Milagro

Ayyyyyy cuanto les quiero! I just love to read your emails. And Hannah's. She's such an amazing missionary and I love to think of her and try to emulate her.

Thank you so so much for your prayers. I love the phrase you used "storming the gates of Heaven" I can't even tell you how much those prayers have helped me. I feel like me again! It was a REALLY good week and we had some truly amazing miracles.

We knocked into this incredible woman who already seems like a relief society president...she just has that air about her. Her name is Nina and she is from Jalisco. She is in the middle of a big project to restore a small cathedral in her hometown in Mexico  so she's got her calling tree to raise money for it. She said she hadn't ever been to our church, but she's seen the San Diego temple and loved it so much that she used the idea of the lights around the spires in the restoration of the cathedral. She put lights all around it so that it would light up the town and be a "beacon of God" as she put it. She said she has ALWAYS wanted to go to the San Diego temple and wants to see inside....we didn't get the chance to tell her more about the temple before the conversation changed, but oh, we will!

THEN she told us that she has read the Book of Mormon before. Not only that, she FINISHED IT and LOVES IT! She has applied principles that she learned from it and has felt the healing effects of the Atonement in her life. She was able to forgive someone who hurt her very deeply and towards whom she held a lot of rancor (is that a word in English?) and she was able to better understand God's will for her mother who is dying. Is this woman not AMAZING??? Also, we started telling her about our church services and when she heard that we take the sacrament every week, she said "I'm going to go to your church. I don't know when, but I will. I've visited a lot of churches, but most of them don't take the eucharist. I need that spiritual nourishment of the bread and water." Ay, she's so great.

BUT she's going to Mexico soon to take care of her mom and she doesn't know when she's coming back. But we prayed with her and she gave us HUGE hugs and asked us to come back soon. 

BLESSINGS!!

Also, last night we called a referral that we had received from one of our recent converts to see if we could visit her. We started out talking about who we are, what our purpose is, etc but she shot us down fairly quickly when we asked if we could come to her house and meet her by saying "oh I already have my church, but thanks anyway". We kept talking for a bit and somehow the Spirit guided our conversation to genealogy and then to fasting. We had a really great conversation and we could tell that she really felt the Spirit, so we asked again if we could come by and meet her sometime. BAM! She gave us her address and we set up a time to meet her. MILAGRO!!

We're trying really hard to find new investigators and we're both making really good progress spiritually. Hna Quick is SUPER shy and is working hard to overcome her fears of talking to people and being more internally motivated. She's a really wonderful missionary and she is incredibly perceptive. I love her so much!

While I'm sad that my mission is ending soon and that I won't have this incredible calling or constantly be with my wonderful friends and companions, I am also excited to be with you and bask in your glow. I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for the blessings and miracles I've seen during this time and for all of the ones yet to come. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and for the scriptures that teach me how to be happy.

I love you more than all the sticky notes used by missionaries!

Love ,