Sigan los milagros

This week was really great. We´re continuing to see miracles here in Libertad. The best one happened on Friday. I told you about our investigator, Rubén, who is a professor of philosophy. The first time we met him we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. Last week after Sacrament meeting Hermana Reales invited him to be baptized after he knew that the Church was true. She said she was really nervous to do it all throughout the meeting, but felt like we needed to do it. We haven´t even really been able to teach him yet. President Carter said in our interviews how interesting it is that we have an investigator who comes to church but hasn´t been taught. It sounds a little backward, right? He has a ton of questions about so many different things that we never really get a chance to teach an actual lesson. Anyway, when Hermana Reales challenged him to be baptized, he said, "Maybe. I´ll have to think about it this week." We went by 3 times this week before we could actually find him at home on Friday.



On Friday he asked us about the law of chastity, so we taught that and answered some of his other questions about the plan of salvation that he had from the pamphlet on the Plan of Salvation. Then he said, "I need to tell you about an experience I had this week. The Book of Mormon is kind of mystical, isn´t it?" Hermana Reales and I didn´t really know how to react to that, but then he told us that during the week he was reading the Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi where Nephi and his family arrived in the Americas and then closed the book and started to think about our invitation for baptism. He said he thought about it for a few minutes and then let the Book of Mormon just fall open. It opened to Moroni 6 and read about baptism. He said he knew then that the book was true and that he needed to be baptized. He told us he wanted to be baptized and asked if there were other things he needed to do, other than his desire. He asked if he could be ready to be baptized on the 28th. We told him we needed to teach him some more things and he said that´s great because he has vacation time this week and will be home every day. We´re going to have a lot to do this week, to teach him everything, but we´re going to have a baptism on Saturday! It´s so interesting because we´ve only taught him the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom. Funny, huh? But God works in mysterious ways and has been preparing Rubén for this for a long time, according to some of the things he´s told us. It´s so cool, and such a testimony to me of the truthfulness of the Gospel, that he connects all of his philosophical knowledge with the truth and simplicity of the Gospel.



Yesterday was kind of tough and Hermana Reales and I were having a hard time meeting all of our goals. We needed two more lessons with members and 3 new investigators to reach our goal. To have a contact count as a new investigator we have to teach one or more principles, have a return appointment, as well as a prayer (we do a lot of praying in the streets). There weren´t any members that could come with us to do our two lessons, so we had to go by less-active and part-member families to try and do it. The people we contacted didn´t want to pray or weren´t interested. Needless to say, we were a little worried about it. We didn´t want to be the reason that our zone didn´t meet the goals for los datos (all the numbers for the week). We have to be back in the apartment at 8:30 pm on Sundays and we still needed 1 new investigator and 1 lesson with a member at 8:15. We turned the corner there was an inactive member and her friend standing outside the member´s house. They let us share a scripture with them and we got our lesson with a member. Then we started knocking on doors trying to find a new investigator. We found our last new investigator for the week at 8:25 and hurried home. He genuinely seemed interested, too. God really does bless you when you go just a little further than you think you can.



We had interviews with President Carter on Friday and it´s very secure that Hermana Reales is going to be transeferred this next week. I have been so blessed to have her as my companion. I want to learn everything I can from her this week before she leaves. It´s her birthday on Wednesday and I want to do something special for her, but I don´t know what. I´ll keep thinking about it. What better birthday present is there than a baptism? I´ll think of something.



I love you all.



Love, Erin