Hey everyone! Como estan? I hope all is well with you all, and I continue to love reading your letters/emails. This week was a really good week, so I'm just gonna get down to business alrighty? Sweet. Well, first I had a really embarrassing moment happen the other day.
We were going to pick up Yolanda (the most adorable old woman) to come out and teach with us, and we knew if we ran, we would make it to her door right at 8 o clock. Wel,l we were running, and then we started chanting "backpack run, backpack run." I being the more fit of us (hahahaha jk), was in the front just running up the stairs, and suddenly we were chanting back pack run to the "cha cha slide." I start getting into i,t and I'm "sliding" and "cha cha"-ing, and I bust into some dance moves and a flippin sweet turn. Well, I turn around and see Yolanda at the top of the staircase waiting for us. I go from chanting to "Oooooh ye HOLA YOLANDA!" She just busted up. I think she was definitely embarassed for me. I know we're supposed to be representatives of Christ, but I highly doubt that Jesus would have turned down a good chance to bust a move at that perfect timing. Just a thought. Haha just saying.
We were also street contacting, or "OYM"ing, and we talked to this lady at a bus stop. We taught her, and then asked her for a referral, and she said, "You know I don't know anyone really that speaks our language around here." I was like "Our language?" And she said, "The language of our Latino ancestors?" This conversation was in Spanish. She thought we were Spanish. My life is becoming complete. Haha this was super cool. I am so glad to have the gift of tongues.
We had a really cool lesson with Rosaurio(LA) this week. Wilson usually has the lessons with us, but he texted us last minute saying he couldn't come, so we went to teach Rosaurio by herself. It was a good thing too. When Wilson is there we focus on him and her, but she definitely needed us to focus only on her. We weren't sure what to teach her so we brought out some Mormon Messages and told her to pick the one that stood out to her the most. We watched one about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and bore really strong testimony after. Turns out she feels like a bad mother because her kids are in Guatemala with her mom. She's here working to eventually bring them here, and we wanted her to know that she is a good mom. It's because she's making that sacrifice that we know that. We bore strong testimony and we were all in tears. Guys, the Atonement is real. Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, pains, sicknesses, every emotion we have felt. He's felt it too, and I know that for a fact. We are never alone. Never. Just remember that.
Now for the big news. This week we had stake conference, and guess who came. Just guess. You'll never guess, so I'll tell you. Russell M. Nelson, one of the 12 apostles! This was by far the best stake conference I've ever been to. He spoke on Saturday about the importance of members and missionaries working together and promised the stake that we will be an example for the whole world of member and missionary work. Pretty awesome huh? The Sunday session was 1 up from Saturday though. Elder Hansen from the Seventy came and spoke as well as the temple president and his wife. They talked about first the temple being a goal, and then always returning to the temple. Elder Hansen told a story of when he was serving as mission president and his son was married far away. Because he was serving as mission president he couldn't go, but at the same time that his son was to be married in Logan, he went to the temple here in Houston. When he was waiting there was a young man with a pin that said "to be married" and Elder Hansen asked if the young man could pretend he was his son for 30 seconds. So they held each other and cried. Elder Hansen didn't know why the young man was crying, but he soon found out that the young man's dad wasn't able to see him be married. It's amazing, the power of the temple, they were connected even though they were so far away. And the young man was able to feel of a father's love on his wedding day. Whatever I was crying like a baby, who cares? Haha
But then Elder Nelson spoke. First of all, there were many cool things that strengthened my testimony. He asked to have all the children stand and sing him a verse of "I am a child of God." Another cry fest for Hermana Groves. It reminded me of in the Bible when Jesus says "Suffer the children to come to me." Elder Nelson, like us missionaries, is a representative of Christ. He holds the same authority that Christ did and to me that small gesture was something that Christ would do. No doubt about it. But I definitely saw a miracle. Elder Nelson was being interpreted the whole time, had headphones to understand what was going on. At the very end of his talk he said, "I would like to speak to you in a language that is not my own, but I can only do so by your faith." Now the spirit in that chapel was super strong, and I could feel the faith around me. I know that I was feeling the Spirit because in that moment, Elder Nelson stopped using an interpreter. He was speaking perfect Spanish as he testified of the Atonement, Joseph Smith and many other things. I was crying, and all the people around me were crying. That was the gift of tongues; it's real. I can testify to you that we have living apostles and prophets in the world today. I had the privledge to be called by name by him and shake his hand. I am exactly where the Lord needs me to be, and it was testified by the touch of the hand with Elder Nelson. Our Savior loves us, our Heavenly Father loves us. I know this. I am also being blessed with the gift of tongues, I am not fluent right now, but I've been learning Spanish for 5 months and had a woman ask me if I was a native speaker. Only through God is this possible. I love you all very much and hope you have a great week, I would like to hear about some miracles that you've seen this week. Make my week huh? Keep the faith. Love you!
Hermana Groves
