Hola Familia,
Miracles,
miracles, miracles. This was an amazing week here in the Culturas
Zone. I am feeling pretty exhausted but it was an amazing week. It is
not about the number of people we baptized or that we were Bautizona for
the month (the zone that lead the mission in baptisms) that made the
week/month awesome. It was the obedience, dilligence, and conversion
that are behind those numbers. I have never felt anything more
satisfying than seeing a noticeable difference for the better in the
missionaries in the zone. The spirituallity of the zone is improving
and we (Elder Barajas and I) are praying to know what will help keep this
progress going. We saw the amazing amount of 21 souls saved this week
in the promised land of Culturas. What a blessing!
We
also had the miracle of helping the Martinez Ortiz Family, the Mendoza
Family, and a humble guy named Justino be baptized this last Sunday in
our area. I love these people so much and it was so sacred to have the opportunity to help them accomplish this step. A little about these
families:
Martinez
Ortiz Family: We found them walking down the street when we felt we
should talk to the young mother of a pouty kid. Juana is the mother
and the pouty kid is Hugo. Hugo was mad that his mom didn't buy him a
lollipop and this gave us an opportunity to cheer him up and gain more
confidence of Juana. She invited us to come to her house that next
evening. When we stopped by that first lesson she would not take her
eyes off the person that was speaking. She seemed to be trying to not
miss a word. We quickly learned that the Lord had prepared the family
when she accepted everything we taught without any doubts. Her husband, as named Hugo, was equally as prepared. Here in Mexico, finding a man as spiritual as
Hugo is not very frequent. He also accepted everything with trust in
the Lord and in his promises. They got married this last week, something
that they were so excited to do in order to obey God's commandments
they told us. Then on Sunday we had their beautiful baptismal service.
They were so happy and there is definitely a huge difference in their countanances. I wanted to send a picture but the virus on my memory
card didn't let me.
Justino: We found him knocking doors. He suffered a stroke and his whole left side
of his body was left without movement. The stroke was caused by a
huge scare he had when two men stole his van at gun point. The scare of
the assault caused him to have the stroke. He is recently regaining
the movement of his legs and walks slowly. We had so much joy teaching
him and see his face light up at the promises the Lord offers to those
who obey his commandments. He wanted to be baptized the same day we
taught the first lesson. However, we explained that he needed to wait
and prepare himself for the commitment he would make. He was so happy
to submit himself to the will of the Lord. His baptism was one of the
most spiritual baptisms ever!!
I would have written more but I ran out of time!! I love you and hope you all have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Elder Janis
