We were so blessed this last week. I had divisions with two amazing Hermanas... including one (Hermana Harris) who helped me to see the importance in listening after prayer.
It has been raining almost every day all week... and here that means that everyone is canceled. All activities or buses... and often times stores don´t open. I always worry when it rains a lot... because it is much harder to bring people to church, and there are less members. We had been praying and working hard... and Sunday morning I woke up and opened the shutters... and it was a grey and ominous sky and really cold. I got ready for the day and when we left at 9:00 to start walking over... the sky was blue! And the sun was out! And I took my jacket off and it was so nice outside... the flooded streets had even dried up a little bit. In church there were 98 people. 98! We are in what is considered to be a large ward... and we usually have 70 people. But 98! And guess what... the entire Romero family came! And the Blanco family! There were 10 investigators in church... way more than I have ever had. We have passed many weeks without having anyone... and prayed and fasted and worked a lot with the members... and this week we went from 0 investigators in church, to 10! I am so grateful... and it was so sweet to see how the members helped them and hugged and kissed the kids... and how fascinated the family was because no one was shouting or hitting their children or making fun of their spouses... it was so strong the spirit.
We taught the law of chastity to a family that needs to be married. Our relief society president went, Mariana. She is so amazing... her husband isn´t a member, and she raised herself because her mother abandoned her and her sister. Mariana was inactive for many years, but came back after marrying her husband. They have two of the cutest kids in the world... and I love this family so much. She works every day, takes her kids to school, offers to visit families with us, and then goes to the church by herself to organize clothing that is going to be donated to families in Buenos Aires. Of course, no one knows all of this... we as missionaries are more attentive to seeing service that others are doing, and observed all that she does in one day.
We got to the lesson, and began teaching reviewingthe Plan of Salvation and Adam and Eve and what is the law of chastity. And after we explained, the boy said, "So you are saying that I am living in adultery?"
"Yes," I said. "How can you repent from this sin?"
"Ask forgiveness and stop sinning."
We had the biggest smiles on our faces, and he said that they are going to be married soon so that he can repent and be baptized!
It was a great moment, and wouldn´t have been possible without Mariana. Members do everything... we just bring the scriptures.
Hermana Eleanor Briggs
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| This is Mariana and her family...her husband Julian and her kids Francesca and Aaron. They are so amazing! |
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| Sol. She is so sweet...she has down syndrome and always knows when someone needs a hug. |
