Villa Agricolas 13 - Progression, New Investigators
Another great week down......So many cool experiences happened this week its going to be very hard to describe and tell about all of them. But lets just say for Elder Maatatia and I it was a very blessed couple of days.Maireny, the woman who just got baptized last Saturday is doing awesome. She's super happy and received a calling to work in family history and helping out with the temple trips that the ward takes. We're setting a goal tonight with her about the date she wants to set to visit the temple to do some temple work.
Frank and Eliany are also doing great. We'll be visiting them on Tuesday to set the same goal. Its really cool to see how animated and excited all three of them are to help the ward out and do everything they can to stay strong in the Gospel.
(Insert Jordan Graff: Taylor didn't have any photos this time with his post. However, during this same week, we were just a couple hundred miles away from him, experiencing very similar weather, foods, cultures, and language. It made us feel a little closer as a family. So I included a couple photos from PR and we imagined the similarities for Elder Taylor Graff)
But the experience I want to share with you guys today is a lesson we had on Wednesday. We had just got done teaching some lessons out in "The Zurza" or the most ghetto part of our area. And as we were walking back, we decided to stop by and visit La Familia de Jesus. They're a great family. The three daughters are all super active in the church, the mom was baptized a couple years ago and has been inactive for a while and the father isn't a member. We don't visit them all that often but Elder Maatatia and I that night just felt like it was right. So we did it. No one was home but the father, Martin. Really nice guy but not all that interested in the church. But he invited us in. We started talking normally but then after about 5 minutes he got serious. He explained to us that his family was going through a rough time. That he really felt a lack of unity and his relationship with his wife was getting worse, they were arguing a lot. He told us that he was going to leave his family and go live with his mom, that he couldn't take it anymore and needed to start a different life.
Now obviously, as missionaries, that was hard for us to hear. We're here to help every family we teach. And to listen to his struggle, pain, and train of thought really hit me. But Elder Maatatia and I started to explain to him the blessings of the temple. About how this Gospel has affected our lives, our families, and how it strengthens us as missionaries. We started talking about the difficulties of life, and how the knowledge we have about the plan of God for us helps us to overcome them. And we testified of the tranquility and love this doctrine brings to the family. The Spirit was extremely strong and we invited him to Church that Sunday. AND HE CAME. He's "talked" with missionaries multiple times, but that was his first time in Church in a long time. He told us he wanted to be baptized and that he needs this in his life. We had a great lesson yesterday with him and his family and he'll be working over these next couple weeks to overcome the challenges and fix the problems he needs to in order to be a member of the Church.
It was a very touching experience and we'll see with the desire and faith he has for God where it'll lead him soon.
I love being a missionary. It's truly something you have to live and do to understand. So shout out to everyone that's serving, has a missionary call, or is thinking about doing it. It'll change your life.
Elder Graff
Acts 19:20 "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed"
Photo from one of the members there who share stories and photos on Facebook of the Ward and the Elders serving there.
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