Week 84: Diligence Brings Miracles
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week because I sure did!
After we got back from Cascas on Monday we went to a lesson with hermano Anthony and hermana Lourdes. Man they are so fun. Hermano Anthony has interest in being baptized because he's felt such a change in his life since we started visiting with them. They still have to get married and have a few other things they'll have to change, but they are very interested and we feel the spirit will work with them a lot. We put him on date for Sept. 16 as a goal.
On Tuesday we picked up Elder Yanqui and he spent the day with us. He's awesome and a missionary I've known since the CCM! We had interviews with President that day. I had mine first. Man I can really feel the love he and hermana Hiatt have for me and every other missionary too. It's quite amazing how the Savior's love is manifest through them. We ended up staying while the entire district had their interviews so we could lock up the chapel afterwards. It was great chatting, theorizing, and planning with them. At the end we all got a photo with President together. That night we had lessons with hermano Kevin and hermano Carlos. We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation to hermano Carlos. We also challe ged to baptism again, but he said he wanted to discussion it with his wife and might have been trying to avoid the question.
On Thursday we finished the exchange and waited for the APs to arrive so we could start our exchange with them. I was to go with Elder Beizaga, "my father!" Elder Cordova went with Elder Goates. Elder Beizaga and I took all the lessons we had planned in Independencia while Elder Cordova and Elder Goates went finding in Sausal. We set our goals and headed out. We had a lesson with Santos which went really well and then after had a great restoration lesson with hermana Monica and her sons and suegra. She had so many great questions which we were so happy to answer. Just as the plagues were signs that Moses was a prophet to the Egyptians and the Israelites, the Book of Mormon is a sign to us that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God *finger snapping thing* We gave them the Book of Mormon and they also promised to come to church! They ended up having an emergency and didn't end up coming, but promised to come next week. After that we went to visit hermano Kevin, who was starting to not progress. We started to read Alma 32 with him, but ended up talking just about the parrs about humility. He opened up to him and Elder Beizaga was very direct with him, and I loved it. Kevin was saying that he didn't want to humble himself in front of a God that had let so many bad things happen in his life, but he started to soften. The spirit told me to pull out Mosiah 16 and read the scriptures on the resurrection. We did so, and asked him if he was willing to Hubble himself and receive that these things are true. He surprisingly said yes! He even said he would skip out on his English class to come to church. Elder Beizaga afterward told me he felt inspired to share a scripture about Christ, but didn't know which one. In that moment I opened up to Mosiah 16 and it worked great. Man the spirit was with us. After that we visited hermano Linder, the man without any legs, and gave him a Book of Mormon. We'll have to be more diligent with visiting him and helping him come to church. I offered a simple prayer with him at the end and he started to cry. We'll try to help get him to church next week. After that we went to hermano Alex, a man Elder Perez had contacted when he was with us. We talked about Jesus Christ and improving. When we read Alma 7 with him we challenged to baptism and he accepted! He didn't come to church on Sunday unfortunately, but we'll keep at it. We visited hermana Fatima and finished out the night with hermano Carlos. For the first time in a few weeks hermana Suguey joined as well! If they're going to progress I think we need to be teaching both of them. We read with them from the BoM and they promised to come to the primary activity with their kids on Saturday. We had dinner and finished out a fantastic day, puro citas! The other elders also had a great finding day in Sausal.
On Friday we had papá con miga for breakfast and finished out the exchange with our goals and suggestions to improve. It was a fantastic exchange and I learned a lot. I especially enjoyed being with Elder Beizaga again. After that we headed out to Ascope to start yet another exchange. We had a small comp study and then I headed back to Casagrande with Elder Huaman! Together again for like our 6th or 7th exchange together. He's the best and I've learned so much from him. We had a lesson with some kids who are interested and they presented us to their parents. We did some finding and then went to pick up hermano Larry for some lessons. He gave us a reference when we went to his neighbor, who's not a member, who requested a blessing of health for her dad. Her name's Sylvana. We blessed her dad and then had a powerful lesson about Jesus Christ with hermana Sylvana. Afterwards we visited a few more people with hermano Larry, including his friend Alfonso. Alfonso is an elderly man who was a sportsman when he was younger, and everything is still about sports today and how it was better back then, which I believe him. We gave him a BoM. He'll progress slowly, but I think the spirit will work on his heart. That night we visited hermana Nicol and a very excited dog bit my hand. It didn't penetrate so I'm fine. We had chicken and fries for dinner in the pensión. Man I love Elder Huaman so much. He's so funny and innocent and always makes me smile.
