Week 89 Palmdale

 

This week was pretty good. We got a referral from the zone leaders, and we went by, and it turned out to be a really cool person. We would say something, and she'd consider it intently and then ask a question. She said it would take time, but that she would be willing to find out if it was true.
   We went on exchanges, and I went with Elder Thomson. We went by Victoria, a recent convert, and we taught the plan of salvation, drawing it out on a whiteboard. We titled it "La vida de Victoria". She was so amazed. She looked at us and said "they never taught me this, I thought there was purgatory and then hell after that". Apparently she wasn't taught that before getting baptized. When she found that she would be able to see her mother in the next life, resurrected and perfected, and be able to do the work if salvation for her, she cried. It was very powerful. There was a part where we talked about faith and how in life we'd be tested and we need to take leaps of faith as there is no other way. We also talked to Lorena, Steven, and Mario. We tried to set them on date, and Lorena was so willing, but Mario wasn't.
   At chirch, a less-active woman I helped and taught in Little Rock, but had moved to Esperanza, came. It was really cool because she lives in my area, and in Little Rock we weren't able to teach the husband, who wasn't a member, but now we can! It's a really cool miracle. Sunday night we were walking down the street and found a family that thought that "Elder Saint" and "Elder Fillmore" were rankings in our church, like I was "Saint" level. It wad pretty funny. They were really cool and wanted us to come back. There was another guy who opened the door and said "Are you Mormons?" We said "yep!", and he perked up and said "Cool! Mormons are nice!" He closed the door behind him and we talked for a bit. He also wanted us to come back.
Something we've been doing is sharing scriptures as contacts. If we don't bring the Spirit, then they don't know what they're accepting or denying, so even if they're skeptical, we ask if we can share a scripture, and then after we share it, the Spirit comes and testifies. Hearts have opened from that. We've also offered blessings on the home for family peace.

   Something I learned is about a small culture in the mission amomg Spanish Elders, where we look for the houses with moons and suns and the Christmas lights still up to find, but Elder Fillmore and I were going through a court, and there was this house that was full of
moons and suns and "Bienvenidos". We decided to walk right past it and knocked their neighbor's door. We did, and just as we did, a woman pulled into the driveway, bringing her kids home from school. It was perfect timing. If we had knocked the other door just because we figured that they would speak Spanish and not because the Spirit told us, we would have missed the perfect timing to share a good scripture with this woman. I learned the importance of following what the Spirit wants of me, not of just where there will be hispanics.
Things are doing well here, and I am grateful for the chance to serve and see miracles.