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Marìa Rosa (32 years old) and Ariel (10 year old son) came to church!!!!! HALLELUJAH
She wanted a phone call in the morning at 7:30 to wake her up. We did so. We agreed to meet her at an intersection and walk the rest of the way to church. We go there and wait. At 9:00 when church started, We call, she says they are almost ready and will go directly to the church on their own. Bueno, we go. We wait…no show for an hour…Nooooo Marìa Rosa! The missionary phrase “Just come to church!” from “The District 2” missionary videos is rolling through our heads and is being verbally expressed among my companion and I. Luckily, sacrament meeting is held at the last hour. (Why don’t we always do it that way? I like it.) Hopefully she comes during the second hour we pray. In sacrament meeting the last hour, my companion is passing the sacrament and I’m meditating during the sacrament and praying for all our investigators. Some discouragement surges, not a new feeling, but it helps when you can say to yourself, “I did all I could, I did all I could.” The passing of the sacrament ends and my companion sits next to me, nudges me and says, “she came.” “Who?!”, already having let go of the anticipation for an investigator to come. I whip around and see Marìa Rosa listening intently ahead, Ariel waving to us with a smile. Hallelujah! “Who is she sitting next to?” I think. “Villalba (a great family), okay good.” At the end of the sacrament meeting, members throng her, begin to introduce themselves to her. She feels pretty embarrassed but she does well. María Rosa has a baptismal date for the 11 of April. She’s progressing pretty well. She and Ariel are a true find!
In our last visit with María Rosa, we were prepared to teach her more about what commitments we make once we are baptized, because she had this question. We were going to teach some of the commandments. We are hanging out with Ariel and in the kitchen María Rosa is fixing up some “rosquitas” (homemade doughnut balls), and Hot Chocolate. She comes and serves us the rosquitas, Good and tasty. She serves the drinks and goes back to the kitchen. My companion brings the cup up to his lips and halts and nudges me. “what?” I say. He head motions to the cups. I smell the hot-chocolate-looking drink…COFFEE. At first my companion and I give wide-eyed looks at each other, Ariel says, “what?”. But then we naturally agreed that this was the perfect moment to teach the “Word of Wisdom”. She really liked the lesson!
Vicente and Rosanna are still going. Vicente has just been having a lot of stress with house debts and getting work (they came from Paraguay and live in a humble but clean abode), so it’s difficult for him to focus on anything else. In our visit, yesterday, we find him with a weird muscle injury in his shoulder, back and neck, couldn’t sleep last night due to the pain, and sits in a straight, not-moving anything position, and doesn’t stand up either. They wanted to wait it out for a moment to see if the pain would slip away without the trouble of going to a hospital and them telling him that he needs to wait it out patiently. I tell him that I’ve got some remedies in the pension that we can run and get! We bring him the Doterra Esencial Oils I have haha!!! I give him one that’s used specifically for muscle injuries and lavender for stress relief. We agree to come back in 2 hours to give him a blessing with a stud-member around the corner, not only because he has to get back to work on Wednesday (luckily it was holiday yesterday and today), but so he can have another spiritual experience by being part of a Priesthood blessing. We go to a members house to have a Family Home Evening, strengthening them. We go back to Vicente after and he is already standing up! With faith, doterra, and to show respect towards us, he toughed it out to stand up. Rosanna already rubbed the doterra on him and it really relaxed or numbed the injury area. The member gives a great blessing of health. We ended the day with glad hearts.
I’ve almost finished reading Acts from the Bible for the first time. My testimony has grown through it. Bonding with the stories of Paul, Peter and others in that we share testimonies of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The one and only true God. And He promises, His children, if we are faithful to his gospel and commandments, we gain all that he has. Peace in this life and a fulness of joy in the life to come. It’s the best promise, and He fulfills!
Love you all.
Elder Orme IV