January 23, 2017 - El mano de Dios

These were all taken on Tuesday when we had to walk
an hour to get to our area because of ice rain.
The weather was crazy that day

This week has been another great week full of amazing miracles. This week I have come to see God's hand in the work more than ever before. It's amazing how often you have a chance to have a wonderful experience. We had an amazing testimony building experience this week. 

We were on our way to stop by some investigators around 8 when Elder Aguirre noticed someone standing by his front door. We said hello and asked how he was doing, at first he told us "okay," but after asking a few more questions he told us that he had just had the worst day of his life. His girlfriend had left him that day and he (Jose) felt like didn't have any purpose left in his life. He then told us his whole story. He talked about how he had been divorced from his wife and because of that he had tried to better his life. Jose had given up drugs, tried to be a better father, and just tried to be a better person in general. As part of this he moved to Wenatchee and met his girlfriend who already had a kid. After living together for a short time she had another kid, who was not his. He told us that when he was told this, that he wanted to run and just leave his girlfriend, but again he tried to change. He decided to stay and be the best "father" he could be. He had signed his name for the child and was going to raise him as his own. Then he injured his back at work. This injury caused problems with their relationship until the girlfriend decided to leave him. 

We found him just a short while after she left and he was in a very humble, very teachable time in his life.  He was so discouraged because every time he tried to be better hard things happened. He felt like he could never be forgiven for the mistakes he had made. We went inside and taught him about repentance and the atonement, and how much strength he could receive through Christ. We mostly just listened to his concerns and bore testimony about the power of His atonement. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and I was amazed at how willing he was to learn more. He prayed at the end of the lesson and begged for forgiveness and for strength, which was honestly amazing. We left him a copy of the Book of Mormon which he promised to read. 

The next day we went back to have another lesson to find that the girlfriend was back, and she did not want anything to do with us. This was tough. Saddened we left their house unsure of how to go forward. A few days later we decided to stop by and see if we could find Jose at home. Amazingly we found them both just after they had gotten home from grocery shopping. So we were able to approach the both of them outside. Jose instantly dropped everything he was doing and invited us inside where we were able to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help him realize that he could repent and change. His girlfriend (Susanna) at first seemed very disinterested but as we bore testimony of how what we teach will better their lives and their relationship she began to pay more and more attention. It was amazing, and at the end of the lesson they both agreed to be baptized, but expressed the desire to not set a specific date yet. This experience helped me to realize that there are always humble people out there ready to be taught. We just have to find them. 

That was definitely the highlight of the week. It was such a neat experience. Both times that we taught Jose I couldn't help but think how much he had been prepared to accept the Gospel. We had knocked into him and his girlfriend before and they gave us the classic "We're busy right now come back some other day," but then wouldn't give us any specific opportunity to come back. He even mentioned to us during our first lesson how he had always rejected missionaries but he now felt like he was ready to figure out what they had for him. 

It was definitely an amazing experience. Hope everyone is doing great back home. Love ya!

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission