New Assignment

Elder Crockett, we have a new assignment for you We are sending two more missionaries to Aysen in a couple of days. We need you to divide the sector, and take care of all of the preparations to receive the new missionaries.´´

``Ya dont worry, about it. Its not the first time i´ve had to do this. I´ll call you back when i have everything ready.´´

So i am dividing a sector again. I had to do it once before about a year ago, and so i already had an idea of all the work that i´ve had to do, its a little different than what i had to do in Paillaco, because i had to include parts of other small towns, and take away part of the sisters sector, in order to have 3 equal sized (by inhabitants) sectors. More than likely i will be the one with my new companion that will be opening the new sector. Which is good because i was needing a little bit of change in my life seeing on how i´ve been here sense November, and i have literally knocked every single door in my current area, and so a new sector will be better. But its funny the division i had to make there is one sector that we are going to give to probably my current companion with his new comp, and they will have the most people to teach, but its all the ghetto parts of Aysen haha. I really want to work in that sector, for mainly two reasons, one because most of my current investigators are there, and its the most dangerous parts of the city, and so the missionaries there are going to have to coolest stories haha.

 

But more than likely i will have to open up the new part of the sector, which is really just two big communities, one is all the rich people, and stores in the city, and the other part is on the other side of the river, where there hasnt been Elders in a really long time. There is no good maps that has the streets of this part of the city written down, so it is going to be an adventure finding out where people live there.

The third part i we are giving to the sister missionaries, it is on the south side of the river, the west half of the city. And they also get a couple of little town that are outside of aysen so they are going to have to travel occasionally. Its the same area they were in before but its smaller. Initially they got mad at me for cutting out of their sector, but then i showed them the maps and showed them how they have the best piece of the pie and so they are less mad at me haha. Just kidding they are happy now.

This week was actually super slow for me. I did a ton of service. I entered 5 cubic meters of fire wood, then we had to get it cut with a chainsaw, and then after it was cut i had to enter it into a small cabin thing for firewood, and organize it all. That took forever.

I also Painted a House. Half way through the new member who needed our help had to leave, and left me and my companion there alone to paint the other half of the house. Also took forever haha

I also had to help a member whos lives on the side of the river, whos house was starting to collapse, and i had to dig away a little hill. And move the earth from said hill to underneath the house to re enforce it. The member did help with that though.

 

And there was alot more too, with loading up trucks, and other things like that, but long story short, i now understand the importance of going to Collage, because i spent one entire week doing manual labor, and there is no way that i am going to be able to do that for my entire life hahahahahahaha. I did sleep really good this week though haha of coarse i would wake up and my entire body was sore haha. As a missionary its not too uncommon that we will spend a whole day doing service, or doing a little bit of service every day. But almost all day everyday for an entire week freaking killed us haha.

This week i did have a really cool experience. Back in November i was teaching a newly married family, but lost contact with them, because they went on vacations for all of the month of December, and as soon as they got back they moved houses, and changed their cell phones. And so it was 100% impossible to get into contact with them. But they returned home from their vacations in January, and my companion and i tried to track them down, but we couldnt find them. But the other day we were leaving from one teaching appointment we had (one of the few that we had that had nothing to do with service haha), and were running a little late for our next appointment, and so we were very quickly walking (almost running) to our next appointment when i feel the need to stop walking, and use a different road. 

 

So i tell my companion to stop, and then decide to take a different street that was leading in almost the opposite direction of of our appointment. And i think my companion thought that i was taking some gang precaution or something because he followed me without saying anything (it was in one of the sometimes dangerous areas) And as we were walking down this street i say a car that i knew for a fact that i had seen before. So we knock the door, and the wife that i used to teach answered the door, and was super excited but super surprised to see us. And she lets us come in and we talk with her and her husband (the husband we super receptive before they left, he is even more receptive now) And we set up a appointment with them and then left to our appointment we were already late for. We came back the other day and taught them again, and they are awesome. But i imagine that i will tell yall more about them another day.

Welps Love Yall!!!!

Sign Language Miracles‏

So this week i had something happen that was really awesome. As some of you my remember whilei was in the MTC i wasted about an entire week dedicating myself to learn sign language. But anyways all of my sign language training actually was useful this week.

