¡Hola Mi Asombrosa Familia!
We had an amazing week! After the trials of last week, this was a week of mountains of success! Maria Teresa was confirmed this week making the family all members of the church. Each and everyone of them has changed so much and it is so cool to hear them talk about the experiences they have had. I look forward to a year from now when I will go to the temple with them!
We had one of the most smooth sailing baptisms thus far in my mission. We baptized a girl named Vanessa whose mom was baptized a couple months ago. We are hoping that with her baptized also, the family will become more active. Vanessa is excited to be baptized and has helped her mom start coming to church regularly! Also most of the people here have never swam in a pool or been fully submerged and sometimes the baptism can take a while because they are scared. With some people it takes four or five tries because they flail and kick and aren't fully submerged. Vanessa went down smoothly and came up smoothly; my first one here that wasn't a problem. She has changed so much and we are hoping that she likes the changes and will help her other siblings follow suit.
We have started teaching an alcoholic named Beto who is in such a sad state. He cried tons in our first lesson with him in which he described to us the pain and sadness alcohol and his addiction has brought into his life. He confided in us that he feels we are sent from his "Jefe" or as we call Him, Jesus Christ. We spent time writing down all of the things that he has been missing out on or that he has lost because of his addiction and also what triggers his drinking, After we made the list, we spent a time thinking of ways that he can distract himself from drinking by doing his favorite things. We helped him realize that his "Jefe" wants to help him and will give him the strength to overcome this problem. He seemed so happy and excited when we left. We left him a couple photos of Christ to put up in his room because he confided in us that the typical depiction of Christ on a cross is sad and he would rather remember Christ in a better way! Not many people here feel this way, rather quite the opposite! We are going to pass by him everyday this week!
We took another family to the Mexico City Temple and man are they sooooo solid. Esperanza, the mother, keeps asking me if preparing for baptism is hard and what they will need to do to be baptized. They are so ready right now they just need one more Sunday in sacrament meeting and the parents need to get married. They are a great family and it never gets old watching and helping people change. They are all Jehovah's Witnesses except for the father and it was a surprise how easily they accepted the message we share.
I am loving life and am so excited for this next coming week. I know that the Lord will bless us for our obedience and diligence despite the hardships of last week and he has blessed us! I love all of you and hope you have a great week like I am going to have!
LOVE,
Elder Janis
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