FAMILIA!
The big news of the week is that we are now living with a LATINA! Hermana Cydnee Squire is training a cute Hermana from Panama City! Her name is Hermana Doralys Batista. She's a convert, the only member in her family, and is already a killer missionary. (Mom and Dad Squire, if you're reading this: your daughter is an INCREDIBLE trainer! She is working many miracles and I feel honored to be able to live with her and learn from her example.)
To be completely honest, there were a lot of ups and downs this week, but the ups always seemed to make the downs seem like they never happened. :) We're still working with V a lot to help prepare her for her baptism, and she is really making strides. We're working hard to help her make friends with the members in the ward, and it has been so neat to be able to watch the ward members reach out to help and serve her.
Our area Barrio Pueyrredón is HUGE and sometimes I almost feel like we lose time walking from one end to the other between all of our appointments. But it is always so neat to see how many people the Lord places in our paths on the way there. There is ALWAYS someone on the way to every cita that seems to have been prepared down to the second to be able to talk to us. Lately I feel like I have been able to recognize those people that are more prepared just from the first few seconds of their first impression. I love those moments because I know that through the help of the spirit I am helping the Lord strengthen his church in this part of the world.
One day this week we were working hard trying to find new investigators. It had been a long day of rejection when we finally decided to go by an old ex-investigator. We arrived at her house and realized it was an apartment complex...and we didn't have her apartment number so that we could ring her door! There just happened to be a sign on the wall that listed all the last names of all the people in the complex, but her name wasn't there. We then noticed that two spaces on the board didn't have a name. Then we had the idea to try the two numbers that had no name to see if that is where she lived. We picked one number and pushed the button. A woman's voice came on the speaker, so we asked for MR. She said, "Yeah, that's me!" We were shocked! It was one of those moments when we realized just how much the Lord must need for us to go see her. We told her we were the missionaries and she had us come in right away! YEAH! The shock has still never worn off when people let us in their homes. I love it. :)
We went in and taught her a lesson, and she told us how she never was able to go to church so the missionaries stopped coming by. But then she explained how she really wants to, and we arranged to go with her the next day to have a little tour of the church. It went so well! She felt the spirit, and we were able to teach a little lesson to her in the sacrament room. She accepted a baptismal date and we are so excited for her! She'll need to get married, but we can already tell that she is more prepared to change her life to follow the example of Christ.
Okay, one last thing. I love the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am always so amazed by the life that he lived, and my love and respect for him never stops growing! Hermana Carson and I realized the other day just how powerful of an experience he had in the Sacred Grove. We were talking about how strong the spirit always is when we teach the first vision, and then we realized that during our entire missions, NEVER has their been an interruption when we quote the words of Joseph Smith's experience. Yeah, sometimes there are little distractions just before or just after, but NEVER during. It's like Satan has no power over the truthfulness of his experience. I love it! If that's not proof of the Restoration, I don't know what is!
Family, I love you. Thank you for all that you do. Thank your for your love for the Savior and for supporting me during my mission. I hope all is well, and I'll be looking forward to your letters next Monday to be able to hear from you. :)
¡Besito!
-Hermana Vawdrey
Ps. I'm sorry if this letter is full of typos. My mind is working in Spanglish, and the email on this computer is formatted to be in Spanish so it thinks every work is spelled wrong anyway...ha
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