WEEK 32 "Washing 300lbs of laundry to show our friends we love them? Vale la pena"
Hola Todos!
So they say that August is hottest and September is the second hottest month. So we are still sweating down here but it is so worth it! Hopefully it will start cooling off soon:)
This week we had zone conference and it was so exciting to see all of our missionary friends and be spiritually lifted together. President randomly called on me to speak. I was terrified but I cheerfully accepted.
I love being in a room with so many missionaries learning about how we can improve. One of my favorite parts is hearing the departing missionaries testimonies. A quote that stood out to me this time was by Elder McCombs. I had the opportunity to serve around him and he said.... "The greatest tool that the advisory uses against us is putting us at ease.
He motivates us to stay in our comfort zone, and think that we don't have room for improvement. However, we need to always be working for perfection. Christ commanded each one of us, "Be ye perfect even as I am." I love that Elder Mccombs reminded me this week that although it takes effort, change, time, and diligence we need to be always striving to better ourselves through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This comes through repentance and making goals and plans.
During the conference President was inspired to teach us how we can work with the members more. We all know this is the best way to do missionary work but takes a lot of effort and time. This week we received three member referrals!!! It was awesome our members are already thinking about La obra a lot more.
We even got one of our members to take us around to all of his neighbors one day. He is classic and rode his beach bike in the burning hot all afternoon with us. Yesterday we received a referral at church and we were so excited about it we went right over after church. Her name is Vet and she was soooo cool! She expressed how impressive it was that we came over only two days after she told her neighbor she was interested in learning more. She just barely had a baby after 22 years of not having kids. She said it was a straight miracle and that God gave her this perfect baby because she needs to change and come closer to Him. She cried to us as we shared her a scripture out of the book of Mormon about our Savior. She was beaming when we gave her a copy and promised us she would read and pray that night! Member work rocks!!
This week Sister Doyle and I are also starting to memorize all of the member's names by taking pictures of them at church and with the help of the ward clerk we will upload the pictures into LDS tools. This way these pictures will be of great help to the missionaries that will come into our ward in the future as well. We also are creating family mission plan pamphlets that will then be introduced to the ward in relief society and elders quorum. We will follow up with the family's goals and missionary plans at dinner appointments.
Our friends are progressing well! Jovanni (our humble friend from Honduras) and Ruth (the sweet Columbian mom) told us they wanted to be baptized this week for the 29th of September. They both want to feel more dedicated to God and have expressed their desire to have the spirit more with them! Ruth's repose to the question was "claro!" And Jovanni response was "in water?" Jaja And we said yes! And he said, "yeah I do"! I have never felt the spirit soooo strong then when we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, bear personal testimony and extend the invitation to fear not and follow our Savior into the waters of baptism. We do everything out of our love for our Savior in this mission and when we love our friends with everything we have they will want to love our Savior by following Him.
This week when we were knocking we ran into Nacho!! Classic name right? It's hard for me not to think of Nacho Libre when we teach him. Nacho is from Mexico and he immediately recognized us as missionaries because he had talked to the elders a couple years prior. I asked him how he had seen
faith help him through his trials. BOOM inspired question... I think so! He told us how he used to be an alcoholic and then started to get into drugs. He said there was a really dark time in his life where he did cocaine and then ended up in a coma for three days. He told us that through this life-threatening experience he woke up and he had found out who Christ was and the role He plays in our lives.
We immediately opened up to Alma 36 in the Book of Mormon and taught Nacho about Alma the Younger and how he could relate to this incredible prophet who lived in the ancient Americas. The spirit was strong and we drew the similarity in Mosiah 23:23 "That they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God." Nacho's story of faith and repentance is moving. His love for the Savior is powerful. I know that sometimes we pass through darkness in this life to understand, acknowledge and apply the only true source of light which comes through our Savior Jesus Christ.
This week we had zone conference and it was so exciting to see all of our missionary friends and be spiritually lifted together. President randomly called on me to speak. I was terrified but I cheerfully accepted.
During the conference President was inspired to teach us how we can work with the members more. We all know this is the best way to do missionary work but takes a lot of effort and time. This week we received three member referrals!!! It was awesome our members are already thinking about La obra a lot more.
This week Sister Doyle and I are also starting to memorize all of the member's names by taking pictures of them at church and with the help of the ward clerk we will upload the pictures into LDS tools. This way these pictures will be of great help to the missionaries that will come into our ward in the future as well. We also are creating family mission plan pamphlets that will then be introduced to the ward in relief society and elders quorum. We will follow up with the family's goals and missionary plans at dinner appointments.
Our friends are progressing well! Jovanni (our humble friend from Honduras) and Ruth (the sweet Columbian mom) told us they wanted to be baptized this week for the 29th of September. They both want to feel more dedicated to God and have expressed their desire to have the spirit more with them! Ruth's repose to the question was "claro!" And Jovanni response was "in water?" Jaja And we said yes! And he said, "yeah I do"! I have never felt the spirit soooo strong then when we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, bear personal testimony and extend the invitation to fear not and follow our Savior into the waters of baptism. We do everything out of our love for our Savior in this mission and when we love our friends with everything we have they will want to love our Savior by following Him.
This week when we were knocking we ran into Nacho!! Classic name right? It's hard for me not to think of Nacho Libre when we teach him. Nacho is from Mexico and he immediately recognized us as missionaries because he had talked to the elders a couple years prior. I asked him how he had seen
I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is the only way to truth and lasting happiness in this life and in the life to come. Thank you for all the support and love. Keep me posted on your lives:)
-Hermana Richards
highlights:
-We watched the YSA devotional last night with Jovanni and it was incredible if you haven't seen it go watch it!
-A member in our ward is dating my Recent Convert Leonardo and they are getting married this December!!!!! We saw the member this week and LEO was there. I LOVE THEM
-We broke open a pinata to celebrate sister Mercado's 1 year mark
Low lights:
-This week while we were knocking we casually just saw a naked lady running across the street
- Our washing machine broke
-Lilian and Anna (our two single moms) from Honduras are still struggling with finding food, shelter, and some source of stability
-We did laundry with them one day to help serve them....it REEKED. I think we did almost 300 lbs of laundry that hadn't been washed for months. vale la pena:)