Since I last wrote we have had a few wonderful lessons with I and S. We had two lessons with them in the same day! We found out that S is finally getting his birth certificate from Mexico so they can get married. Yay! We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sergio believes and understands all that we have been teaching him. Hermana Parra-Ortega and I are so excited by how quickly they are progressing and that both of them have a sincere desire to come closer unto Christ. They read either the King James' Version of The Bible or The Book of Mormon together every night and they pray together constantly. The first time we taught Sergio how to pray we all knelt down to offer the prayer. Now, every prayer we say he is the first one to kneel and it has become a consistent action for him before every prayer he says.
I also finished reading The Book of Mormon again this past week. In this study of the Book of Mormon I focused on studying all the acts of faith. I was able to increase in my faith and reaffirm my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith translated it and as we live the principles taught within the pages of The Book of Mormon we can draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We gained two new investigators on Saturday. They are brother and sister--J and L. We taught them the Plan of Salvation because their mom just had a baby. J understood everything we taught and told us he believes it to be true. He said that we helped him expand his mind a bit and look at things a new way. He wants to badly to know the truth. He has so many questions and wants answers. He wants an answer from God about what is truth. We were able to bear testimony to him about the things that we shared and about the feelings he felt from the Holy Ghost. We taught the importance of prayer and he said the closing prayer. It was one of the sweetest and most humble and heartfelt prayers I have ever heard! We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to help him learn more about his purpose here on earth and how he can gain answers from our Heavenly Father.
On Saturday we also had a Fiesta! It was with all of the Spanish branches/wards I(congregations)in the Modesto and Turlock area. Many investigators came and we were all able to learn more about the different countries and cultures that the people here are part of. (see pictures below.)
This week I learned a lot about obedience. I learned that we do not need to understand the "why" for commandments or rules or things we are asked to do. We only need to obey. When we don't know the "why" it is a test of our faith. I love a quote from our former prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley that says, "Do not let pride stand in your way. The way of the gospel is a simple way. Some of the requirements may appear to you as elementary or unnecessary. Do not spurn them: Humble yourselves and walk in obedience. I promise that the results that follow will be marvelous to behold and satisfying to experience." We will be blessed even if we do not see the results right away. Sometimes we have to obey again and again to demonstrate our faith again and again. In the scriptures there are many examples of this. In 2 Kings 5 Naaman had to wash in the River Jordan 7 times to be cleansed. In 1 Nephi 3+4 Nephi and his brothers had to try 3 times before they received the brass plates. The Lord works in His own way and in His own time, but He always blesses those who faithfully obey Him. I know He is in control--this is His work. How grateful I am to learn from Him!
I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your prayers and support! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Les quiero mucho! Hermana VanWie
Pictures from the Fiesta:
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