Week 13 - Miracles in San Ignacio #MilagrosEnSanIgnacio

"Today was a rough day for numbers. It almost seems like we can have either good numbers or we can have miracles. Well, today we had miracles" -My Journal

 



Wedding Day

Let´s start off this email with the events that transpired monday night. Gregorio´s papers went through! He had to ask the help of a couple different people, but by the end of the day he got it all taken care of. Now he only has to wait 48 hours before setting a time with a judge.

 

Wednesday was the day from which that quote is taken. We have an investigator named Zuni who has been making a bit of progress these last few weeks.
Her sister Beatriz just had her baby last saturday, so we´d had some troubles finding her. Wednesday we were discussing the plan of salvation and talking a lot about life after death. She asked us several questions about why a second baptism, (she was baptized years ago in a different church) was necessary, baptism by fire, and the big one, what happens to people who die without baptism.

We felt very strongly impressed to explain the work of vicarious baptisms for the dead, and the progression in the Spirit World. When Zuni was 5 her father died from falling to the ground one night, and she watched him die (We learned this a week earlier). She looked very confused and said, "Why hasn´t my preacher told me about this?" to which we responded, "Remember when we said many things were lost?"  Her face lit up as the understanding flooded into her! We could see it in her eyes as the spirit testified of the truth of our message! We invited her to be baptized so that she could go to the temple and start the work for her father, and she gladly accepted. We don´t have a date yet because of General Conference.

Gregorio and Natalia with the Missionaries

Friday Night was a miracle because Gregorio and Natalia are finally wed! Ójala that we don´t have to have another chastity lesson with him. We are so excited for him, because not only is he a married man, but he´s showing the signs of true repentance. For the first time in months he can take the sacrament again! And now his wife Natalia can be baptized at the end of this month! One year from this April they can go to the temple to be sealed as a family!

 

Adelio and Julia Cuenca (Left) with their whole family.

Elder Thorpe and I have been having a lot of fun this past week. We found out that Lemon Bars are not all that popular down here. Paraguayans don´t have the custom of eating dulce-de-limona and were not particularly impressed by our American treats. We´ve also cooked corn bread and gelatin this week, because... Mormon culture. This next week we´re going to try our hand at making Empanadas. Elder Thorpe says he´s done it before, so we´ll see what happens and I´ll send a photo next week.

That´s all for now. High school has started down here, which has made basically everybody harder to find. We´ve done a lot of walking and searching, but not a lot of teaching. However, every time we teach, something amazing seems to happen. I know that the Lord has prepared people to hear the gospel, and that he is actively preparing people through our visits. I love having the opportunity to watch people progress and learn more about God and Jesus Christ. Watching the Spirit work inside people truly is a blessing in my life.

Moises Servin, and Carlito Cuenca are some of the funniest kids in the branch.
They crack us up all the time.

I invite all of you to read Alma 5 this week. I know it´s long, but It´s a great chapter for self-evaluation. I invite every one of you to read through it and look for ways you can better yourself and strengthen your own testimony.

Have a great week, and thanks for your support!

Love you all,

Ciao