I was vising a less active family, who has not come to church in a really long time, a couple of years. And i went to teach them, and only two of the kids attended us. And so we are there talking to them, when one of the kids says something in sing language to his sister, trying to keep a secret from us. But little did they know that Elder Crockett is a tri lingual missionary. And i totally caught their entire secret, so i called them out, and then told them that (in sign language) that i speak a little bit of sign language, and they thought it was super cool and so the three of us start talking in sign language (my companion was totally lost the whole time haha),

and as we are talking their dad comes in and sees that we are all talking in sign language, and so he sends his two kids out, and then he starts talking to me in sign language as well (but he also spoke in spanish at the same time) And so we are all talking in sign language, and he is teaching me and my companion more sign language, and after talking to him for a while he really started to open up with us. And started to tell us about a ton of awesome memories that he had speaking sign language, and after a whole we asked why did he start learning sign language.

And he told us that he used to have a son, who when he was a little kid got sick, and lost his ability to hear. And so he decided to learn how to speak in sign language so that he and is son would be able to communicate. And so they both learned how to speak in SL together. And he started telling us, how he would always be with his son. They did everything together. And he showed us a bunch of pictures of him too. But they were always together. But 7 years ago (when his son was in his 20s) his son died. And it was incredibly painful for him. Especially because they literally did everything together every day for 20 years. and when he died it was so painful for him to see sign language, that he forced all of his family to stop speaking in sign language, and he stopped speaking in that language as well.

And for years and years he was doing everything possible to forget about his son, because it was so painful to think about him because of how much he loved him that he did everything in him power to stop thinking about him. But then I come along throwing out sign language like i know what im doing, and it really touched his heart. And he remembered all of those wonderful experiences that he had with his son, and the rest of his family. And he got really emotional talking with us and said ``Elders you have just touched my heart in a way that you can not possible imagine. You have just helped much more that i will ever be able to explain. Thank you so much´´

I remember i went home that night and i was so amazed with how God used my idiotic desires to learn Sign Language to help somebody so much. I started learning the language just to waste time because i was learning spanish so quickly that i didnt care about studying spanish at all and so i just dedicated myself to learn other languages (just three others Portuguese, mandarin Chinese, and Sign Language) (And even though in my mission i have had opportunities to use all three of the languages this was really the first time that i used it to help someone understand that God is really there, and that He Loves them.) And i just thought it was so amazing that God used my stupid time wasting desires to reach out to one of his lost sheep. I could keep going on about my thought of this but i already have a couple pages in my Journal dedicated to that and so if anyone cares just ask me to show it to you some day, and i totally will.

I still have a ton of internet time so i am going to write you another story from this week. I was contacting a reference that i got this last week. (And oh my gosh that reference was awesome. I am helping her stop smoking right now, and i have never seen someone stop smoking as miraculously quick as she is doing) But after contacting the reference i was walking down the street when i little girl contacts me in the street and said ``Hey do you want to come to my house?´´ And i say ``Maybe another day we are kind of busy right now´´ And she says ``Oh dont worry about.´´ 

 

She then grabs my hand and tries dragging me to her house. So  follow the little girl, and she brings us to her door step and says ``My mom is inside waiting for you. I`ll knock the door for you´´ She then starts slamming on her door yelling ``MOM THERES SOMEONE HERE WHO WANT TO TALK WITH YOU!!!!!´´ And i just think to myself ``Oh my gosh, i can just feel an awkward moment coming.´´ (which is normal, missionaries have alot of awkward moments haha) But the woman answers the door and is super nice! And she invited us to come in, and we ask if there was a man there, but she told us no, so we told her that we couldn't come in but we could just talk in the door way, and so she told us to wait, and left, and then came back with a couple of chairs and gave them to us to sit in. 

 

And so we just started to talk to her there in the door, and immediately she starts talking about baptism. And how her two kids (little girl is 8 years old, and a son that is 10) have never been baptized, and wanted that we baptized them. And then before i had time to speak started saying about how she is also willing to get baptized Mormon if she feels that the church is true. And so i teach them a little bit, and set the three of them up with a baptism date (thats after transfers so i may not be here to baptize them), and then set up another appointment to come by with a member.

