i had sorta an embarrasing moment this week that was funny. we were with the zone leaders because they did a baptismal interview for one of our investigators. we were walking to our house for some papers and as we were walking i thought i saw one of my converts named paola. but i wasnt sure it was her. she was walking away from us sorta so i yelled out to her "HNA! HNA PAOLA" and she turned around and i waved and she waved back, but then my companion leaned over and said. "elder thats not paola..." it was pretty embarrassing. she was sorta confused. and i just chased down some random 20ish aged girl and yelled at her and waved at her as a missionary. haha. everybody had a good laugh at me though ha.
valedia is a 17 year old girl who is really great. we have taught her about 3 weeks. her parents dont want too much but she has done great. she has read, prayed, come to church, takes notes on what she reads, and received an answer the day after she accepted a date to be baptized where she felt the spirit and started crying. the day before her baptism her dad decided to suddenly not give his permission though he had said the whole time that he would. we had a good lesson with him but it didnt go too far in helping him say yes. we'll see what happens.
another 15 year old girl wants to be baptized and is a friend of a member, but cant for the same reason. also a really good investigator couldnt come to church because the night before her husband got arrested and she had to go to the jail far away.
yuri and norma got robbed this week. someone broke into their house and stole stuff and her wallet with all her credit cards and identity and everything. we walked past their house and found her outside on the phone right after it happened in tears and just said, "they robbed us". i helped her cancel her credit cards and then we had a lesson where i explained some things about challenges and about what matters most and also i gave her a blessing of comfort and counsel. it was hard on them though and theyve been scared to be in their house. the next day we went back and she was a lot better. she took it all well and chose to stay strong in her faith and increase her faith. i was worried it would be something that would make it hard for her to keep in the church. we did like 2 hours of service helping them clean the whole house and after i felt really good and so did they. they are really amazing and i love them and know they will always be strong and will be leaders in the church.
other news. we had a thanksgiving dinner with the millan family which was really nice. they made "turkey" thought it looked and tasted like ham ha. it as really good. i did our tradition and asked everyone to go around and say what they were thankful for. i made a video too. it was really cool.
one day we went out on this road i'd never been on into this like farm area and taught this random guy and then got a ride back in the back of somebodies truck we just flagged down sorta. they were going to the hospital and dropped us off in pomoca.
sunday i got to speak in sacrament meeting. for a lot of reasons i felt like i should speak on why life is so hard ha. or in other words, why there is an opposition in all things. a lot of people commented that it was really powerful and that they felt the spriit. yuridia (recent convert from before) said that while i was talking she looked up and saw like a white light all around me. she said it didnt go away the whole time. that was pretty cool. it has been amazing to see the hand of the lord, even in times of lots of trial. it was definitely not an easy week, but i think i learned a lot. i think a scripture that i would use that would fit what i learned this week would be philipians 4:11 where pablo says that he has learned to be happy whatever his situation. god gives us the experiences we need in this life. we need to be willing to suffer and sacrifice when needed to be able to learn what we need to to return to his presence one day.
i love you all and miss you
elder smith
pictures : thanksgiving with the millan. some pictures with a christmas tree in the house of a member and a recent convert. idk if is better or worse than the others.
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