May 21, 2012

Hey everyone- So this last week has really been incredible. We have just been super blessed with a lot of miracles. Man, I feel so humbled everyday to be a part of this work, the Lord's work, a spiritual work, an eternal work. To see peoples lives change and to be able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. What a humbling experience and what a blessing. This last week I got to go on an exchange back to Bella Vista and see my former investigators who I have missed so much. It was a really sweet experience. First we went and see the Family Arguetta. Oh how I love this family. They are a family of 6 from El Salvador and Marta makes the best pupusas ever! Well I guess the last couple of transfers they have been kinda stuck, Marta has been waiting for an answer from God. So me and Hna Thompson we went in to go and teach them and we talked with her about how she expected to receive her answer. She said through prayer and the feelings she received. We then asked her if she had prayed specifically, to know if these things were true, to which she replied she didn't have to, she already knew. She said that she just wasn't sure about baptism. In that moment, I remembered her telling us(me and hna moya) about a dream she had the first night she met us about 6 months ago. That night, after we taught her the first lesson, we invited her to pray for guidance. Well, she did it. That night she got on her knees and prayed and asked God for guidance, for where she should go with her kids, where he wanted her to be. She had a dream, that she was in the church with me and Hna Moya. She received an answer from God the first night she met us. The Spirit was able to remind me of her telling us of that dream and and it testified to her that that was her answer. She said that it was right and that she didn't want to go to church anywhere else. Right now, they are preparing for baptism the 15th of June! The second sweet experience I had that day was when we went to see Carmen...Carmen is the best, she came up to me and Hna Moya in church back in Dec and asked to learn from us. Unfortunately she has also been stuck lately because she is living with her boyfriend and has had a fear of leaving him over something she wasn't sure was true. As she has been taught she has seen so many people progress to baptism and change, for example her boyfriend's nephew Rudy was baptized the 5th of May. She went to his baptism and was moved to tears. So that night we went to see her. She said the opening prayer and the spirit was in the room so strongly. We talked a little about Rudy's baptism and how much he had changed and how he had a full testimony of the gospel. We then talked to her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how much He loved her. She expressed her feelings of how she wished the past could be wiped away and then we read with her Alma 7:10-15. The Spirit was so strong in the room. We explained to her that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, through faith in Him, repentance and baptism, all can be washed away, erased. We asked her how she would feel to be completely clean from her past? She began to cry and we asked her how she was feeling. With tears rolling down her face she said that she had gone to the catholic church growing up and she liked it, but it never made her feel the way she felt, it never made her cry...she said she knew the church was true. We invited her to come unto Christ and be baptized the 15th of June to which she excepted. I love my mission, I love all that it has given me. In this time, I feel like I have come to see things and people with a different perspective, I see them now as my brothers and sisters, and I love them so much! I only want the best for them, I only want to help them be the happiest they can be. I know from experience that the truest happiness you can receive is by living the gospel of Jesus Christ and I feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father to have had the chance to go back to Bella Vista that day, to see my people haha, the ones that I have grown to love with all my heart and to see the moment where they felt the truth and accepted it. The Holy Ghost testified to them the truth, It testified to them the eternal truth, that God loves them and that He wants to see them again. The gospel is so true. God's hand is in our lives everyday. I am a witness of it. I love you all so much. Cubo RR

May 7, 2012

Hello dear family: How I love you all so much. So this week out here in the mission was really awesome. We got to hear from President Bednar and the spirit in the room was so incredible. After we walked out I remember feeling so physically, mentally and spiritually drained. He talked so much about faith and so much about how we had to act in order to truly learn and to truly gain a testimony. He also talked a lot about humility, about being the instrument that the Lord needs you to be so that He can work through you. I have come to realize on my mission, that all of this work has absolutely nothing to do with me. All the success, the miracles I have seen have all been because the Lord gave them to me, so that I could learn more and be more grateful to Him. And I am. I am so grateful to my Savior, to my Best Friend. Cubo, RR