April 18, 2016

This week was a really good week! It started out so awesome! On Monday we had scheduled to go by Jesus (I'm not sure if you remember him. He's the trucker that was absolutely golden that we met a few weeks ago). Anyways we had planned to go see him, and as it turned out he had gotten home a few hours before we got there, and that he had to leave again the next morning! What an amazing miracle! He was really excited to see us and he really opened up to us about some of the things he's been feeling. He told us that he knows his next step is baptism and that he is really amazed at how well the Bible and The Book of Mormon compare. He is so golden but with his job it's really difficult to teach him and for him to attend church. We'll keep working with him but it's definitely going to be slow.

We had some awesome lessons with Refugio and Marisol, and Hinocencio again this week. Hinocencio is really beginning to improve and the more we go over there, the more his desire to change grows. He's still struggling but he'll get there. His biggest problem is just being around bad influences. He knows he needs to move but it's hard for him to find somewhere to go to. 

Refugio and Marisol are both doing great but Refugio is having a hard time keeping his commitments and that has been holding them both back. They understand what they need to do but Refugio just hasn't had that desire yet. We were hoping to teach them several times this week but they canceled on us twice. We have another lesson planned for tomorrow where hopefully we can get a baptismal date for Marisol and help Refugio see that he needs to take the same steps Marisol has before he's gonna know the truth. 

I can't remember if I ever mentioned Ricardo in my past emails but he's the husband of a really strong member that moved into our branch a few weeks ago. I'm honestly shocked that he hasn't been baptized yet. There seems to be something that's holding him back and we're still trying to figure out what it is. He's definitely going to get baptized someday though. He understands so much and has recognized all the changes that came to his family from when his wife and kids joined the church. 

We had another Trainee thing this week with the APs and

President and Sister Lewis. It was called Doctrine of Christ which is basically faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It was all focused on how these things are kind of our main focuses as missionaries. We need to teach repentance and then baptize true converts. It was a super good meeting. President and Sister Lewis are both so cool and so smart. They really understand exactly what they're doing. It's really awesome listening to them teach. 

Something that I've been doing for the past few weeks is

 In our area someone had this in their
front yard.  Had like a bear, an eagle
and some other animal carved into it

trying to better prepare for the Sacrament each week. I've been trying to make that the focus of my Sunday mornings and as I sit in the chapel I focus on the Atonement and Christ. I've noticed that as I make a more conscious effort to prepare each week the Sacrament takes on a bigger meaning to me, and each Sunday during the Sacrament I can feel the presence of the Spirit so strong. The Sacrament is such an important part of our week and when we prepare for it, it can be huge way to strengthen our testimony. I've definitely seen it strengthen my testimony a lot. 

Every week I'm amazed at how much I've grown. It feels like every week something happens that helps me grow in ways I never thought possible. It truly does show that our Heavenly Father knows us all personally and if we ask Him, He will prepare a way for us to become exactly what he wants us to be.

Love you all!

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission