On November 3rd, 2014, Hermana VanWie shared the following in her email to her family and friends:
Querida
Familia y amigos --
Happy Fall!
And Happy Halloween!!
On Monday we spent some time with some other sisters and carved pumpkins.
It was our "American Culture Day." Sister Jimenez and Sister Reina
had never carved pumpkins before, so that was fun and different for them.
Halloween was spent in MLC. I loved MLC! (Mission Leadership Council) The theme of the day was "If We
Always Do What We Have Always Done, Then We Will Always Get What We Have Always
Got." We talked about the Lord hastening His work and how we must keep
pace by doing His work in His way.
This week can pretty much be summed up by Sunday. A,,J, J, J, and J came to church. It was fast and testimony
meeting. I have grown a huge love of fast and testimony meetings and this
Sunday was one of my favorites! J bore his testimony in Sacrament Meeting about
how he has seen a change in his life since we have been passing by but
more specifically since Wednesday. On Wednesday we had, what we thought was,a
horrible lesson. However he explained that ever since then he has been
able to identify a change in his life. L and her girls also came to church! It
was the first time in 2 months! G and his family also came to church! S came
and brought a friend! AND M and M and another brother came as well. It was a
wonderful day at church!! (Even though the fire alarm got pulled during third
hour and we all had to evacuate the building and then the electricity went out
all over the city). But the work of the Lord went on without electricity. After
everyone went home, M received the priesthood. His uncle ordained him and gave
him such a special blessing that included things that were exactly what he
needed to hear and what his mother needed to hear. I love Priesthood Blessings!
Right after he was ordained, the YM's president came up and started making
plans to help M and his mother to get to the temple. I would have been
completely content if the day had just ended there!! But it continued on....
We had a great lesson with a recent convert and then as we were heading
back toward Kerman we felt like we should go see a less active. I wasn't sure
if I would be able to find her house, but miraculously we found it. It turned
out that she had just barely had surgery and she needed some help in her home.
I know that we were supposed to find her that day.
During the evening all of our plans fell through and Hna Jimenez and I
could not get A and her family out of our mind, so we decided to go visit them.
As we began talking with them, we weren't really sure what we were going to
share with them, but we knew we needed to be there. Just as we were about to
start the lesson, there was a knock on the door--it was their conpadre
(godfather of their children) who they actually had given to us as a referral.
Now, they began to teach him about the church and explain the things they like
and about Joseph Smith and the importance of families in the church. As they
explained and taught we were able to also teach, but more importantly we were
able to understand where they are at in their spiritual progression and their
understanding. As J talked to his conpadre he explained that he realizes that
this is what he wants in his life and in his family's life and that in order to
have his family have it, he needs to accept it and apply it into his life as
well. What a tender mercy of the Lord!! We were so grateful that the Lord
allowed us to have this glimpse into what J was thinking and feeling by
listening to and heeding the promptings of the Spirit.
I know that this is the Lord's work. His hand is in it. He will tell us
what to do as we listen to the promptings of the Spirit. I know that in order
to keep pace with the hastening of the work, we must become more converted to
His gospel.
I love the Lord. I am grateful to be doing His work! Les quiero
mucho!! Que tengan una semana maravillosa!!
Con mucho
amor,
Hermana
VanWie
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