Let's start off with the bad news, of sorts. This week we had the Law of Chastity lesson with Zuni. It wasn't intentional; we were teaching the 10 commandments and when we arrived at number 7 she asked for a lot of clarification, one thing lead to another and, boom, chastity. It went pretty well, considering she´s 23ish and lives with her boyfriend. However she didn't like the idea of not having sexual relations until marriage -- not because she doesn't like waiting or other typical reasons -- but because she is fundamentaly opposed to getting married. I don't know what it is, but for some reason she said, "I don't want to get married" more than 15 times in our 45-minute lesson. She also asked what happens if she doesn't comply, and we said she couldn't be baptized until that happens. Then she asked if we'd stop visiting if she said she didn't want to be baptized. We urged her to pray heavily before making that kind of decision, but we haven't seen her since, which is the bad news. Keep her in your prayers if you would.
We had an awesome lesson with Mariela and Alberto this week. When we first contacted Alberto he told us we wouldn't be able to stop by frequently because his suegra, or mother-in-law, didn't like religion. However this week when we sat down to talk, Mariela's mother and brother joined us for the whole lesson! I guess Mariela said somthing about how much she likes listening to us, because the suegra changed her mind completely and participated in our discussions! They didn't come to church this week, but they are reading, and they have really good questions, which means they're also understanding what they're reading.
Speaking of church, Francisca, our abuelita who was fighting for custody of her Grandson, came for sacrament meeting this week! We were going to visit her Thursday to remind her, but she made an emergency visit to San Juan, so we didn't see her until Sunday morning. However, she'd told us several different times that she was going to go, so we grabbed Angel and stopped by to pick her up. She was home, she was prepared, and she said she really enjoyed the meeting. She made several friends quickly, and recognized a few faces as well. We are excited to help her meet the goal of baptism the 18th of June, and I'm really grateful to finally have an investigator in the church. It´s taken a lot of work to help somebody progress this far, but God has taught me a lot in the mean time.
For my testimony I want to share a little of the talk I gave this Sunday. I spoke on a talk given in October of 2015 by M. Russell Ballard titled "God is at the Head". It is important to remember in these latter days of turmoil that God has always worked through prophets and apostles. Without the early apostles, we would have few of Christ's teachings, few accounts of the miracles He worked, and no account of the empty tomb and resurrected Christ. Without modern day prophets we wouldn't have inspired literature like The Family: A Proclamation to the World. We would be lost at sea without oar or rudder. If we have faith that God is guiding his prophets, we will be able to stay in the Good Ship Zion as Brigham Young counselled. We will remember that our boat has the divine destination of Exhaltation, and that it is impossible to arrive there by jumping ship and trying to swim alone. Trust the prophets, follow their counsell, and stay in the Good Ship Zion. I Testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only ship that will reach that divine trajectory. Stay strong, and stay in the boat!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Ciao
Elder Scott
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