"We had our appointment with Maria B. She STILL hasn't come to church nor to any of the activities we have invited her to. So we get in there and start teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hit faith and repentance and we started on baptism. I felt impressed to share Moses 6:52 and it was a miracle that I found it because I never use it in lessons so it wasn't even marked in my Spanish scriptures. I hit the fact that receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is part of the covenant we make at baptism. I asked her who the Holy Ghost was and her answer was kind of iffy so I started in about how He doesn't have a body of flesh and bones so he can reside in us and testify of truth through thoughts and feelings. I asked her when she felt the Holy Ghost in her life and she answered, but her answer led to her opening up to EVERYTHING. Turns out her husband has cheated on her multiple times. Her suegro (father-in-law) used to be in a gang, has killed people before, and was very involved in alcohol and drugs. So that was the kind of household that her husband grew up in. Her husband and kids are also in a cult....? 'Legua, una creencia cubana, santanelia' is what she wrote down. Turns out the table when you walk in? Not cool foreign decorations...it's a shrine. She said the cult does animal sacrifices and sometimes human....????? She fights with her husband all the time about getting rid of the imagenes. She feels like there's so much darkness in her home and that it's holding her back from following Christ and living the gospel. I talked about the power of light and how it ALWAYS wins but that she has to believe in the light of Jesus Christ. I got emotional as I felt impressed to ask her if she knows she is a daughter of God. I wanted her to know her value and her worth SO BAD. She talked about wanting to find herself, to get out of that house, and live a life dedicated to God. I felt strongly impressed to read "Value Beyond Measure" by Joy D. Jones, which I had just studied the day before. Little did I remember this line, "When I found the gospel, I found myself." I legit stopped in the middle of reading in awe and wonder, pointing out to her that this is her desire. She just feels so much pain and unworthiness for the things she has done in the past...Hermana wrapped it up by saying God loves her and that he sent us here for her and that the light she so desperately needs is AT CHURCH. She was so bold yet loving...it was awesome!!!She heckin' invited her! A part that absolutely killed me was that she said there have been multiple "religious" people like us who have come by but when they ask about the table, and she explains the shrine, they stop coming....well, she said the closing prayer and she got super emotional when she said, "I know that You sent these girls to me and they have such a special light." By the end of that prayer we were ALL in tears. What an incredible lesson!!"THEN, last night when we were over at the Ga***'s, Diana leans over in the middle of the lesson to tell us that she has a friend who has a Mormon sister living in Utah. At the end of the lesson the friend SHOWED UP. Turns out, she comes from a less-active family! We looked her up in our ward list and the hermanas before us had written next to them that they are a different religion now and don't want missionaries to visit them....so we weren't planning on going over anytime soon! However, she said we can stop by and share a message with them! I think with having Diana, a recent convert of a very active family, as a close friend, we can bring her back! WHAT ARE THE ODDS. Diana didn't even know that her family were members of the church, so it was crazy!! You should have seen Diana's face when her friend said she was baptized, priceless!!
Well, I am staying here in Corona with nugget, and I am super pumped!! We have rescheduled the temple trip for the Friday after Christmas so we are super pumped!!!
Love y'all!!
Hermana Tonini
P.S. We took a Spanish pic because Elder Bailey is leaving us :(
No comments:
Post a Comment