Buenos tardes hermanos,
These last two weeks have just been flying by, but they have been awesome! We have visited all the less actives in our area for which we have addresses. That has been a lot of work so we had the opportunity to meet with a lot of people to invite them back to Christ.
Hermana Karina Gonzalez and Yahir went to church this week! Karina honestly was a miracle. She has been coming to church for the last 3-4 weeks and we didn't even know she was not a member. We set up a lesson with her this week and will have the chance to start teaching her. We also finally got this less active Hermana Bustillos and her family to come to church. She hadn't been in years! We are also helping her stop smoking. On Sunday after we church we visited them and we took away 6 cigarettes from her so that was fun. 😊
Another less active member we met with was Maria del Socorro. Last time we visited her she said she was super sick and sad, and that she had had covid for the last 5 years. This time though she opened the door and said she was better and was happy even though she doesn't have food or a bed. She lives off the donations of her neighbors so we informed the branch president about the situation. She also said for sure she is going to come back to church!
Visited lots of less actives, one was drunk. Then we visited Hermana Bustillos, played a game, talked about no smoking and she gave us soup. Later, we had a correlation meeting. We also helped in the missionary night, by singing some songs and answering questions.
Another member we visited (hermana Lizeth) - she was crying because the members didn't help her with divorce. She had burned her eyes and never looked at us but just cried. We tried to help her but she refused our efforts to help. We spoke to a few others and setup future lessons with Estrella and Ubualdo. We had a lesson with gabriel and she gave us food.
We had an amazing lesson with Hermano Octaviano. We taught him about the restoration of Christ’s gospel and church here on the earth. After the lesson we asked him if he had any questions and he said how and when can I get a copy of the Book of Mormon. We met with him again later in the week and taught him the rest of the plan of salvation.
One night we called Arnoldo and taught him about the restoration. He said he wanted to wait to pray about Joseph Smith because he had his free agency. I studied while elder Toledo took a test (English writing test to get into BYU) for 3 hours. I had an interesting time on the bus. These 2 drunk guys were talking to me as kept calling me guerito and asking me if we were almost there. Lol.
We taught blanca the word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing and fasting and we finally we had a family night with hermano noe - we played games and then we shared the 7 minute restoration video. They then they fed us dinner and we ate cake and celebrated noe’s 60 birthday.
Lastly, we taught a lesson with Alejandra about temples.
A quote from the new testament institute manual that I will share
Luke 14:26–33. Sacrifice Is Required of All Disciples
As recorded in Luke 14:26–33, Jesus Christ taught His followers about the sacrifices they had to be willing to make in order to persist as His disciples. Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained how he was affected by hearing of a new convert who made the sacrifices required of him as a disciple of Jesus Christ:
“I had just returned home from my mission. So much seemed ahead of me. Would I be able to consistently make the right choices throughout my life? Then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley spoke [during April 1973 general conference] of meeting a young naval officer from Asia. The officer had not been a Christian, but during training in the United States, he had learned about the Church and was baptized. He was now preparing to return to his native land.
President Hinckley asked the officer: ‘Your people are not Christians. What will happen when you return home a Christian, and, more particularly, a Mormon Christian?’
“The officer’s face clouded, and he replied: ‘My family will be disappointed. … As for my future and my career, all opportunity may be foreclosed against me.’
“President Hinckley asked, ‘Are you willing to pay so great a price for the gospel?’
With his dark eyes moistened by tears, he answered with a question: ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’
“President Hinckley responded, ‘Yes, it is true.’
“To which the officer replied, ‘Then what else matters?’ [see ‘The True Strength of the Church,’ Ensign, July 1973, 48].
“Through the years, I have reflected on these words: ‘It’s true, isn’t it? Then what else matters?’ These questions have helped me put difficult issues in proper perspective. …
“Of course, for all of us, there are other things that matter. When I heard President Hinckley’s talk as a 21-year-old, I needed to be serious about my studies; I needed employment to keep me in school; somehow I had to figure out how to convince a special young lady that she should take a chance on me; and I enjoyed other worthy activities.
“How do we find our way through the many things that matter? We simplify and purify our perspective. Some things are evil and must be avoided; some things are nice; some things are important; and some things are absolutely essential”
Elder Talbot