Chapter 27 - The Power of Prayer

3/21/2016

This weeks was a good week. We are still looking for new investigators, as always, and we are starting to see the fruits of our labors, so that's nice. This week we had an experience with prayer that strengthed my testimony about how real it is and how the Lord will always answer our prayers. On Tuesday we were getting ready to leave our house to go to our zone meeting and we were running a little bit late and so as we were praying, Hermana Gonzales prayed specifically that a taxi would meet us at our door step as we walked out the door. Anyway, we got all our things and headed out and sure enough, a taxi was pulling right in front of our house. It was an immediate answer to a prayer. Because of this experience we were all able to see how real the power of prayer is. Sometimes the Lord answers our prayers immediately, but we should also remember that it doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes we have to wait it out and continue to pray until we receive our answer. Sometimes our answers are hidden and hard to see, but they are there, we just need to look at life with a different perspective sometimes. Another thing I learned from this experience is that when we listen to the spirit, we can be answers to other people's prayers. As we were talking with the taxi driver, it turned out that he was a member of the church and whether he knew it or not, he had listened to the spirit and was the answer to our prayers. The Lord works through us in order to answer the prayers of others, our friends, our families, people that we don't even know. We always hear people talking about this, that we should listen to the spirit and act upon the promptings we recieve, but we always talking about it because it's true. If you feel a prompting to call someone, do it. If you feel like you should visit a friend or family member, do it. If you have any sort of prompting to do something for someone else, do it. The Lord will bless you as you strive to be an instrument in His hands and you will experience a joy that is unlike any other. I know this is true because I've felt it; there really is no greater joy than knowing you've helped answer someone's prayers.

On that note, I just want to say that I am really truly coming to love the people here. We were watching a video from The District the other day in language study and the words of one of the Elders really hit me. He says something like "the reason you're here isn't even about you at all.." and I just thought, that's 100% true. I am not here for me, I am here to serve my Heavenly Father and His children. Sometimes I get distracted but I am trying harder to focus and really focus on the people and when I do, the lessons are a hundred times better. When I really focus on them and how to help them, I forget about my needs or wants and start to feel a genuine love for them. We found a lady who is so great and receptive and when we left her house, I was just filled with love, a love for the gospel, a love for her, and a love for the Lord. I love teaching people about the gospel, it makes me so happy to find the people who are ready and to help them come unto Christ; this really is such a fulfilling work.

So this week the Macias Family came to church! YAY wow it was so great. They are so ready. The dad, Antonio, gave the closing prayer in the gospel principles class and the mom, Karen, went up in front of the Relief Society class with some people from her group, because we did a group activity, and helped teach part of the lesson.....I was floored. It was so amazing. Hermana Gonzales and I couldn't do anything but smile and feel happy. Ah, it was so great.

Salchipapas for my 6 months

A food called Tonga.  Its rice, peanut butter and chicken.