Hello Everyone!
"Rain, rain, go away! Got lots of visits today!"
Whew! What a week, what a week. This week, we had perhaps the best family home evening lesson I've ever participated in! It was planned 2 weeks in advance. The sister that planned it with us has an inactive brother whose wife is a recent convert. The inactive and recent convert couple have a little baby about to turn 1, who takes up a lot of their time. We invited the Aguileras, who're their good friends from the ward.
After dinner at the Martinez's, we had a few minutes before the Aguileras and the Rodriguez's got there, so we went over the lesson plan with the Martinez's. Hermano Martinez had some great ideas for fun activities! It was going to be a basic CPR lesson (church pray read) compared to the basic needs of the body (rest water food.) And the Rodriguez's were half an hour late, so we were able to prepare the Aguileras, as well!
We started with prayer. Well, I mean, first we started with a PRAYER prayer, then we started by reviewing the PRINCIPLE of prayer. :) We explained how prayer was like water for our spirits - we can't survive spiritually without it! Hermano Martinez organized a simple game where there were two lines of people. At the head of one line was Hermano Aguilera, and the other was Hermano Rodriguez. Hermano Martinez would flip a coin and call out heads or tails (Cara o cruz). If the coin landed on what he called out, the Hermanos would have to squeeze the hand of the person next to them, and that person would need to pass along the signal, until the last person in line, who would then grab the cup that was on the chair at the end of the line. Hermano Martinez explained that if the Father of a household had a strong communication with God, the whole household would grow stronger with him. We then read Alma 34:20-25 and talked about some things we could pray for. We then read 3 Nefi 18:21 and talked about the importance of praying as a family.
To transition into the next point, we played one of those "walk by faith" games. Only instead of listening to a still, small voice, the blindfolded participants had to hold onto one end of the Book of Mormon and their guides had to hold on to the other end. If the blindfolded person lost their grip of the "iron rod," they needed to kneel down until their guide offered them the scriptures again. This was especially fun to watch the couples do. :)
We all went back inside and talked about how the scriptures GUIDE us - and we read 2 Nefi 32:3. In English, it says to 'feast upon the words of Christ', but in Spanish, it says to 'delight yourself in the words of Christ'; so it's a little different. But, in the footnote, it actually explains that the scripture more accurately means to 'enjoy the words of Christ like a banquet'. So we read the footnote and explained that just like our bodies need food to have strength, our spirits need spiritual food to have spiritual strength. The conversation also turned to how we feel when physically sick versus how we feel when we spiritually deprive ourselves.
To transition to the last point, and to help the kids calm down a little, we asked everyone to close their eyes and go to sleep for a minute. We then read in 3 Nefi 18 where Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament. We reverently compared going to church to sleeping - our bodies need to rest every day. Our spirits need rest, too - and true rest doesn't come from sitting on the couch eating bonbons! It comes from partaking of the sacrament and renewing the covenants we made at baptism.
Well, we made it to the end, and Hermano and Hermana Martinez both shared powerful testimonies about the 3 basics. Hermana Martinez even started crying! Hermano Martinez said, "We haven't done family home evening in so long! But the missionaries are right - when I had those things (Church, pray, read, food, water, sleep) it was on my mission - and that was the happiest time of my life!"
We finished off the night with Chocoflan, wafers, and ice-cream, just talking with the Rodriguez's. It was awesome!
On Tuesday, we were biking down towards EPCC campus to do some Family History. On the way there, we crossed the street - but realized that was the complete opposite direction of where we were going. Scratching my helmet, I turned us back around. We barely made it to the other side of the street when someone driving along the side we just came from honked. It was a less-active member we'd been trying to find for WEEKS! She drove away, but not before signing to us that she loved us, too (because we were doing that dance you do when you see someone far away and are super excited to see them: wave a lot, make a heart shape with the hands, point to them then yourself then them again, pound your chest with a closed fist and point to them, etc.) It was a miracle!
We had a lesson with an investigator that we'd been teaching for quite some time. Instead of following the lesson plan we'd prepared that morning, I had the impression to teach the restoration. I thought to myself, "again?" but I followed the prompting. When we got to the part about prophets, my companion testified that we have a living prophet today. Now, normally when we say that, people just sort of nod, mistakenly thinking, "Well, yeah; a prophet's just any good person." But Maria's eyebrows shot right up - "Really?! Where? What's his name?" She was so excited that there's a living prophet today - she agreed to go on LDS.org and search all the general conference talks. :)
We met a man named Allen. He's my companion's friend's inactive brother - he went on a mission, but he kind of went off the deep end. He now doesn't believe in Christ and doesn't pray, but meditates. :/ We met him and his wife, Ellen, and they're expecting their first child. We hope to rebuild his faith and build his wife's faith so he can baptize her before the baby comes. :)
We finally got in contact with an investigator whom I'd never met before, Brianda. I'd never met her because my last companion, Hermana Oliphant, told me it was dangerous - that her boyfriend was abusive and didn't like missionaries. Nevertheless, I had the prompting and I followed it. She is now 3 months pregnant. She arrived here from Mexico about 5 months ago - she's trying to become a citizen. We actually just saw her this morning at 9, because it was the only time she could meet. She entrusted us with some important-looking papers and asked us to translate it into Spanish, which we promised to do. We're seeing her again on Thursday, but if you all could please keep her in your all's prayers!
We accidentally went to the wrong trailer for an appointment on Friday, but it in reality was the right trailer, because we were able to contact two of our investigators, Ciro and Carmen, and start teaching their son and his girlfriend, Hugo and Lluvia. They're so golden! They promised to read and pray every day, asked where the church was and what time, and set up a return appointment without us even asking! :) So that was a miracle.
OK LAST THING we've been visiting a less-active member named Hermana Dominguez. We've been trying and trying, and it felt like there was never any progress. This Sunday, we asked her to give us a ride to church, and to our surprise, she accepted! She not only gave us a ride, she showed up in church clothes and stayed for all of Sacrament meeting! It was the first time in years!
Miracles, Miracles, Miracles!
Love, Hermana Smurthwaite
P.S. WAIT I FORGOT there was a non-member that came to church for the first time on her own! The Bishop kept signaling to look behind me, so during a pause, I ran to the back pew and sat next to her. My companion had to stay with Hermana Dominguez, but her name is Elida Hernandez! She came because of her boss, who used to be a Bishop, and we have an appointment with her today!
