True Change Comes From the Heart

Goals on Goals

This was a great week. I am happy and filled with joy looking back on it and seeing the great things that happened and being able to enjoy the opportunity to share the Gospel and to see good progression with investigators.

First, I wanted to start with this Sunday. Edna Bernard was confirmed, and she is a member of the Church now!!! So exciting to see and to have helped in that.

Following that, we went back to the old sector of my companion Elder Lazarte for a baptism. He baptized a 12 year old kid that loves him. It was cool to see that and to see his joy.

Sunday night, we had a lesson with the Moran family and the bishop and his mom accompanied us. It went very well and we talked wedding plans and they are all excited to become a part of the church and to get baptized! It was a really spiritual lesson and everyone left uplifted, edified and filled with the spirit. I enjoyed this visit especially because we were there with members who helped and the lessons are always better with members!

On Monday, we had a great lesson with Flavia and Jose! The grandparents of a recent convert. They had a sad family conflict and long story short they were left a little devastated and sad for what happened to them. As we got to their house, we talked to them and gave them our advice as they told us the story and we had a great talk and we were able to give them some motivation and scriptures to help them with their problems and difficulties that they are going through right now. We shared the story of Nephi answering the call of his father and of God for every trial that came his way and his willingness to obey and serve his God (1 Nephi 3:7) and then we shared Joshua 1: 9 and talked about handling trials with confidence in God. They felt comforted from our message.

At the end of that lesson, Flavia said something cool to us. The first lesson we had with her she said that she loved our church but that she would never get baptized. Fast forward 5 lessons and this past lesson she said she wants to be baptized but would have to quit smoking! As she said that to us, I remembered that first comment and I realized that in each lesson after the first, her comments towards baptism or becoming a member of the church progressed each time we came until finally she couldn’t help but want the blessing of that in her life!! It’s always amazing to witness that progression and to see people’s desire to change over such a short period of time.

I feel that the same has happened to me even as a missionary. With more time learning and studying the Gospel, my desires and testimony have grown so much and I know that it will continue to grow throughout my life and with the experiences I will have.