Walmart

¡Buenas Tardes Familia!

...and I say family because you all really are my family! We are ALL sons and daughters of God and I am grateful for every single one of you! TODAY we got to go to walmart and honestly I was probably too excited for the trip but it's nice to get away some times and wal mart felt like home! I also bought a pillow because the one that was provided at our apartment makes me neck hurt, I think. Or I was just spoiling myself with a new pillow, who knows? haha

baptism of "David." I am not sure why
that elder wanted to be in the picture.... haha

Alright so this week was awesome, just like every other week but just a little bit funnier! We had a baptism this week which was awesome, but everything with this man leading up to the baptism was the best part and I officially believe in miracles. I am going to change his name for identity reasons, so his name is David :)  So David is about 43 years old. A while ago David had severe alcohol issues. He was definitely addicted. The alcohol has affected his brain a ton to the point where he is pretty much like a child now. Our problem for the past 5 weeks with him is that he can't EVER remember when we have lessons with him. All that he remembers is to attend church on Sunday's, which is good! haha but we also needed to teach him the doctrine! Anyway, he has been ready for baptism for about two weeks but we had to wait for an ok from our president because he has a hard time remembering things. President gave us the ok to baptize him with the information that if he understands the concepts that it's all good. Well he understands when we tell him he is just difficult to remember them. BUT every time we see him he would say "No tomo, no tomo!" Which means he hasn't drank in very minimal words, which is great! Well we have two baptisms next week and another the week after that and since he never remembers our lessons it is very difficult to get a baptism date with him. So basically all week we checked his house to see if he was home and prayed for a miracle to find him this week, have his baptismal interview and then find him again to baptize him. Well the poor elders who are our district leader had to be on call this whole week for whenever we might find David.

me and my companion on the path
that we have to take to get to one of
our investigators house.... hahaha

 This week I have been reading a lot about faith in the New Testament and the stories about faith that Jesus Christ taught about. I came across one that really stuck out to me on Thursday morning that talked about faith and the coming of miracles because of strong faith. So I finished my persional studies and told God that I was going to be so faithful that day that I would see a miracle... Around 1:45 on thursday afternoon we decided to take a different road to get to where we were going. This particular neighborhood housed the family that referred us to David. As we passed by we saw David in the front yard helping them clean!! We grabbed David and took him to the chapel for him to recieve his interview and made plans with that family that theywould have him over for dinner the following Saturday at 5 before his baptism at 7:30p that day. He is pretty good at remembing the food as well. Food and church haha. We also had to tell the missionary that was interviewing him that "Cafe negro"(black coffee)  means "te negro" (black tea) for the word of wisdom. (For those who dont know the word of wisdom in this Gospel refers to the abstinance of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, coffee and tea.) He could remember everything and he just would say "No tomar, no fumar, no drogas, no cafe, no cafe negro." The lesson was actually pretty awesome when one time he actually said "te negro". I cried, naturally, because we spent a whole hour teaching him the Word of Wisdom. 

 Ok sorry off topic. ANYWAY, so it's now Saturday. We planned on calling this family at 5 to see if David had remembered dinner. Well we were in a lesson with a family of TWELVE until 5:15. We got out of the lesson and called the family and David WAS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. So me and Hermana Arroyo began searching for him. It was like 85 and we were walking very fervently, sweating. breathing hard, searching for David. We got to his house and he wasn't there so we took a step to the side and said a prayer that we might find David for his baptism. We searched for about another hour. Around 6:50 we called a member of the church who planned to attend the baptism to see if she wouldnt mind driving us for another 20 minutes because it was only us and our ward mission leader looking for him on foot. Then I offered another prayer and asked God that if it be in the interest of him and David that we find him. Around 7 she got to us and we sat in her car as they drove us around for another 15 minutes through the streets looking for him. I started to lose hope thinking that we

one of the families that we teach.
The one I believe that I wrote about a couple
 weeks ago. I really just love love them.
 Sorry that my head is cut off, i am just too
tall for the people here!

would never find him. Then around 7:16 we began to come up on the church and in front of and saw a short man, with a big cowboy hat and a limp walking in front of the church. IT WAS DAVID!!! I again, started to cry as we yelled out the windows DAVID! He turned around with a huge smile and laughed (he is ALWAYS laughing and smiling) as we pulled up next to him! I said, "David, today is your baptism!" And he smiled and said yes! And after that couldn't stop smiling! He was so excited!! So he was baptized this saturday by his friend. He was so happy you guys! The funny part was him trying to get into the water! He yelled "LA AGUA" as he stepped in. He went step by step but eventually was in. He has a really hard time with staying quiet and closing his eyes during prayers and other things but the amazing part was during the ordinance of the baptism his eyes immediately shut during the baptismal prayer and he was quiet the whole time. After he come up from the water he had a huge smile on his face. I was crying. The next day David was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Again, during his confirmation he was silent and kept his eyes closed the whole time.

I officially believe in miracles. I have so much more hope that I ever have. The things about David is that he is very difficult to work with. He can't pay attention well, he can't really pray aloud so we try to have him repeat after us but can only repeat the last word of each sentence. He interrupts the lessons a lot. He in general cannot focus. Most of our lessons had some really funny memories but didn't get much done. And he doedn't remember anything. But the real thing about David is that he taught me so much more than we could ever teach

The best apple juice ever and the
BIGGEST juice box ever. I know
 that andre hutchens is jealous of my juice box experience!

him. He taught me a lot about patience. He taught me about loving others and how to always have a smile on. I am so greatful for this experience with him. I will never forget the miracles that were performed in order to teach him and it only proves to me that God loves every single one of his children and will do any and everything to bring them back to him. 

  Family, God is real. He loves all of you. He performs miracles if only you have the faith to see them. This have been the best and hardest experience of my life. It is only hard because it is challenging me to not be a carnal person but to have patience and faith, to be obedient to all things that are asked of me, to be understanding and most of all to love every single person that I meet.

Thank you all for your love and the support you all have given me. I am grateful for my two hours each week to see your words of encouragement and support. I love you all so much and I will talk to you all next week!

Con todo mi corazon,

Hermanaut