I titled
this one Hope, because the sun is shining strong here in Escuintla and things
are just looking up! We seriously had a week full of miraculous miracles that I
will never forget. The zone is doing great and we are on schedule to complete
all of our goals in January. I don’t know what this guy Elder Bazzell is doing
here, but things are just getting better in every aspect. I can feel myself
progressing more rapidly in a spiritual sense recently as well.
I am now
in my last 5 weeks of my time here in Golondrinas. I will miss this place with
ALL my heart. I have grown so much in this place, as in all my areas I’ve had
(3 in 16 months!). I have given it my all here for almost 5 months and Ill keep
doing it until the day I leave.
Well....the
miracles....
On Elder
Bazzells first day in the area, we were flying from appointment to appointment
and he felt the desire to street contact someone in an area I am often slow to
do so (because they are stiffnecked.... or I lacked the faith and hope and
charity!). The woman he contacted was a less active that had been sealed in the
temple many years ago but then had had some serious serious challenges.
Basically everything in her life and the life of her family that could go
wrong, did. Anyways, we put a visit with her for the next day. And we went the
next day and..... nothing. No one home. One day passes. I am working in
divisions near her home and I try the house again. Out comes a teenage girl
that tells me that her mom is not home (typically that is a big fat lie in
Guatemala) and I was about to start the routine ''Do you know where liars go?''
that I do to most annoying teenagers in Guatemala but I heard/felt something
that said ''Just be nice to her.'' I asked her her name and who she was. She
was the daughter of the less active. She will be baptized on the 17th of
January. Turns out that the day that Elder Bazzell contacted her mom in the
street, this girl had been praying in her room (she had never prayed before)
while her mom was crying in the kitchen, asking God to change her life. That is
seriously what I live for. Those experiences make all what I do here and have
been doing for 16 months more than worth it. So glad my companion had the
spiritual sense to follow the prompting of the spirit to talk to the mother and
help her on the road to activity in the true Church of the Lamb.
I love
the work of salvation.
We will
end this week with 2 more baptisms of another 2 kids of less actives that we
have worked and fought for to get them active again. There is a lot of joy in
reactivation. Pulling them back is definitely not an easy task to say the
least, in fact its often more difficult! But I love it.
I love
you guys. I hope you each can see miracles in your own lives, as I am seeing
day by day in my beloved Guatemala.
Hasta
pronto!
Elder Smith
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