Buenas Tardes Familia,
All I can say is how blessed we are as a family! I am so happy to
know that our family as a whole is doing what the Lord requires of us
in order to enter into his Holy House and receive power from on high.
In the world we live in, obedience to the commandments is growing more
and more like a suggestion rather than divine laws to inherit our divine
potential. I know that the power promised by going through the temple
and making the covenants that we do there is REAL. I am astounded by
the blessings I have seen in my life come directly from the things I
learned and experienced in the temple and for the rich affect it is
having on the rest of my life. May we all remain worthy of such amazing
blessings!
So last week I let you all in on the miracle decision of Tina
Rojas to be baptized. Well, everything went perfectly! I have to say
that this will be one of the conversion stories that I will never EVER
forget. She is a completely different person; a definite example of a
change of heart. First of all, the day of the baptism we went by her
house to pick her up and saw a completely softer demeanor. She seemed
SO happy and resolved to carry out the decision she had made. When we
were on the way to the baptism, her husband was talking to her about the
special decision she was making and bore his testimony about the
wonderful difference it was going to make in her life. The baptismal
service was so simple and it was sweet to see all her family there to support
her. After the service we had the chance to congratulate her and with tearful eyes she thanked us. We were so surprised to see all these
changes in someone who before was always so hard, and dry about
everything. Another example of the change was when we went to solidify
everything for the confirmation for Sunday. Previously, she refused to
go to church and told us that when she felt like it she would go and for
no other reason. "Cuando me da la gana" is what she really said.
However, she responded to the invitation to go to church with a
surprisingly excited YES and Sunday morning there she was with her kids
and her husband. They could not have looked any happier! This is what
the Gospel is all about; seeing people literally change and be better, happier people. Changes that only Christ can make when he knocks and we
let Him in. Elder Thompson and I joke about how she was such a dry and
hard person by saying, "We got a dry person wet!" HA HA, it has a lot of
pun to it and I'm sure you will all roll your eyes at the missionary
humor but hey we are having fun!
So, today we are going to play soccer as a Zone and then go and buy
Tortas (huge melts with a lot of different kinds of meat and cheese on
them). Sadly, I am in another zone that doesn't have very many sights to
see and there aren't many opportunities to go sight seeing but I am going
to get permission from President to go to Zocalo again and go sight
seeing some more! Well, I love you all tons and tons and hope that you
all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Janis
