On Monday we started teaching a 13 year old girl named Genesis. Her grandmother referred her to us. We taught her about the restoration of the gospel and she really liked it! When we shared the First Vision with her, we asked her after how she felt and she said "That is awesome! They answered him!" Sister Flake and I were talking about how sometimes people doubt that younger kids can really understand spiritual things, or that they can apply them to their lives. But I have seen on my mission that if you have the faith necessary for others to understand, if you do all you are supposed to in teaching and bringing the spirit, then everyone can understand. It was awesome. At the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized and she said she needed to think about it. About 10 minutes later, we were talking with her grandma and Genesis walked up to us and said "I am ready." We asked for what and she said "I want to get baptized!". So we talked with her mom later on this week and she is going to be baptized on January 24! We are SO excited! Christmas miracle!!
Tuesday was probably one of the happiest, most exciting days in my life! In the morning we went to visit a family who is investigating the church. Their name is the Gallardos. We were only able to meet with Hermana Gallardo on Tuesday. They have a really cool story of how they met missionaries. So they were staying in Virginia with family for a while. Hermano Gallardo had always been interested in learning more about the church. One day they were walking down the street and met two Mormon missionaries. They talked for a while and had a really awesome lesson. The Gallardos said that they could really feel the spirit when they talked with them. Unfortunately they had to return back to Arizona a few days later. Two days after they got back, some Elders knocked on their door. They had felt inspired to knock in that neighborhood and they met them! So the English elders started teaching them but something just didn't feel right. They all prayed about it and decided that they should be taught in their first language (Spanish). So the Spanish sisters started visiting them and here we are now! We had a really great lesson about tithing with Hermana Gallardo and were able to answer a few concerns they had. At the end of the lesson we asked her what her thoughts were on the things that she has learned. She told us that it feels good, that she really loves it and wants to be baptized. But because of her husbands crazy work schedule these past couple months, he hadn't been able to come to church, or lessons. She told us that she wants to be able to learn and be baptized with him as well. At the beginning of the new year, church will be at 9am and his work schedule will be less crazy so we will be able to meet with both of them, and they should be able to come to church! We know that the Lord is blessing them. They are so prepared and I already love them so much! So it was a really great start to the morning.
Later on we went to visit a less active member, but she wasn't home, which was weird because she usually always is home! So we decided to got try and visit a family we had met caroling the other day (we have been doing a LOT of caroling lately haha). We couldn't remember exactly where he lives, but we tried and as we were driving down the road, I saw a street name that looked familiar, so we turned on it. It wasn't the right street but Hermana Flake told me that a former investigator lived there so we decided to try her, and it turns out she had moved. Well at this point we were just totally lost and wondering why we were there. We knew it couldn't be a coincidence. So we decided to pray and felt like we should knock on some doors. We knocked about 2 doors, and a little girl answered. She went and got her Dad. His name was Ralph. We started talking about the really cool oldies car he had in his driveway, and then we told him who were are and what we do. He started telling us about how important Jesus Christ is in his life, and how it is because of Christ that he was able to change his life and get to the point where he got married and started a family. We shared the scripture Alma 7:11-12 with him and it brought him to tears, We bore our testimonies to him of Jesus Christ and then said a prayer with him right there on his doorstep. He invited us to come back on Saturday to teach him and his family. It was such a humbling experience to be involved in that chain of events.
On Saturday we went back to visit Raul, and his wife opened the door. She told us he wasn't available right then, so we told her who we are and she said "Yeah he told me about you". They had family over and were just heading out, but she told us that we could come back on Monday. For us, it was a mini miracle that we were able to talk with the wife and introduce ourselves to her too. We are so excited to go back and get to know them.
Well the rest of the week went great. Christmas was awesome, we got to visit a lot of people and share the spirit of the season with them. We have seen so many miracles this week and I know that it is because people are thinking more about their Savior and what he gave for us. I am so grateful for the experience to be a representative of him this time of year. It really has been the best Christmas ever, because I was able to spend 24 hours of it preaching his gospel. I love you all so much and I know that he loves you too! Have a good week and a good new years!
Love,
Hermana Lundquist