This is His Work

HEYOOOOO! This week has been really good! We had another miracle with prayer but this time it was because we needed to teach like four lessons in a day and God made it happen! I've been thinking about it a lot lately, how this is God's work and not mine. Yes I am the one doing it and I am technically laboring but I am not really doing anything of worth, it is all God. That is why it is so important to do the little things. To be obedient, read our scriptures, pray, be kind and just try because that is how we can have the spirit with us. President Nelson has said that it will be impossible to survive spiritually in coming days without the constant companionship of the spirit and I second that. I remember at USU, I was praying (kinda) and reading my scriptures (sorta) every day but I can see that I was struggling spiritually. I consider it kind of a miracle that I made it out on the mission tbh. Anyways, seeing how my daily prayers and scripture study has impacted my life for the better makes me never want to miss a day. The blessings and the spirit that we receive in return is not even comparable to little effort we have to put in. I'm so grateful that I was able to learn this lesson and that God hasn't given up on me. I'm grateful that this is HIS work and not my work because if it was my work it would fall apart immediately. But, because it is His work, we can have four lessons in a day and see people come closer to Jesus Christ. How neat is that? 

This week we had our zone service project and IT WAS SO FUN!!! We went to the humanitarian center (we give tours there but I have never been) and we put together kits. We did school kits and we did cleaning kits. It was like an assembly line type thing and I had so much fun. Like words can not even describe how much fun I had. I was just movin and groovin and putting all of these things in these bins and making it all fit at LIGHTNING speed and I don't think I have ever had more fun in my whole life. Okay maybe that is an exaggeration but it was super legit. Some sisters were even commenting on how fast I was going (not a competition but hey I like to work effectively). Afterward, I was talking to Sister Rasmussen (from Canada) and I told her that this was my idea first date when I got home from the mission. Let's look at the pros: free, you are serving other people, it is SO FUN, and you can talk while you work and get to know the other person. Win, win, win situation. Hopefully, boys will think the same thing haha. 

As I told mom on the phone, our man Kevin still doesn't understand why he needs to get baptized again. He told the Elders when they went over (keep in mind this is after we re-explained priesthood authority and put him on date for the 23) that "the sisters want me to get baptized on the 23 and I understand what the priesthood is and that only your church has it but I still don't see why I need to get baptized again, my baptism on April 6, 1986 changed me so I don't see why I need to do it again". Lol. The Elders explained baptism for the remission of sins and all that good stuff and read some scriptures in the Bible with him and everything and hopefully his understanding will come with time as we teach him more. We were supposed to teach the Plan of Salvation with the local missionaries via facetime on Sunday but then homeboy didn't show up for church. Come on Kevin. So we texted him but his responses were so weird so we were like okay we will back off maybe he is just like feeling like we are all over him. We got a text from him and he had not one, but TWO strokes yesterday and was in the hospital. It explains the weirdness. We are praying for him and we asked the Elders to go over and give him a blessing and hopefully this will be an opportunity for him to better understand what the Priesthood is and why it is so important. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways and I'm hoping that this is one of those times. 

Our two recent converts from the last transfer are doing so AMAZING!!! Richard who was like not talking to us finally responded after I texted him again. He said that he was meeting with the Bishop after church on Sunday (yesterday) to get his Temple Recommend. YAYAY. Also, he is ENGAGED to his 21-year-old fiancee who is endowed. Homeboy is only 19. Good work Richard. We don't know yet if they are going to wait the year to get married in the Temple or if they will get married civilly soon and then go to the Temple once Richard is able to but either way, super exciting. Rodrigo is also still the cutest thing ever. I didn't text him for almost two weeks because I don't speak Spanish and he pretty much only speaks Spanish despite the fact that he lives here in UT. But I kept feeling like I needed to. So with the help of some Spanish sisters (thank you Temple Square), I texted him. He said he would rather text in English so he could practice so that is what we have been doing. We send each other cool pictures we take with our phones. He told me that this Sunday he got the Aaronic priesthood and he will be going to the Temple soon. I am so excited for him! He has been reading his scriptures and praying every day and he is just so excited and it is TOO CUTE. 

Also, if you remember Johnetta she is a hoot. We have been with her for a while and she wants to get baptized but her dad is a preacher for another church and it would break his heart. She is in her 60s and her dad is having some bad health problems right now so she has told the elders that she will just get baptized once he passes away. Kind of weird but you know okay. She has stopped progressing though lately. She hasn't gone to church in a while and we haven't had too much contact with her. The Elder that has been with her for a long time is going home and the new comp doesn't know her at all and she texted us and said that "Elder Mears is going home and it is too much change and I don't want new missionaries so I am going to stop meeting with her". That was super hard to hear ESP because the Elders did a whole lesson about how she needs to keep meeting with missionaries even though Elder Mears is leaving and she said she would but now she isn't. She said that she would still talk to us and she would keep listening to the Book of Mormon every day and pray but she just won't talk to the missionaries every day. Elder Mears is doing what he can during his short time left but it is still hard. So maybe pray for Johnetta and that her heart will be softened because right now it is kind of hard. 

This week was good but it was weird, like a dream. I feel like for a while I was on cloud nine, especially with Sister Costilla. I remember one day near the end of my time with her I was just like "wow everything is going awesome and we have lots of new people and we are teaching a lot and wow life is good" and then I thought right after that "the Lord is going to knock me down soon I feel it". And boy was I right. It is good that the converts are going strong and everything but the people that we are teaching are just all kind of falling apart and the queue is dead so we can't find new people and life is just a little hard right now but it is okay. I will keep doing what I need to do. Be obedient, read my scriptures and say my prayers and work hard and I know that the Lord will make up the rest. This is His work after all. 

Anyways, I was thinking that this would be a short email but I was wrong so whoops. I hope you have an awesome week and hopefully next week I will be able to call earlier so I can talk to you too dad. But I love you both and thanks so much for all of your support. Also, this Bluetooth keyboard is seriously the bomb so thanks again for that. Love and miss you both so much!

Love 

Em