HEY FAMILY!!!!!
So, a miracle happened. We were on exchanges in the Valley (great joy already) when we found out that there was a ward party that night. So basically I had the best day of my mission seeing all the members from my first area. I just sat there so happy thinking "This is what it's going to be like when we have reunions in the Celestial Kingdom!". Lots of hugs and I may or may not have cried a few times when the Silva family asked me to be at the temple with them when their daughter, Daniela, goes through the temple for the first time before she enters the mission field in Barcelona! The family wasn't active a year ago and now they're temple worthy....I am dying!! SO that was the greatest tender mercy I've ever experienced, like, ever. I love how Heavenly Father just increases your capacity to love. I love the people in The Valley and Chula and Santee all equally and nothing has ever gotten diminished. BLISS:)
SO it was a great week! We got to go to the temple last Tuesday (BTW when we all come back as a family to visit that is the first thing we are doing. Most beautiful place I have ever been in my life.) which was definitely needed. I don't know how some of my friends did it, going a whole mission without going to the temple. We're lucky that we can go every three months because by the end of it I just need to GO. We went as a whole zone and it was so cool, sitting there and feeling the power of set-apart missionaries and it was an experience I won't be forgetting anytime soon. The coolest part was, right after we got back, we went to the Gonzales family to teach them about the Gospel, but Mayra asked us to talk to her girls about taking care of themselves. SO we whipped out the pictures of the temple we took 2 hours earlier and gave the coolest temple/our body is a temple lesson ever. The spirit was so strong and Mayra even told us of an experience that she had when she was going through a divorce and was pretty distraught. Even though she hasn't gone to church in years, she drove to the temple, because she knew she would feel better there, and sat on the grounds and felt this overwhelming sense of peace. It was cool to see how emotional she got and both of us were thinking "yes!!! she's remembering!!". By the end of the lesson, we had a date set to all go to the temple grounds together and experience it. The kids are so excited and kept saying "I want to go inside one day soo bad!! Can we get baptized??". Helllooooo melted hearts on our part. I know I've said it before but I can't get over how much we love this family. We feel like they are such a huge part of us. We invited them to come to church......and they did. THE GONZALEZ FAMILY CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mayra hasn't been in years and the family has never been!! They came to the last hour (sacrament meeting) and the kids were all "I want to go for the whole time next week for all the classes!". I love this branch. Everyone went up to them and welcomed them and introduced themselves and we just sat there with smiles on our faces. Keep praying for the parents' hearts to be softened....they've come a long way and they've changed so much. One of the biggest miracles I have seen on my mission for sure:)
We met this 15 year old names Gerardo through the English elders a few weeks ago and he is one cool kid. He knows there is a God, but doesn't really know who He is or what their relationship could be like. At first he was a typical 15 year old, he didn't really say much and didn't open up at all. But as we've started out slow with Him, just explaining who God and Christ are and how important he is to Them, his heart is already beginning to change. Little by little he's opening up more. He's getting "the look" in his eyes! We went over last night and Hermana Barnes told him that we've seen change in him already and he just replied "I think you're right". I'm really excited to see what is in store for Gerardo and see the progression he will make.
I love seeing recent converts just become more and more converted every day. There is a couple in our branch who were baptized a month before I got here, and Jorge as well, who have been sharing the gospel with literally everyone they've come into contact with. The sign of true conversion is having a desire to share what you have, and it's so humbling when the people you helped to teach now want to go out and do it themselves. I think that's one of the greatest joys of the work-seeing other people you've shared the fruit "get it" and go out and share it with others.
So you know that CES fireside with Elder Ballard?? WATCH IT! It's being broadcast from San Diego! We can't go, but he is speaking to the missionaries on Monday and is coming to our mission leadership council this Friday!! We're so stoked!
The song"Abide with me Tis Eventide" has been on my mind all week. Except this week, I've been thinking of it being sung in the perspective of our Heavenly Father. A constant plea for us to stick with Him. God doesn't just sit there on His throne and wait for us to ask for Him to help. He is waiting, and pleading, for us to come back. I can imagine Him standing by our side with a full and broken heart just pleading for us to remember Him, and His love. It's been a long lesson I have learned on my mission, the difference between "preaching" and "pleading". When we have charity and love for our investigators, that is what it turns into. A plea to remember. It required humility and meekness (something I have been studying a lot of), and a full heart and it's been a cool lesson that I am constantly learning. We want our investigators to stick with us, God wants us to stick with Him, and it is a humbling thought knowing that we are being pled for.
I love you more now than ever!!
Hermana Hess
(pictures-Me and my compa at the temple and the Gonzalez fam!)
No comments:
Post a Comment