splits! Elder Gonzalez turns out to have Tendinitis in his foot and so
we got permission from President to leave him with our ward mission
leader, Hermano Buffoni, and I've been going out with youth from our
ward. We also have meet some really great people this week!
So to start off the week we went to the doctors to check out Elder
Gonzalez's foot and they quickly determined he has Tendinitis in the
sole of his foot. They told him that he needed to stay off his foot
for an ENTIRE week.....so we decided that the best option would be
finding a member to leave him with and to find someone to go it with
me. Luckily our ward mission leader is retired, therefore he's always
at home and his son, Carlos, came back early from his
mission(well....not so lucky on that part) but his son was able to go
out with me for Wednesday and Thursday, then a member named Russell
came out with me on Friday. It was really good for Carlos to come out
with us because we are able to help him catch the spirit of missionary
work and have some spiritual experiences to help him get back out on
his mission. Hermano and Hermana Buffoni was very very excited to see
him going out with me, and told us that he's starting to change
already from just those two days together.
If we didn't have members with us we pretty much were stuck in Piso
but luckily that only happened for two mornings of the week, so I got
to take two naps and once we found other members to come out with us,
it was back to work! I can't tell you how precious sleep is on the
mission, it literally is just go go go for two years and the lack of
relax time takes a toll, but it's sooo worth it!
So this week Carlos and I found an Ecuadorian couple named, Franklin
and Monica, on the street by our piso and they were super rude right
off the bat, actually Monica started getting upset with me and was
telling me how churches are horrible and that she doesn't believe in
any church, only in the "one true God". We assured her that we believe
in "the one true God" as she says it, and that we were sharing a
message that he wants her to hear, so she accepted us to let us come
over on Friday. On Friday I went over, with another member, Russell,
and we taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The
lesson was SUPER intense and the spirit was super strong there, Monica
opened up to is a lot about the experiences she's had in her life, and
she truly has been prepared to receive the gospel in this moment in
her life. She then came to a baptism the 3rd Ward had with us, on
Saturday and really really liked it! Then on Sunday came with us to
Sacrament Meeting, actually they picked us up and drove us! They
really liked it and Monica told me at the baptism, "I've always
opposed organized religion, but I don't why but I just feel so good
being here. It just feels right." In a matter of days she changed from
a person who just had a dark countenance to someone who looked full of
light. As we saw her desiring to make this change we invited her to be
baptized on the 16th of July, and she said she would if she knew it
was true! I truly hope she can continue making these changes in her
life that will bring her so much happiness!!! This gospel is really a
gospel of happiness and change!
I love being able to see people make these changes in their lives! I
know that the gospel blesses families and that anyone can change, no
matter what, because our Savior Jesus Christ completed the atonement,
we ALL can change! There is no exception, case or reason why we can't
change, the only thing that holds us back is ourselves through our
pride. May we always let the Lord change us to be who we should be and
put his will above ours! Love you all very much!!!
Have an amazing week!
-Elder Miller
