Week 77 - Buena Vista

Hey everyone! This week was really good. We had a Family Home Evening with Freddy and the Urbina Family. We watched the Restoration Movie, and Freddy cried. The next day we had a church tour with him. We brought up a baptismal date, and he said he was already considering it, and that he wanted to do some service with us. We went back to Suzie, a woman we hadn't seen in a while, and she was doing pretty well.

   One day we were walking near the stake center, and there was this minivan, and a man was yelling at a woman in Spanish, and the man took off just as we came up. We started talking with the woman, named Jackie, and she explained to us basically the most terrible back story ever. To make it short, her kids were all almost baptized and her husband is atheist and is planning a lot of bad things against her. We had found her at just the right time. After talking with her for a little, we invited her to the baptisms we were going to have on Saturday. The baptisms for our ward happened, and she said she had just a half-hour, and after the baptisms in Spanish, the English elders were having one, and she said "There's one more baptism, right?" And when we said yes, she said "I'll stay". It was pretty fantastic! 

   In district meeting the APs came too. 

   I learned in my studies the following, from Mosiah 25:24, Mosiah 2:22 & 36, that the Promise that we will prosper in the land if we keep the commandments of God is that the Spirit will be able to prosper us if we keep the commandments so we can be guided in wisdom's paths. 

   Love Elder Sant

Week 76 - Buena Vista

 

This week was both a crazy week, a terrible week, and a great week. I am not even sure how to feel about it. So on Monday, long story short we helped someone in a kidnapping to recover after she had literally just escaped, and that just broke my heart (for those of you who don't know, that is like the worst to my heart), and then a member drove by and asked if we could help them move out, so we did service at 8 pm on Monday. He then took us to a legit Hispanic taco truck (the best thing in the world)! On Tuesday we went by this girl named Susie, and when we came in her cousin, who moved in with them, said he needed help. That night we taught him the Word of Wisdom and somehow that led to half of the Plan of Salvation, and had him make a game plan for his addictions. He said to come by the next day, and we did and he had finished the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and had made a game plan for any time he felt tempted to give in to his temptations. We finished the Plan of Salvation, and had him read Enos on his own.

   We came by the next day and he had done so, and we finished it up. We gave him a blessing and asked him to read Alma 36, and when we asked when we could come by, he said "as soon as possible". We said we couldn't until Sunday and he said "Then I'll see you at church!" as though it were nothing. Sadly, he was sick on Sunday, but he told the hermano who came to pick him up to have us come to him, so we did, and we brought two members, Vivian and Daniel Urbina. We taught the full restoration and he had read Alma 36 and he loved it. He said this was probably the right path for him. We're going to have a Family Home Evening with him tonight, and we'll watch the movie about Joseph Smith. 

   There is an investigator who was going to get baptized this week, and we had told the less active parents and they said "okay" like 4 times, but on Saturday we planned the baptism, and they walked in and said they had never heard anything of it, and that they wanted their father, who is totally anti, to baptize him. In the end, we decided that it would be Brandon's choice, and he would pray and decide. That was an extremely low blow.

   In my studies, I had learned the following: Since we're not perfect, we're going to have to rely on the Spirit in this life to do what's right. Even Jesus Christ hearkened to the promptings of the Spirit. He was growing from grace to grace. All that He knew was given by the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. 

He was always in the right place at the right time. When we are resurrected and perfected and glorified, we shall know all things: where to be, what to do, etc. The Spirit shows us perfection, shows us our potential, and when we follow that Spirit, we achieve or reach that potential. He truly sanctifies, especially when we follow Him.

   It was definitely a difficult week, full of walking and biking. I love you all, and thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

Week 75 - Buena Vista

 

Hey everybody! This week was a pretty good one. We thought last week that Brandon hadn't come to church, but then it turned out that he did, and he just went to sacrament meeting and had to go after that! So he is on date  and we're working super hard with getting him to read, especially talks from modern prophets. So things are going well with him. We also went by Dino and Evelyn, and they are an awesome family. Evelyn loves reading, and likes reading with us. Dino is skeptical, but a cool person because he seems very open to the idea of finding the truth for himself. They are a family that will take small steps, but they are willing to take them. For a district activity we went to a store called El Mercado, which is basically like a hispanic mall, and thus the hat I tried on, and Elder Hanchett. Speaking of that, we had exchanges in the other elders' area, and they have it pretty rough. They once were finding a ton every week, but recently they haven't been. We went on exchanges and the people we talked to did not want to hear our message. It was pretty rough.My studies have also gone pretty well. We have been learning a lot, especially in comp study. I wanted to find all the doctrine of the Savior from the restoration, because too often the message of the Restoration is just a message about Joseph Smith, and not exactly centered on Jesus Christ, so that is my goal: making the messages about Him, because He is the one they need. I love you all and please keep us in our prayers.

Week 74 Buena Vista

 

This week was a pretty good week. This week was Brandon's birthday, which was awesome. He is now 15 years old. He got some nunchucks and he's learning to use them. Last Sunday we got a referral from a member, and she said he and his family were looking for a church to go to. We went by on Tuesday and taught about Families and temples with the restoration of the priesthood and the gospel tied in, and he, Luis, loved it. He said he wanted the rest of his family to also hear the message. We taught Gabby and her mom a little about the restoration. The first time we met Gabby's mom, she wasn't interested, but this time she was, and it was cool to see that. For finding this week, we didn't do too well until Sunday when we doubled what we had found through the whole week. It was cool to see the Spirit working in us. We went by a family who told us they wouldn't be able to visit us until after the holidays and they are pretty awesome. We read the introduction with Guillermo, and he loved it. We visited Amado and Laura, a family whom the English elders referred to us. We had taught Laura the restoration, and when we came by again we went over it with Amado. It was a good lesson, and they are a very cool family. 

   We were going through our area book, and we found a record for a deaf woman, where they had taught the family, but couldn't do anything with her. We will try by and see if I can't brush up on my sign language. 

   Again with church we tried everyone we could, but one person came, and that was good. 

   I love you all, and thanks for all of your prayers in my behalf. 

   In my studies, I have learned from 3 Nephi 19:13, 21-24, 27, 33 that when we have the Spirit with us, our desires are His desires. In prayer we speak from our heart, and if the Spirit can guide us in our prayers and we can feel the Spirit in your prayers, our desires become His desires. "Filled with desire", and then our hearts are open and we can learn the hidden things He wants us to know. That's just part of the process of becoming more like Him. 

I love you all, and thank you for your support and love. 

Love,

  Elder Sant 

Week 73 Buena Vista

This week was pretty good. On Monday I skyped my mother and father and much more of the family. It was a very powerful experience. This week we invited EVERYONE we talked to to church, and saw some blessings from that. It was a long week and required a lot of walking. We went biking and someone slashed our tires, so we got the tires fixed, and someone slashed our tires, stole our air pump and all of our lights and tried to take the bikes out of the locks. Luckily they were not successful. I finished the Book of Mormon again, and I have learned a lot about how the Spirit works. We are figuring out how to use our lessons to bring true conversion. We as missionaries invite others to come unto Christ. How do they do that? By having faith unto repentance, which causes a change in their lives. How do they gain that faith? By learning the restored Gospel and by accepting and acting on invitations and commitments we give them. And this prepares them for the Covenant of Baptism, which is a physical cleansing that prepares us for the spiritual purification of the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost will guide us and allow us to become more like our Savior. And by continually following this path we become ready for judgement.

   We went by one of our investigators, Brandon and we see that his less-active family can be holding him back from becoming a member. We will do all we can to still get him there though. 

   I love you all, and thanks for everything!