Wednesday, December 3, 2014

November 24, 2014

Familia: 

This past week has been so awesome! We have had so many great experiences that are so powerful and personal that it’s so hard to write about. But it’s all in my journal so that’s a good thing. pte smith gave me some feedback this past week when I talked to him on the phone about keeping a good journal. I repented. And am now keeping an awesome journal. hahaha. 

I just want to share one experience we had this past week about a woman named Paula. We had just finished a lesson way far out in our area and we started walking over to another lesson we had set up. We were about 15 min away and the lesson was going to start in 5 minutes. Normally we would have just said "let’s walk. Well show up 10 minutes late. We don’t have money for a taxi" but we felt like we should take a taxi for some reason. So we did. We showed up to our next lesson right in time and knocked on the door....knocked again....and again....nobody. We all thought "wwwhhhaaatttt? We just wasted 25 pesos on a taxi!" (Because at the end of the month, everyone is short on money....hahah). So we decided we should pass by another investigator who lived close by. As we were walking, we passed a woman who was sitting down across the street from us with a bouquet of flowers in her hand. She looked kind of sad but she was waiting for a taxi or something out in front of her house. Just then we all had the slightest feeling that we needed to talk to her. But it was sooo small. So tiny, that the frustration of wasting money on a taxi and the desire to teach the other investigator over powered the small impression of the Spirit and we continued to walk. As we got about a block away, we all started to notice that we were walking slower, a walk that I like to describe as being weighed down by the spirit that was dragging us back to that woman. Everyone was feeling like it and elder Gonzalez stops and goes "hey. Should we go give her a folleto?" we all stopped, turned around, and started walking as fast as we could back to this woman we had seen. when we got there and introduced ourselves as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ, she looked up at us and the first thing she says to us is "why did you come back?" we simply told her that we felt like we should and asked her how she was. She began to cry and she told us that when we passed her, she was going to call us over but didn’t have the courage to do it. She told us that she needed us to pray for her aunt. Her aunt is really sick and about to part from this life and had been asking that she go and visit her. We shared a little of the plan of salvation with her and set up a time to come back. she told us that she felt that we were sent from God and if she wasn’t there the day we set up, to come back the next day, or the next day after that, and to keep trying until we found her again. A minute later, the car she had been waiting for showed up to take her to the hospital. This all happened in about 7 minutes. 

When we got home to study in the middle of the day, the first thing we did when we walked in the house was kneel down and thank the Lord for the chance we had to get to know Paula. As we prayed, an overwhelming sense of joy came into the room and when we finished we all talked about how grateful we were for what just happened. Everything started to make sense. Why we felt we should take a taxi in the morning. Why the lesson wasn’t there. Why we felt like we should go visit an investigator that we hadn’t seen in weeks. Everything that happened, every impression and feeling, was just to lead us to her. The Lord wanted us to find Paula that day. 

I am so grateful for the Spirit. I regret not acting sooner but am so happy that God had patience with us and she was still there when we ran back. It seems like every time we begin to think we know better than to follow a little feeling, the Lord always humbles us. Words cannot express how grateful I am for this experience we had. 

I know that our Heavenly Father is aware of every one of His children. Paula needed to know of the plan of salvation. She was prepared in that moment to receive us. He paved the way for us that morning to be able to find her. There is no other way to do the Work of Salvation than through the Spirit. 

Do everything possible to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Follow every little feeling you get. Don’t second guess an impression to do good. 

Sorry I have to run! Time fly’s in the cyber! I love you all! Thanks for all you do!!

Lets all try a little bit harder to be a little bit better this week!!

UN abrazo grande, 

Elder Staffieri




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