The spirit does amazing things

This week has been good. We entered one house and the grandpa started explaining how they were Catholic and told us about it - we listened and then Elder Coulter asked if we could say a prayer. Elder Coulter offered the prayer and the Spirit immediately came. I don’t even know what he said in the prayer, because the spirit just told me to identify Him right after the prayer. At first it shocked me to identify “the spirit” so early, but I followed what President has said about following the spirit and being bold with it and asked them how they felt when my companion prayed. They all said tranquilo and cosas bonitas. (Tranquility and beautiful things) We got return appointments and I felt blessed to have followed the spirit. Another quick experience: We met with Adriana and she told us that she really doesn’t believe in God or Jesus. We started by teaching Faith and then the rest of the doctrine. The spirit came and we identified it and I asked, if based on her feelings, did she believe that God and Jesus exist. She said she did and we set a baptismal date with her. The spirit does some amazing things to change the hearts of the people we teach and us as teachers. I love it!

I don't know how it works but I know it's real....

I know that Christ lives and that His Atonement is real. I have tried to learn more and more about what He did for me, and even though I don’t know a lot about the Atonement and really don’t understand it, I know that it is real and that it works in the life of anybody who wants to accept Him. The first lesson we teach is proof of the power of the Atonement. We get to the house and talk about the people’s lives. Once the spirit tells us that they have mentioned a need, we talk about the Atonement and how it can fix that need. We then tell them that the door that leads to accepting the Atonement is baptism. For those that are now baptized the key is repentance and participating in the Sacrament. It does not matter what the doubt is, the Atonement covers all. Every time we teach that concept the spirit comes so very strong to testify of what we are saying. It is through the spirit’s witness that I have been able to know the power of the Atonement - it is real, I know it is. I dont know how it works, but I do know that it does work! Everybody can feel the love of the Savior in their lives if they just trust Him and take the first steps back to Him. I know that Christ lives and that His Atonement is real.

Tasty delights...

I ate some lamb soup. They prepare the meat by digging a hole and leaving it there, covered, for 7 hours. The broth of the soup is the juice from the meat. Very interesting. Just saying. We have also eaten pig’s feet - very weird texture. Other than those things I like everything else that I've tried.

I have a great mission president!

We had interviews with President Tervort. It went well. He is truly an inspired man. He teaches us things that are so important for our mission and things that will help us for the whole of our lives. I’m super grateful.

I wonder....

The Holy Ghost is really the most important part of life here outside of the presence of God. I love feeling the spirit. It makes me think, ¨I wonder if this is what the celestial kingdom feels like?" It´s probably even better. That’s something to work for even through all of the tough times, no?

Tranquilo

We had a cool lesson this week with a family that we call family OSO (bear) because their dog is huge and is named Oso and we don´t know their real last name. Their son was visiting. We talked about the Atonement and asked them how they felt. The spirit was softly there. They felt tranquilo. We explained Jesus´ baptism and the feeling grew. The son moved his chair closer and when we asked them how they felt again he said, ¨Descansado, como todo el estress se fue¨ (rested, like the stress all left) and made a sweeping motion with his hands down his body. We explained again that it was the spirit testifying of the truth. The next sentence was going to be the baptismal commit when three people walked into the house and started demostrating a pot set and cooking and talking and everything. The family didn´t come to church, but I know that they know it is true. They left somewhere. We will pass by again to see what the spirit can do for that family.