experiences we´ve been having the past few weeks. Here´s what we told
him!
In the weeks since the temple open house, we have been witnessing miracles
on a daily basis. On the Monday after the end of the open house, we
received a reference from a family in the Garibaldi ward. They asked us to
have a family home evening with a family in our area who had visited the
temple and wanted to learn more. The father, Luis, is looking for a
religion to join and said that he was very impressed with the lds church
and the temple. We had a great family night and they invited us to come
back 2 days later. Our next lesson we invited them to be baptized, which
they said they desired but weren´t ready to put a specific date until they
received their answer that it was true. We were still extremely excited
about a very positive, complete family with so much potential. Little did
we know that that was only the beginning...
The next day we had an appointment with a teenage girl named Carmen. She
had sounded interested on the phone but we were unprepared for how
remarkable the lesson would be. We met with both her and her mom and taught
the Restoration. Both listened with jaws dropped and eyes wide as saucers.
That night we were convinced that we wouldn´t have another lesson that
powerful for the rest of our missions (little did we know). Within the next
week, Carmen committed to be baptized before the end of the month (she
actually wanted it the next week), and she made friends with several of the
single adults in the ward and has attended every activity since.
Two days later, we had a cita with another reference from the temple, a 27
year old woman named Nivia. Before the lesson even started she was asking
when and where church was, what she should wear, and what she needed to do
to go. She told us that she had grown up Evangelical but that she felt
there was something missing. She wanted to feel the same spirit that she
had felt in the temple. We explained the restoration and she soaked in
every word. The moment we handed her the Book of Mormon, she immediately
started thumbing through and reading. We left her house that night in
shock, sure that our day couldnt get any better. Later that night we went
to our mission leader´s house for our weekly meeting with him. He wasnt
home and wouldnt answer his phone, which is unusual, so we decided to see
if there were any temple references who lived nearby that we could visit.
We looked at our list and realized that we had talked to a woman named
Gabriela a week or so earlier who had sounded interested. We had put a cita
with her but couldnt find it in our agenda. We realized that it might have
been for that very night. We stopped by to check or at least to put another
cita, but she was expecting us and invited us in. After another incredible
lesson, she eagerly committed to be baptized the 31st of December.
These were just the first four days after the temple open house. Since then
we have continued to have similar experiences as we have met with more of
the references. We have also seen major progress with former investigators
who had little desire to learn, but now are taking initiative in
understanding more. We put 3 more fechas in first lessons with people, and
Nivia has also committed to prepare for the 31st of December.
Just yesterday we had another day of miraculous lessons. An appointment
fell through so we decided to look for some of the references that we had
still been unable to contact. We found one man who we hadn´t been able to
get ahold of for weeks, and he eagerly invited us in and asked us if we
could teach his whole family of 5 this weekend. He comes from a very
Catholic family, but his cousin is a member and he told us that if we can
convince him, he would happily jump on the baptism bandwagon. A couple
short hours later, we had another first appointment with a temple reference
named Erick. He and his cousin, Gerber, willingly sat on the floor so that
we could sit on the only 2 chairs they owned during our lesson. They
listened attentively and also committed to baptism at the end of this month.
So far we have 6 fechas for the 31st of December. We have several others we
plan on putting fechas with for this month or the beginning of January. In
total we have 18 positive investigators, and several others who we are
working with. We have more references still to contact, several of which we
believe are very positive, that we just havent been able to get ahold of or
meet with yet. With every experience, we have been able to recognize more
and more how little we have to do with this success. We know that Heavenly
Father has been preparing these people for this time, and we simply have
been blessed with the opportunity to be tools in his hands and witness the
love He has for His children here.
on a daily basis. On the Monday after the end of the open house, we
received a reference from a family in the Garibaldi ward. They asked us to
have a family home evening with a family in our area who had visited the
temple and wanted to learn more. The father, Luis, is looking for a
religion to join and said that he was very impressed with the lds church
and the temple. We had a great family night and they invited us to come
back 2 days later. Our next lesson we invited them to be baptized, which
they said they desired but weren´t ready to put a specific date until they
received their answer that it was true. We were still extremely excited
about a very positive, complete family with so much potential. Little did
we know that that was only the beginning...
The next day we had an appointment with a teenage girl named Carmen. She
had sounded interested on the phone but we were unprepared for how
remarkable the lesson would be. We met with both her and her mom and taught
the Restoration. Both listened with jaws dropped and eyes wide as saucers.
That night we were convinced that we wouldn´t have another lesson that
powerful for the rest of our missions (little did we know). Within the next
week, Carmen committed to be baptized before the end of the month (she
actually wanted it the next week), and she made friends with several of the
single adults in the ward and has attended every activity since.
Two days later, we had a cita with another reference from the temple, a 27
year old woman named Nivia. Before the lesson even started she was asking
when and where church was, what she should wear, and what she needed to do
to go. She told us that she had grown up Evangelical but that she felt
there was something missing. She wanted to feel the same spirit that she
had felt in the temple. We explained the restoration and she soaked in
every word. The moment we handed her the Book of Mormon, she immediately
started thumbing through and reading. We left her house that night in
shock, sure that our day couldnt get any better. Later that night we went
to our mission leader´s house for our weekly meeting with him. He wasnt
home and wouldnt answer his phone, which is unusual, so we decided to see
if there were any temple references who lived nearby that we could visit.
We looked at our list and realized that we had talked to a woman named
Gabriela a week or so earlier who had sounded interested. We had put a cita
with her but couldnt find it in our agenda. We realized that it might have
been for that very night. We stopped by to check or at least to put another
cita, but she was expecting us and invited us in. After another incredible
lesson, she eagerly committed to be baptized the 31st of December.
These were just the first four days after the temple open house. Since then
we have continued to have similar experiences as we have met with more of
the references. We have also seen major progress with former investigators
who had little desire to learn, but now are taking initiative in
understanding more. We put 3 more fechas in first lessons with people, and
Nivia has also committed to prepare for the 31st of December.
Just yesterday we had another day of miraculous lessons. An appointment
fell through so we decided to look for some of the references that we had
still been unable to contact. We found one man who we hadn´t been able to
get ahold of for weeks, and he eagerly invited us in and asked us if we
could teach his whole family of 5 this weekend. He comes from a very
Catholic family, but his cousin is a member and he told us that if we can
convince him, he would happily jump on the baptism bandwagon. A couple
short hours later, we had another first appointment with a temple reference
named Erick. He and his cousin, Gerber, willingly sat on the floor so that
we could sit on the only 2 chairs they owned during our lesson. They
listened attentively and also committed to baptism at the end of this month.
So far we have 6 fechas for the 31st of December. We have several others we
plan on putting fechas with for this month or the beginning of January. In
total we have 18 positive investigators, and several others who we are
working with. We have more references still to contact, several of which we
believe are very positive, that we just havent been able to get ahold of or
meet with yet. With every experience, we have been able to recognize more
and more how little we have to do with this success. We know that Heavenly
Father has been preparing these people for this time, and we simply have
been blessed with the opportunity to be tools in his hands and witness the
love He has for His children here.
