October 26, 2015

I will be perfectly honest... this week was one of the hardest ones of my entire mission.  My companion is amazing... Hermana Cerna.  She is from Barcelona and is the only active member in her family.  Her dad isn´t a member... and she doesn´t really have support from her family. But when she bares her testimony... the spirit floods the room and touches everyone.  

My area is amazing!  We are teaching so many good people.  Honestly, we have been amazed.  Because we don´t feel that we deserve all of the blessings that we are receiving.  We have been going to lessons and leaving more and more spiritually elevated and we can´t quite figure out why we are being so blessed.  But the spirit is giving us the exact words to say to help these people.  One of my favorite experiences from this week is that we went to teach a 9-year-old recent convert that smoked marihuana with his friends, and his mom asked us to go and help him understand the word of wisdom.  This family has been less-active for a long time... but they are beginning to resolve things and start going to church again.  We prepared a lesson for him, but ended up talking with the mother for a long time and giving advice that we had no idea existed.  It was a unique experience! 

Another thing that happened is that we have been teaching many people who need to get married. One of them is named Geraldine.  And she is so sweet... is a mother of two and has so much light in her face!  She shared with us about how late at night she began to read "The Testimony of Joseph Smith" and was so touched by the experience that he had that she felt an angel had come to visit her... and she cried in her bed and the spirit testified to her that these things are true. When we finished the lesson, she prayed that she could have the bravery to admit to her father (that is antimormon) that she wants to be baptized.  It was such a sweet experience.

Heavenly Father loves me so much and has given me so many amazing things this last week... though I am just beginning to realize the reality of the "end of the mission."  It was a brutal moment... because I hadn´t thought much about it before.  And when it hit me, I was so comforted by my sweet companion.  And I knelt down many times and prayed for the comfort and strength that I needed... and God answered me in such direct ways.  What little faith I had!  Though it continues to  be hard, I am determined to give all that I have for as long as I have... and I know that there is more work after the mission as well.  And that God will continue sending people to help these many loved ones that I have here (as much as I would like to be here with them).

Love you so much!

Hermana Eleanor Briggs