Wow so last week I said it was one of the coolest/quickest weeks of my misison. Well this week was even cooler and even faster!!
So one cool tender mercy of the Lord was that the last couple of weeks the store was out of our favorite hotdogs and I wanted to BBQ hotdogs on my birthday and on Monday they had tons and tons of hotdogs of all different kinds!! I also used some of the money you and grandma gave me to buy vanilla ice cream and soda for floats!(vanilla ice cream is pretty hard to find here as well so that was a miracle!)
So on Tuesday it was my birthday and it was awesome. In the morning Elder Mclaughlin surpised me and made pancakes he got from home, Chocalate chip and Funfetti pancakes! Elder Valdez got me reeses pieces and It was awesome. Then for district meeting we brought the floats and it was great. Then for lunch we went to mcdonalds and then went to work. We had really great day teaching. We are teaching this mother of a recent convert here in santiago and she always until this week has never seem very intrested but on Tuesday we somehow connected with her and she opened up to us about what problems she had in her life and what she wants in her life to happen. She cried. On tuesday as well we found the house of a tryce driver that we talked to and we shared with him he is very cool as well.So this last week we also met a really interested single mother. We met her at that same house of the recent convert and she was very receptive. So she had some questions about the plan of salvation and we shared it with and challenged her to ask God if it was true. When we went back she had recieved and answer and we shared about the restoration and she got an answer as well that it is true ans she said she felt like she really needs to got to church. Which she did yesterday! On like tuesday we gave her a word of wisdom pamphlet and when we came back and asked her about she said it was good and that she already stopped drinking coffee and iced tea and doesn't use the other things pertaining to the word of wisdom! She has some great faith. We really feel she will be baptized! So after a really great night working we got back and BBQed the hot dogs had rootbeer floats and cake! It was great birthday.
On wednesday was great as well. We looked up a few former investigators and they are some great families that we are now teaching. We also met another family that we ran into while looking for the former investigators. The young man there in his 20's is really intrested and we have been back a few time and he has read everything we have left him. We just taught about the restoration and left a Book of Mormon and will be going back this week. Also a few weeks ago we met this lady while we were looking for a recent convert. She is really old and maybe a little teeny bit crazy but she is so cool. Her name is Ester. Everything we have left her so far she has read and then explained to us perfectly when we went back. She seems really cool and has great potential as well.\
On thursday president invited our whole district to lunch so in the morning we had an appoitment. When we got there the people we were hoping to teach were not there, so we figured there must be some reason we came to that area. We went to a home we talked to in the past and there were only young mothers there so we left them something else to read and tryed talking to some other houses. We were on our way out and felt impressed to try one more house before going to lunch. And another miracle happened! We got invited in and it was young couple and their child. The mom had gone to church with niebors a ton when she was a little kid and had friends that were members. The couple was very receptive and we shared and left a Book of Mormon and we were invited to come back! After that we went to MangInasal(by the way its this place that has BBQ chicken and all you can eat rice for 99 pesos) And president bought our district lunch. After that I went on splits with the companion of our district leader, Elder Allen(from mapleton) in ramon and the AP's also gave us mail. As we were headed back to ramon I read the mail and I got a birthday card from Sister Betty Delacuesta in Aritao. She is a widow that we baptized last May 2011. She is one my favorite people we taught. She is the one who read the Book of Mormon 3 times before she was baptized and in the Birthday Card she said that on August 22nd she was endowed!!! How awesome is that!!! As awesome as my birthday was that Birthday card and the news that she was endowed was the greatest birthday present of all. I was so stoked to hear that!! I can't describe how happy it was to hear that!!!
So it was cool to go back to ramon. We visited some of the people we taught and we went back to an investigator that we taught that hadn't continued. As we went back to them we found they didn't live there anymore but we met there dad and he invited in and we gave him Book of Mormon and he was very receptive and they got a return appointment to teach him and his wife. We also had a dinner appoitment in ramon(ramon has dinner appt. every night) and It was cool to see that family again. They are the Gajes family. When I was there they brother got home right before I was tranferred and now he has been home for almost a year. Time is so fast. So after that we left and it was raining and pouring. I wanted to try and visit Mac-mac( he was about 16 when we baptized him) and it was pouring. So I was like, well we are gonna get soaked. You down? And Elder Allen said he was down. It was like a 20 min walk each way and we got absolutely drenched. When we got there we found out he went back to manilla but it was alright because no effort is wasted! On the way back we took a different way and it was starting to flood the streets and we just got drenched head to toe. Also the next 3 days in a row we got drenched by rain. It was great! (our umbrellas are broken and some days it doesnt matter even if you do have one you'll get drenched anyways)
Also a funny story when we got back from splits in ramon the house was just like empty and It was like there was noone home which was weird because Elder's Valdez and Williamson should have been studying at that time so we were surprised. Well I went outside and was washing my feet because I had just worn shoes that were still wet from the night before. Anyway I saw them go and hide in the house so I figured something was up. Well I thought about what I could do and I decided to get I nice glass of cold water and I turned the corner and they tackled me but before they were able tackle me I soaked Elder williamson with the glass of cold water. So I trumped them hehe. I still did get tag team tackled into the mattresses but I went down fighting. It was great. (by they we just do silly stuff like tackling and wrestling and stuff at the apartment)
So the Paz couple we are teaching hasnt been able to get work off on sundays and we fasted as a companionship for a way to help them follow the sabbath day. It was a tough week as everytime we went to their house they have been gone. So on sunday they came to church and we were super excited and surprised. So after sacrament we asked how the sister got off work and they said sister got fired from her job and they came to church. They didnt seem to upset about and it was really cool they came. I guess right before church they didnt have any money to get to church but then someone came to their mom and said they she wanted her to make food for them in a few weeks but that she just wanted to give her the money for it right now. So they were able to go to church! We also had a great lesson last night about the sabbath day and how the Lord will prepare a way for them to follow the sabbath and find a job as long as they are courageous and dont accept a job unless they can get the sabbath day off! They really understood it and they also understood why we dont by on sunday as we explained that they can help others to keep the sabbath day by choosing not to use their stores or businesses! They are such a great family and I feel that God will bless them with a better job.
Also on like friday we talked to this guy on a bus and he said we could share to him and his family. So on Sunday we got to the area of his house and for like 30 mins we are looking for this guys house and asking people if they know this guy and it was pouring rain. Finally after like half an hour of asking and getting soaked we find the house and him and his family had been waiting for us. He said he almost thought we werent going to come so I am glad we stuck to it and we found it! He was very interested as well and we taught them about the Book of Mormon
Well gotta run but I know the church is so true! I know these are the best greatest two years ever and this was one of the greatest weeks of my life. I feel we are being guided by the Lord and shown people that are really ready to recieve the gospel! I love you tons!!!
Love,
A.J.
P.s. I attached a picture of the pizza me and Elder Mclaughlin got. This is " The worst pizza he ever had in his entire life" It may have been an overstatement but it would be a stretch to call it a 1 star pizza joint hhaha
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