Pet

I have had a couple of rough days this month; however, these past two weeks have been purely INCREDIBLE. I have seen SO MANY ANSWERS TO PRAYERS and have felt extra blessed to be a missionary!! 

After months of reciting Doctrine and Covenants 4 every day, this week I realized the power of the last verse, which says,

7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen. 

In other words, if we pray, ask, act, and endure with patience, God will provide us with answers and blessings "according to the heed and diligence which [we] give unto him" (Alma 12:9) because "if [we] will pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth [us] nothing, for God receiveth none such" (Moroni 7:9). 

The "working hard" piece of the mission has never been a struggle for me; however, learning how to put in the work while relying on the Lord has been a slow process. Recently I have focused 100x more on truly relying on prayer to execute the work of the Lord and efectuar (carry out?) miracles. This is His work, not mine. We all have access to Christ's perfect power, but we need to learn how to access it. 

In a lesson this week with a new family we are teaching, we taught them the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The mom and kids were very interested and felt the spirit; however, the dad, in the beginning, continually asked us questions and would aggressively disagree with what we had to say. 

Normally, I would be thinking of how I was going to prove him wrong blah blah blah; however, instead, I listened to what he had to say and prayed for the guidance and authority of the spirit, and WOWWW, God pulled through and helped me out. 

I felt so spiritually guided to teach about the Restoration in a way I have never taught it before. The spirit inspired me to know how to personally and clearly apply our message to the lives of this family. 

Little by little, the dad softened his heart, and after we bore clear, strong testimony, he thanked us for the spirit we brought into his home and the knowledge we shared about Jesus Christ. I was grateful the spirit helped me to recognize that my purpose was not to prove him wrong or defend my beliefs but instead to help their family feel the love of God and invite them to come to know Jesus Christ. 

It was a 180 switch in just a single lesson. Who knows if this family will continue to progress...however, for me, this experience is such testimony of the power of prayer and remembering my purpose. I have put in my own work through studying hard, and then I can rely on the Lord's power to carry me the rest of the way. 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

Highs:

-Emerson got baptized this week!!!!!! SO MANY PEOPLE CAME, AND THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!!

-Jazmín wants to get baptized woohoo 

-Our pet dog named "pet" followed us around 

-Hermana Herrera teaching “pet” English 

-Zone conference!!!!

Lows:

-Can't remember the rest of the week