October 22nd, 2012

Goooood day!

This week has been fantastic!  We had a really good "zone meeting" (no, not conference just meeting) on Tuesday about things our mission president, President Maynes, wants us to do as a mission.  We're doing a 40 day fast for the month of October to reach our baptismal goal for the month.  Each zone is fasting a different day so that each day our mission is fasting (if that makes sense).  Our day is on Wednesday.  Fasting is actually really hard for me because as you know with my illnesses, I'm always so worn out and fatigued. So when I don't eat...it's even more so so I'm really dragging. I'm gonna be honest..I haven't done it in awhile because of that...it seriously takes a big toll on me but during the meeting I really felt the spirit and had a great desire to find people to teach.  So I was determined I would fast for a full 24 hours.  I knew the Lord would know how big of a sacrifice it was for me but I was so willing to do it because I just want to meet prepared people!  So the next day Hna. Rios and I kneeled as a companionship and prayed to know who of our investigators we should put on date to be baptized.  We thought of Selma, a referral the english elders had given to us a week prior.  As we looked at the calendar, I saw November 18th.  It felt good.  But Hna Rios thought of the week earlier. So we pondered and decided ok let's pray again.  So we did and as we prayed we both remembered that Selma isn't married but is living with her boyfriend. Drawback. So we decided to push the date to Dec. 9th. Awesome.  So two big blessings came that day.  One I wasn't really hungry (when does that ever happen?!) and two we had an appointment for EVERY single hour of the day!  (also when does that ever happen?). So luckily everyone was home and it made the day go by faster.  So we had dinner at 6 with a less active.  Around 4:30ish we went to go contact some potentials cause we had a little bit of time before our appointment at 5.  So we find out their home and they're cooking some BOMB carnitas con tortilla chips, salsa, the works. As they were talking, I'm pretty sure I was trying to keep myself from drooling all over the place because hunger finally hit me.  I don't even remember how the conversation went but they tried to make us eat like 5 times but since we were fasting we kept saying no (dang you satan!) and that we "had already ate" (yes you sometimes have to lie as a missionary but for good purposes!!) so as we were driving to our 5 o'clock appointment is when it started to hit both of us. We had no energy, we were tired, hungry and it was just hard to think. So this appointment was with an investigator.  Her name is Yazmin. She's 23 years old with 3 kids.  Her mom and sister are members but less active. So Yazmin has been investigating the church for 5 years but never committed to baptism.  She's semi-dependable with her appointments but that day she was actually there!  We had planned to share about the book of mormon.  As we sat down on her couch she asks if she can tell us about her experience she had about praying about the book of mormon. Of course we say yes!  So the night before she kneeled and prayed then opened the book to Alma 32 and read about faith.  She really liked it and felt the spirit and knew the book was true. As she was sharing this experience, I was really intuned with the spirit.  It kept telling me to extend a baptismal date...I didn't have a calendar but the date november 18th kept coming in my mind. So I told her "Yazmin...you have a testimony...God wants you to be baptized in result of it and as missionaries we have the authority to know which date God wants you to be baptized and the spirit is telling me November 18th" and she goes "what!! that's so soon!!" And I said "you've been investigating for 5 years though..." and she says "you're right...I know its time" then Hna Rios formally invites her to be baptized and she hestiates and says "I want to say yes but i think of other things and think no." then we said "have faith yazmin." and she goes "ok! I'll be baptized that date." Whaaat!!! I have no idea how that all happened but her telling us about her sacred experience with the book of mormon definitely invited the spirit and from there the spirit guided the lesson COMPLETELY because we did not plan to do that at all.  As I relfected, I thought "wait...thats why November 18th. sounded good ...because that date was for Yazmin not Selma".  It was the best way to end our fast! I loved it. It strengthed my testimony of fasting.  God WILL bless you for your sacrifices. He will not be indebt to anyone.  Selma actually ended up not being home that night....funny how God works. He definitely know what's going on.  I love being a missionary. Such a privilege to witness God's hand every day. Please pray the Yazmin will be baptized! We'll need it. I love you all! Keep seeing the tender mercies of the Lord. They are everywhere.