 

In just this last week ive already taught them 3 time. The little girl is super cute she wanted to draw the other day so i drew her a truck, and she drew herself drifting in with two missionaries the back, one of them a black guy, and the other one a white guy with glasses 

This was actually a really awesome week for us, we found a ton of new people to teach and they are all awesome.. Welp I love you all. Keep me posted on your adventures

Who do you know that.....?‏

So funny fact, when you guys told me that you bought a mulberry tree, i had no idea what the heck a mulberry was, so I shoout to my companion ``¿Hey Elder Usted Sabe que es una Mulberry?´´ )Do you know what a Mulberry is?´´ And he said that he had no idea, so i told him to look it up in our english to spanish dictionary that we have buried under a bunch of other books in our storage (because no one uses it haha) And so he looks up Mulberry in the Dictionary and shouts our ``¡Mora! ¡La fruta se llama Mora en Español!´´ (The fruit is named Mora in Spanish´´ And i shouted back ``OH! MORA! Listo, ahora se que es una Mulberry!´´ (Oh ok, know i know what a Mulberry is) I thought it was funny that in order to learn a new word in English i had to look it up in a Spanish dictionary to know what it was. And honestly that is not the first time that has happened on my mission. Actually i´ve realized on my mission that Dad has a really good Vocabulary in English, and so occasionally i have to translate some of the words he uses into Spanish, and then they make sense to me. And i still have like 9-10 more months here in chile. I am doomed haha I have no idea how i am going to survive in an English Speaking Society

This week was pretty awesome, the other day in my district meeting i talked about the importance of References to my missionaries. (Actually i could spend a whole email talking about being in charge of District meetings its super awesome) (It was my first official time teaching a District meeting too!!! Every other while while i was a leader it was a meeting with an Apostal or the mission President''

 

 But real quick for those of you who dont know what a district meeting is its a meeting that all missionaries have ever week that is about 2 hours long. And The district leader is in charge of talking to the district about the strong points of the week, and then places were we can improve, and then uses to next hour and a half giving a class to the missionaries about something specific that they can do this week to do better. And there is normally different short practice teachings and stuff like that. And Shoot i do not think that 2 hours is time to teach enough. Granted The missionaries would not focus very well if it was much longer. But i planned to teach my class about 3 different topics . Talking with Everyone. Asking References. And Baptism Invitations. But i only had enough time to teach about the first two. And oh my gosh i wanted to have more time but i dont haha

 

But Anyway I taught alot about References, and put a huge focus on how important it is that we ask for references from Everybody. And Sunday night when all of my missionaries called me to give me their numbers I was super impressed with mostly everything they gave me, and i will talk about that a little more in a little bit. But after i got the numbers from everyone i had to call my Zone Leaders to pass them the numbers of my district. And when i got to the part of References Received and Contacted i told him the number ( i wont say what it is. But i said it, and my leader said ``Hold up did you just say X. Received, and X, contacted.´´ And i said yes i did. And my zone leader said (they were in my meeting so they know that i talked about references)

 

 ``Elder Crockett I have never seen so many references before in my life. That is awesome to see that your missionaries are listening to what you have to say, because this is incredible. How do you feel?´´ And i replied ``Well, i really like that we have so much references, but we have only contacted a fourth of them, and we have no excuse to leave so many references just hanging around there. Im going to have to talk to my missionaries again to get them to start contacting them because they must not have understood well enough when i taught them´´ And they were shocked at my reply thinking i was going to say that i felt awesome and that i was super happy for  my district. 

 

Dont get me wrong i am super Psyched for them they are going to have so many new people to teach this week, and in my District meeting tomorrow i am going to congratulate ever one of them, and i`ll probably even bring in Cookies or something to Celebrate a little bit, but we can do better, and tomorrow they are going find that our too. But with Love hahaha

 

But after i talked to the leaders i decided to add up all the numbers of the references we received in the past month. And just so you know every companion has received at least one reference every week, most of them more that 1. And the number of references Received and Contacted for the entire last month was 8 times less than what we received and contacted in this last week alone. And here i am preparing a meeting to get them to realize, that even though they are Incredible missionaries, and are Honestly Working a ton of Miracles in their Areas, that they can be better. I have a lot of expectacions for my missionaries hahaha

 

Ok Earlier i mentioned about how i was impressed with all of their numbers. And from what my missionaries told me (just so you know i am doing to same things that i am telling my missionaries to do, and i am seeing the same miracles that the are telling me that they are seeing) my missionaries told me that as soon as they started asking references from every one that the members that they asked got really excited to start to leave with them to teach, and so not only did we have a ton of references, the members left with everyone alot more than normal as well, so we started to teach more than twice as much as we had last week with members, and so they have been finding a ton of new people to teach, and when they are not leaving with the members have a big focus on finding even more people teaching them, and asking them for more references. 

