WEEK 34 "Biking Gangs"
Que tal?
Another week in Hollyweird brought lots of new and exciting experiences. One of the weirdest things that we saw this week was a group of 50 bikers all zooming down the interstate road with the WEIRDEST outfits and bikes. They were either on dirt bikes or some type of tricycle or four wheeler all doing wheelies in front of the huge Hard Rock Hotel that is being constructed. In all honestly, it is a really unique Hotel but i think that it is a modern day Tower of Babel. jaja
This week our mission is still pressing member missionary work hard. We received 2 amazing referrals from our members woot woot and we are exited to continue to work with the members. We are striving to help our friends on date have lots of friends at church. I am really excited to see how this next week goes. Oh and we got a new ward mission leader who is so cool. This is BIG news for us. He served his mission in El Salvador and his family is incredible. We are realllly excited to say the least.
This week it felt like we hardly knocked doors at all because we were receiving lots of referrals either online, through members or through the friends that we are teaching. God prepared 3 of these referrals so well that we shared the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with them on the first lesson and all three were committed to be baptized in October. One of these ladies received a Book of Mormon from her sister and had stayed up all night reading. With tears in her eyes she told us that this sacred book helped her find answers to all of the questions she had about God's plan for her.
Our dearest friend Ymelda also has the strongest testimony of gaining personal revelation from God through the Book of Mormon. She is getting baptized this weekend. One of the sisters in our congregation gave her a pad of paper where she seeks out revelation in the scriptures everyday and writes it down to remember. Over the past two months we have been teaching her she has truly gone through a beautiful conversion process. I have seen the biggest change in her heart which has affected every aspect of her life. Her health was very bad when we first met her and now she and her family have seen a huge change in her health and happiness. The power of the Savior's Atonement is what brings miracles in our lives. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what brings families together. We are now teaching her grandson who has a desire to be baptized. She wants her whole family...all nine of them to join the church before she dies. I guess we have some incredible work to accomplish.
Our cute friend Ruth is also progressing well. She is absolutely incredible!! Fridays are our favorites because we get to go over and teach her cute family. Her husband is sadly not too interested in taking the discussions but she couldn't be more excited to be baptized. She loves church and loves the joy and peace that comes through seeking out Christ. Her deepest desire is to be the best mom possible for her children and she knows that the Church that we represent is created to help us progress and change through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Ruth's humility and desire to change through repentance has made a huge impact in my life and my testimony.
Last but not least we knocked into the cutest family from Nicaragua. A 13 little boy answered the door. As we got to know them I asked this boy how he had seen Christs hand in his life. He immediately started crying. This tender boy went on to tell us how Christ healed him from a scary illness. I described to him how Christ had healed me from my illness as well. This young child had the strongest testimony of faith in our Savior. After the family let us in we found out that 10 years ago they had been taught by the missionaries in South America. We taught them a powerful introduction to the Book of Mormon with the Gospel of Jesus Christ intertwined. The spirit was strong and they anxiously asked us where the church was and when we were going to return.
God is a God of miracles. And if we seek after Him with faith and diligence he will guide us. I love Mat 16:25 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." I love testifying of my the healing power that comes through our Savior. Although it is hard for me to not tear up when I testify, I know that He Lives. I wouldn't be out here serving if I didn't know that this is the true church of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love Him and I know that He leads and guides us through a living prophet today.
I love you all so much. thank you for all the support.
Besitos,
Hermana Richards
Highlights:
-We woke up early to go to the beach and watch the sunrise for sister Jensen's b-day
-that morning we met a 100 yr old grandma from Yugoslavia walking down the board walking all by herself she immediately asked us what the libro de Mormon was and we had a great convo
-Ruth is basically our second mom down here she takes good care of us
-Jovanni came to church with a question in mind and it was answered by talking to our bishop
Low lights:
When it rains the whole streets are filled with water. One day it was pouring and we were walking to a meal appointment. In corner of my eye I saw a big truck coming down the road fast... immediately after i turn to cover my face the biggest puddle of our entire lives soaked us, from head to toe. My comp didn't see it coming and she got the biggest face shot