(Note: All names have been changed. Except for mine).
 |
| Notes that children we have been teaching gave us. So sweet! |
People
here are crazy about the Broncos. Broncos are law here in Denver. We
drive past the stadium-whatever-thing-they-play-in sometimes and last
week it was just PACKED crazy full of people. I guess they're a big
deal and stuff...
Funny
story of the week: Hermana Smith and I were trying to contact a
reference we received and ended up talking to her Grandma. She didn't
remember how old she was, but she said she was almost 100. We were
trying to talk to her about the gospel, but she was hard of hearing,
so we had to basically yell.....and then she still had no idea what
we were saying. So we were sitting in this lady's living room
yelling, "GOD.......LOVES....YOU!!!!" haha. What an amusing
situation. :)
We
had another baptism yesterday, Sela. She was SO ready! We're so
excited for her. She's so happy. Her husband Mark is less-active in
the Church, but he's super supportive of her joining. They're so
sweet.
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| With Sela at her baptism. |
We've
also been teaching Sela's's nephew James. He's another Cortez (the
family Hermana Smith found and baptized). He came to the baptism
yesterday, so that's cool. We had a lesson with him on Saturday and
brought Jose, one of the members of our ward. We watched the Restoration video and then Jose talked about how the Book of Mormon
helped him. James is 23 and Jose is 19 so they're pretty close in
age. James is super strong in his church, but he's interested in
learning more from us. He's been reading the Book of Mormon. Jose is
super awesome. He and his family weren't active in the Church, but
the other Hermanas in my district worked with their family and helped
bring them back into Church. It's pretty amazing. The dad, Jacob, is
our new ward mission leader. And Jose is a ward missionary now. It's
so neat to see how the gospel blesses literally EVERYONE!
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| Some Bolivian food one of the ward members made for us. Delish! |
One
of the things that made me happiest this week was Judith and her
family and how they've progressed. They loved what we were teaching
but weren't sure whether or not they really knew it was true. We had
a lesson with them on Friday, and they said they've been reading the
Book of Mormon. They all (Judith and her 2 little boys, Gentry and
Vincent) said that they felt happy and peaceful when they were
reading, and Gentry (who's only 9) said he knew it was true. We
watched the Restoration video with them, and Judith said afterward
that she felt really warm in her heart and she felt peaceful. Before
the missionaries came, Judith had been praying for a way to bring her
family closer to God. She said that when she opened the door and saw
the missionaries (Hermana Smith and her companion before me) she felt
peaceful. They all know now that they've received their answer. I
asked Judith if she was ready to act on that answer, and she wants to
but she works on Sunday so she can't go to church. Even though it'll
be hard for them, I'm SO happy for them! Now they know it's true and
have that desire, and we promised them that as we all fasted and
prayed for them God would provide a way for them to get to church. I
don't know how yet. But it'll happen. That's one of the best things
about being a missionary- being able to promise people blessings from
God.
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| Our 3rd Baptism day in three weeks! |
I
love being a missionary! Seeing people's lives changed and blessed
through the atonement of Jesus Christ. There's no other way to have
peace in this life and the next than this gospel. Love you all! The
gospel is true and blesses lives. I know because I see it bless
people every single day.
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| During our zone temple day |
~Hermana
Nielsen
P.S.
OTHER awesome thing this week- we took Mary and Sela on a temple tour
on Friday! It was SO cool!! They loved it and felt the spirit there.
Mary said she wants to bring her husband and kids back there.
