Happy Columbus Day! In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I hope thats the right date haha, all i remember is that it rymns. Well i hope everyone had a splendid week! There is so much i want to talk about in this email so i will just start with last monday.
Last monday we had an amazing appointment with our investigator named Juan. He is from El Salvador. He is about 30 years old and he is amazing. My comps actually found him knocking on exchanges english speaking and this was the first time i was actaully able to meet him and not just on the phone. We taught him the Restoration. Before we started the lesson i told him he was about to feel something very special. it went so amazingly! Our companionship is awesome. we all just know how to teach in unity and the spirtit just works within us so well. we all just feed off of each other and everything just flows so well. I have taught the Restoration so many times, but everytime we teach it, i just fall more and more in love with the message knowing that these people are hearing this wonderful message for the first time. In the end of the lesson he said the prayer and asked if the book of mormon is true and if Joseph smith is a prophet. After the prayer we asked him how he feeled, and he said "i feel something special in my heart and there just arent words to describe it." But in spanish obviously haha. It was so amazing! When you teach with the spirit you have power and authority to promise things and it was really cool to see the holy ghost working and testifing in his heart. We are teaching Juan again tonight and we have awesome members coming with us tonight so i am super excited about that. After we got home that night we got a text saying we have a refferal. We hardly ever get refferals, so this was a miracle. After our lesson with Juan, we earned Heavenly Fathers trust with one of his children. We are meeting with Maria (the refferal) tommorow :).
So on Wednesday i had the coolest experience, in fact i think it probably is the most coolest spiritual experiece i have had so far on my mission. We have these investigators named Abraham and Milagros and they are a cute peruvian old couple. They are super into the Bible. they have never been progressing investigators but we had a appointment with them on Wednesday. he does not really believe in the book of mormon so we planned to teach them the restoration. We watched the restoration video and then read 2 nephi 29:7-14 and some other scriptures from the bible and stuff. Then we had a testimony meeting. As me and my companions each bore testimony of the Book of mormon i was overwhelmed with the spirit. It was so strong in their house. Then each of them took a turn bearing testimony. He told us he was going to start reading the Book of mormon. He told us the reason they keep having us back over. he said "you three just glow. you have something about you that is just different. everytime you come over, i feel so happy to be around your pressence. When you leave i cant feel it anymore. That is why we keep having you over. you are three angels sent from god." This is the coolest part. We invited Abraham to close us with a prayer and like usual we invited him to ask god if these things we have talked about are true. He never does that when we invite him. but in this prayer he asked God if the Book of mormon is true and if Joseph smith is a true prophet. He told god he really wanted to know if this is the correct path for him because he wants to do what is right. It was the most powerfullest most sincere with real intent prayer i have ever heard. i was kneeling right across from him and i will never forget this moment. He sat there and looked at me with the biggest eyes that were teary like he had just seen something miraculous. I asked him how he feels and he sat there for a good 2 minutes. It was like he forgot how to talk. He looked at me and all he said was "gracias por venir" "thank you for coming." I know that he recieved his answer right there in that moment. i know that he knows it and He knows that God knows it. The Holy Ghost can soften the hardest of hearts. Coolest moment thus far of my mission. A moment i will never forget the way he looked into my eyes as the Holy Ghost bore testimony that this is the true church and that the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. Wow just wonderful.
So our recent convert family Ana, Edwin, and Ayari they moved to Texas this week. Many many tears were shed. Ana and Edwin we even getting ready to head to the temple and do baptisms too. but this is what is best for their family. They accomplished what they needed to accomplish here in Georgia and that was to find the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Now they are living with Ana's Brother in a house and the living condition is so much better there. We all feel completely at peace with this new change in their lives. The oportunites are just awaiting them there in Texas. They are in a wonderful spanish ward and the missionaries there are taking good care of them and going to make sure they recieve the rest of the lessons for after baptisms. They will make it to the temple there is Texas and Edwin has the priestood now. Their faith is incredible. They are so strong, and the Lord will provide a way and take good care of them. This family is my family. They will always have a special place in my heart. We were able to talk to them yesterday and all is well with them. It is sad, but we know that this is what is best for them.
So another really cool story for yall is we met this amazing lady last thursday. We go to the church every thursday night and teach english class. usually no one shows up maybe one or 2 people if we are lucky, but i dont blame them because we probably arent the best english teachers out there haha. But we met this lady from the Atlanta ward named Sister Butler. She is like a 6 foot 8 inches black lady. She is incredibly hilarious! We got talking to her for a little bit and she was telling us her conversion story. She was talking and right in the middle she just stopped and looked at me. She is like "do i know you? you look so incredibly familiar." I told her where i was from and we just couldnt figure out where she might know me from. heck, ive never been to georgia before my mission and she doesnt drive up to lil rigby idaho every other weekend either. So we just couldnt figure it out. She then just said to me, "i dont know where i know you from but i just get the warm fuzzies when i look at your sweet face darlin." it was just a neat little experience because maybe i know her from the pre existence. I dont know, but its possible! That would be really cool and wouldnt doubt it for a second. Anyway she gave us a bunch of coupons for Publix. So we went and bought cake mixes, hot dogs, and juice boxes, and saved 21 dollars, thank you sister Butler! Ive never done couponing but it was pretty cool to hand a bunch of coupons over to the cashier and then walk away only paying 7 dollars! HotDog!
This week was pretty good. The lord is definitely testing our faith with the trials we are facing right now. We have worked harder than we ever have and been obedient to the T! With much praying and planning and coordinating we had a member team up planned for everyday this week, only 2 of the seven not cancel on us. We have never had so many appointments fall through, so many doors slammed in our face. We had to drop some of our amazing investigators. The ocean has never been so empty in our area. But we are not loosing hope. We are going to keep being obedient exactly and keep working our tails off and keep our heads held high, because there is a wave coming in the distance. Life can be so hard, but you just have to keep taking one step at a time in the right direction. I like to think of us all as pizza. You cant just expect to eat a pizza without any work. We are all start out as just a blob of dough. You have to get beaten and kneeded and tossed into the air. You have to get stretched and rolled out. Then you get thrown into a fire. But when you take a bite of that pizza at the end it makes it all worth it. The Lord is the Pizza maker. He knows our potential. We just have to trust in him, and if we do we can all become pizzas. "i have refined thee, i have chose thee in the furnace of affliction." 1 nephi 20:10 He knows our limits. He knows what we can become. Sometimes its not always fun to be stretched out and burned. But what i do know is that every trial and hardship we ever go through is him refining us. It is him making us better. He is always with us every step of the way. He cant leave us astray. He wont ever let us burn or go through more than we can handle. "for behold, thus saith the lord God: i will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, and blessed are those who harken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth i will give more; and from them that shall say, we have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." 2 nehi 28:30.
We all have amazing potentiol and if we just give ourselves to the Lord, always live worthy of the spirit, and always hearken unto the Lord, we can achieve our potention. We are all becoming yummy pizzas. You are all amazing and dont ever forget that. Keep your lives always centered on Christ and trust in him. It isn't as hard as you think it is when you know the promised blessings that awaits us all. Eternal life with my family and God and Jesus. It is worth it. I love you all so much! I hope you have an amazing week. Remember you are a children of God who loves you each more than imanginable. Til next week
Hermana Stewart
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