission Leader went to pick him up yesterday for
church, and he was dressed up, but he didn't wound up going because apparently
he had an issue with tithing. He mentioned to him that he didn't wanna meet
with us anymore, so we went after church and spoke to him. We cleared up the
issue, and it was cool how much the Spirit filled our mouths and we said what
needed to be. We taught him the principles behind the doctrine and it made
sense to him. He's noticed a change within himself too. He knows it's because
he's been meeting with us. He feared that because he doesn't know much that
it'd be hard for him to progress and even so be baptized. We shared Mosiah 4: 9
with him and explained that sometimes, we don't have to know everything. That's
the beauty of faith. Faith leads to action, which will down the road confirm
those actions that were made. Hence, why faith in Jesus Christ is the first
principle of the gospel. I felt like I was teaching grandpa Lino and I saw him
like I saw both Grandpa Lino and Claudio. I totally lost it as I was explaining
that to him. I feel that this experience is allowing me to prepare to teach
Grandpa Lino and help him understand the gospel when I visit Peru the upcoming
Summer. It's been a great experience. I feel so much charity for Don Ricardo.
He's a kind man filled with so much hope, and I know that God has been working
in his life to lead him to accepting the gospel. For him it's just been taking
longer than others. God works in everyone in different ways.
Funniest thing. After our lesson, we spoke to a less active
that the Elders in one of the English wards are working with. He committed and
promised he'd come to church this next week and as we were talking to him about
the importance of attending church, Ricardo walked out of his room with a
cigarette in hand. We looked at him in disappointment, and the less active went
up to him and asked him for a cigarette, took it from his hand, and walked
outside with it. Hahah so basically the less active took the shot for Ricardo.
It all happened so abruptly and we all looked at each other and laughed our
heads off. We told Ricardo that was a definite sign that he needed to quit. He
agreed.
Halloween day we had an appointment with a referral we
contacted the night before. We went over to teach the family, and they weren't
home. We were driving on a main road-Pines, and I saw from the rear view mirror
a person who was standing at a bus stop. I felt some weird connection to this
person although I was just seeing the back of their head. It was weird. I kept
driving, but a feeling that I needed to turn the car around kept nudging me. I've
had such a hard time telling the difference between the Spirit or my own
thoughts my entire mission. (Who doesn't have that problem, right?) but I chose
to follow the thought and found myself saying aloud, "I feel that we
should talk to that person, so I'm turning the car around and we're talking to
them!" Hermana Brown expressed that she felt the exact same way, and so we
parked the car and awkwardly walked up to the person from behind thinking that
we would pass that person off to the English missionaries if they expressed any
sort of interest or whatnot. We said hi to the person, and they say hi in
response. I asked her what she was up to, her name, all those things, (because
we finally found out she was a female) and she responded so shortly. I asked her
where she was headed to, and she said work. I asked where she worked, and she
said, "a place". That was when I realized that she had no interest in
talking to us. She then turned to us and asked, "WHO ARE YOU?!" We
looked at each other, smiled, and exclaimed, "We're the missionaries for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!" It was seriously the
best question, ever. We just began to teach her. It was cool! Her countenance
totally changed and she softened up a ton. She smiled at everything we had to
say, and when we asked her if she was interested, she said yes! We invited her
to be baptized, and she said yes. We were ecstatic and asked her why she said
yes, and she explained an awesome experience she had the previous day at work.
She mentioned that some random guy went up to her and began to talk to her
about Christ and on how she needed to follow him. It struck to her, and the
fact that we randomly were talking to her sealed the deal. We told her that we
felt prompted to talk to her, and that it certainly was no coincidence. She
accepted a return appointment, AND she became our new investigator! We found
out she was Latina. That seriously doesn't happen, ever! She just moved in to
the valley, and was rockin' that "top button swag", so that topped it
off (:
I felt super American this past week. I made caramel apples,
ate a mean grilled cheese, discovered Rice Chex cereal, IN CHOCOLATE, and went
into my first food coma. 'Merica. It was pretty gnarly. Just saying. It was a
good week.
I've been doing well otherwise. Just doing what I need to be
and digging even deeper into the scriptures and learning all neat sorts of
things. We have MLC tomorrow, so I'm stoked for that.
It's been getting super cold out here, but it's all
relative!
Nos vemos!
Hermana Robles
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