On Saturday we finished the exchange and Ai started to write my talk for Sunday. Hermano Angel came and drove us around in his moto for the afternoon. We passed by the chapel to checa on the primary sports activity and we saw hermano Carlos and hermana Suguey there with their kids! Hermana Carol also gave us an awesome reference there of a woman who received the missionary lessons before the pandemic. That afternoon we visited hermano Anthony and hermana Lourdes again and talked about marriage and family. We showed them the video "Endurong Love" and got them both to cry. They have their doubts but they do actually love each other so we believe the spirit will work on them as they prayer and come to a conclusion. But I love them both and can't wait to see them in church once their classes finish. We visited hermano Kevin again and it looks like he forgot everything we talked about on Thursday. So we're back to trying again. He didn't come to church this Sunday, which was a bummer, but I can't deny there has been a change in him. He now believes in God and can feel a difference in his life. Maybe it's not my destiny to be there when he get baptized, but maybe my purpose and Elder Cordova's purpose with him was to help him believe in God. We visited hermano Miguel who told us that he wasn't interested in coming to church. We shared some kind words and again expressed desire. We ended up eating a parrilla in the street for dinner and contacted with the lady who owned the stand. We taught hermano Alex the restoration that night.
Man throughout this entire week it's been a struggle to find time to do everything I need to. I can't find time to write in my journal, sew my clothes, and do many other things I feel I need to. But I feel like I'm working hard everyday and that's what matters.
Sunday was a day of miracles. We passed by hermano Miguel and talked to him for a moment but he didn't end up coming to church. But we got to the chapel and saw that hermana Zoila had held true tonher word and came with her grandson Emiliano who we'd been trying to teach! We sat by him during Sunday School because he didn't want to go to primary. Hopefully we can start having more lessons with him and help him progress to baptism. We gave our talks during sacrament meeting. I went first and spoke on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, focusing on how it protects us today and that Jesus lived it himself to give us the example. I spoke for quite a bit more time than I wanted to that they had to tell me when it was time. After that Elder Cordova spoke and got teary eyed during his powerful talk. Then came the moment we have been working for for 3 months: hermano Carlos came with his entire family!!! Carlos came by himself 2 weeks ago, but today he came with Suguey, Tiago, and Renzo! They loved the class and participated a lot to our surprise. That sat by hermano Carlos Rojas, who is their friend. I think the whole ward is trying to help them now because they mentioned so many times baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and eternal marriage and temple sealing during the lesson. But they loved the class a lot and we had a very successful day. Elder Cordova learned over to me and said that he had felt a few weeks ago that the spirit had whispered to him that he would not leave the area until he saw their entire family come to church. He also said that he feels that he probably won't be serving in the area when they are baptized, but he feels that he will be present for their baptism. I have faith in his words and I hope that means that I'll be there too. That afternoon we went to Sausal and visited some of the people that Elder Cordova and Elder Goates and contacted there. That night we visited hermana Nicol again. This time her cousin Alejandra was also present. The last time we saw Alejandra she was all drunk and disrupting the lesson and we were understandably annoyed. This time however I only felt bad for her. She wasn't drunk so we focused on her needs and she expressed the desire to change. Hermana Hiatt also had a surgery that day which went well.
Today for pday we played soccer.
That's my week! This is transfer week and I really don't know what's going to to happen. But whatever does happen, I know it'll be what the Lord wants. Whether or not I'll be here to see our friends be baptized I'll leave knowing that I did my part and can go on to helping others. This was my second transfer with Elder Cordova, so transfers are almost guaranteed. I've learned a lot from him and know he will keep helping others! We'll see what happens! Have a great week!
Elder Jensen
1. Yo y Elder Beizaga
2. Yo y Elder Quispe
3. Yo y Elder Huaman
4. Car to the temple from a week ago
5. APs
6. Interviews with President
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