An inactive member named Blanca Vargas gave us a gift basket! We met her husband, who's not a member, for the first time this week and he was very nice! We hope to start teaching him soon - he's a truck driver, so he's often not home. We learned that Blanca loves couponing, and her little boy, Misael, loves ninja turtles! :) She told us she knows she needs to go to church, but "poco a poco," or little by little. She did commit to read the Book of Mormon every day!
On our way to an appointment, we saw an investigator that we'd passed off to the English Elders a few weeks back. He said that he hadn't met with the Elders in a while. We noticed he had a cigarette, so we asked him how much he smokes. He told us a pack a day. We told him that God did not want him to smoke - that it was against the Word of Wisdom. We asked what we could do to help, and made a plan with him to stop smoking. We testified that as he stopped, his marriage would improve, his health would improve, and he would be happier. He promised to try - tune in next week to see how it goes!
We were able to go on exchanges with the Spanish STL's from the other stake. It was very fun! Two of the people we visited were related to some members I'd served in 12th ward, my first area. One, Hermana Borja, pointed out my name-tag and asked if I knew an Hermana Mata. I did! She told me that that was her sister, and could I please send her a letter? I told her of course I would! The second one was Hermana Estupinan - this time, I recognized the name. The sister we were visiting was actually going through a very hard time - her husband had just left her and she had decided to stop going to church because she was ashamed. We asked her some questions, like, "How did you feel when you were baptized?", "How do you feel the Spirit?", ect. I then said to her, "You can go two ways when trials happen - either you can grow closer to God, or farther away."
There are two types of people: potatoes and eggs. The hard times in life are like boiling water- if you're a potato, you will grow softer in the pot. If you're an egg, you'll harden.
Anyways, I left her house with a resolve to write her relatives in 12th ward. We then went to see a cute old lady named Maggie. She asked what ward I was serving in, and I told her Transmountain. She asked if I could visit her daughter, Odette. Odette had been in Montanavista ward before it split, but she moved into our area a few years ago and never moved her records. It was a miracle - the Relief Society resident was able to come with us and meet her. She has two kids, Diego, who's 12, and Jiana, who's 8. Jiana's not baptized yet, but Diego goes to church with his great aunt, Hermana Gonzales, who's in our ward! Odette really wants to come back to church, but her husband wants nothing to do with it, so it's hard for her. We shared Mosiah 2:6, which says "And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them". We told her that by reading and praying, she could keep her family's tent facing the right way while her husband's heart softened. And Hermana Silva, the Relief Society president, promised to get her visiting teachers!
Ah, yes, and the bike I'd been given was STOLEN!
Just kidding! I just lost the key, so a member was kind enough to saw the lock for me. :)
That's all for this week! Tune in next week for more adventures, miracles, and photos!
Hermana Smurthwaite
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