April 28, 2014

¡Hola familia!

What an interesting week its been. The weather decided to get the best of me and give me a real nice cold! I was sick for quite a few days, we would go out when we could or for appointments but besides that my companion made me stay home and rest. It was super weird - I´ve been reminded how amazing naps are. But I´m feeling a ton better now.

V and her family are still doing pretty well, progressing slowly but still moving in the right direction. Sadly they couldn´t come to church again this weekend because the grandma was in town. But no worries, all in the Lord´s time!

I can´t remember if I mentioned already but we´ve been teaching this lady named L who is super sweet and humble. This week we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She is really great, and at the last lesson she said the closing prayer and thanked God for the hermanas who listened and helped her feel better about the hard things going on in her life.

We had a great noche de hogar (family home evening activity with the branch) this week, on a topic that I love. We talked about testimonies - how they help us have the spiritual strength to pass through trials, and the way in which we can gain/develop them. So many feel like they don´t have a testimony, or aren´t spiritually in tune, because they´ve never had a crazy miraculous experience. But the Lord doesn´t usually work that way. Rather, our testimonies come line upon line, over time and with desire and effort. I read a talk by Elder Bednar on the Spirit of Revelation the other morning and I love what he says:

"In many of the uncertainties and challenges we encounter in our lives, Godrequires us to do our best, to act and not be acted upon (see 2 Nephi2:26), and to trust in Him. We may not see angels, hear heavenly voices, orreceive overwhelming spiritual impressions. We frequently may pressforward hoping and praying—but without absolute assurance—that we areacting in accordance with God’s will. But as we honor our covenants andkeep the commandments, as we strive ever more consistently to do goodand to become better, we can walk with the confidence that God will guideour steps. And we can speak with the assurance that God will inspire ourutterances. This is in part the meaning of the scripture that declares,“Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God”

We  played a game where we hid pieces around the chapel of a picture and they had to find them all, and then put the picture together. We related that to gaining a testimony - it comes by searching it out piece by piece, but in the end we come to find that we have the full picture - of the reality of Jesus Christ!

The work is great. Also, something amazing happened this last week! I was heard talking in castellano in my sleep. That was pretty exciting for me. :)

I love you all!!

Hermana Nelson