 

And so here we are with more work than we even know what to do with. In my personal area, i have had too many set appointments that it was physically impossible to teach all of them when they wanted us too, and so my companion and i are having to (or forced to, you could say) to leave on splits for the entire day so that we could teach all the people that we needed to. That was actually kind of hard because members dont have time to go around with the missionaries all day long, but that is a story for a different day haha. 

 

Sadly i personally have only had the time to contact half of the references we received, and so i need to pick up my game, and get around to contacting the references that i still have, and thats really saying something because i have a ton left haha.

 

The favorite reference that i received, i went to teach her with a member, and i invited her to get baptized on the 28th of March, (in three weeks, because i have another investigator who turn 18 on the 18th, and wanted to get baptized on her birthday. And so i thought i would just save time and invite her to get baptized the same day as the other girl) and she said to me ``No the 28th is too soon. I want to get baptized in April, when is the next baptism serving you are preparing?´´ And i said ``The next one we have in April 11th´´ And before i had time to finish invited her to be baptized on that day she cut me off and said, Yes thats perfect, i will bet baptized on the 11th´´ And so then i reassured her that we were going to keep teaching her to help her feel ready  to get baptized when that day comes by. But she already seemed pretty set on her decision haha.

Talking With Elder Ballard‏

So it was incredible getting to have the conference with Elder Ballard. I have known that he was going to come to talk to us for about a month now, but the original announcement was that it was just going to be by satellite. But a couple of days before the conference i was on the phone with my leaders asking for more information so i could pass it on to my district. And they said ```Well Elder Crockett, Elder Ballard is going to speak to you at 10am, but you and your district should be there in the chapel with everything ready at least a half hour early. And by the way he has decided to change it from a satellite broadcast to a skype broadcast, and so if you arrive late that means that Elder Ballard is going to see you arrive late´´ And so when i called my missionaries i told them that and they all freaked out with excitement.

But we got there and we had skype ready, and we were doing a three way skpye conversation, there was Coyhuique (me), Punta Arenas (the only zone farther south than the one i am in), and Elder Ballard, and the other general authorities that we accompanying him. And so before the conference started we were doing a whole bunch of sound tests and stuff and everything was working out great. But then Elder Ballard entered, and suddenly we lose all audio with Puerto Varas (the city he was in), and of course every single one of us starts freaking out, and we start making a bunch of phone calls and everything, but we had no idea what to do, when i look back up at the screen, and i see the Missionaries in Punta Arenas all start kneeling down to pray. And instantly wondered why i didnt come up with that idea, so i told all the missionaries in Coyhaique to calm down and stop talking, and we all decide that we are going to pray as well. 

 

And so we all kneel down to pray. And after we pray we all sit down again. We see (we always had visual but both zones lost communication) that the missionaries in Punta Arenas finished praying too, and all sat down. So we are sitting there in silence for about a min, when a missionary sitting close to e says ``Well now what do we do?´´ And I just say ``Just wait. Everything will work out´´ 

 

So we started the conference and i dont think that the general authorities knew that we could here anything, so they started talking and we missed the entire first talk, but it was from the wife the Area President in the area SAS (its the south part of South America. And after she talked her husband, started talking, and as soon as he started talking the audio came back in. After him the wife of, and the President of the Quorum of the 70 talked to us. 

 

And then after them the Apostle Elder Ballard. And honestly i have no idea how i can write about all the things that he talked about. I have like a million pages of notes from him (not really, but i have a lot) But it was honestly a life changing experience. As we were talking with him i really think i saw who i want to be when i grow up, and more than that, he told me what to do to become that man. I cant explain what i learned, but i wont ever forget it. 

 

And leaving from that conference i have about a million stories already of the miracles that happened as i did everything i could to follow the councils he gave me. But i remember the night before we were going to talk with him. I was having a really hard time, inbetween the normal mission problems, being a leader, and other problems that i dont feel the need to talk about. And while i was in a sleepless night meditation state i narrowed my problems down to three question. And knew that if i could get the answers to these 3 questions that i would be fine, i´d be able to happily continue my adventures here in chile. So i prayed begging God to give me the answers to these three things. And as i was talking to Elder Ballard, he specifically talked about every single one of them, using the same words that i used in my prayer (well the English translation of the words haha) 

 

So leaving the conference i felt like a changed person. Still do even though it was a week ago. This week i have to teach all the missionaries in my District in our District Meeting, and the mission leaders want me to talk about the conference with Ballard, and how we can apply the things he taught us into missionary work. 

 

And so these last couple of days in my personal study time i have been studying the notes i took, and prepared my meeting from them. And i am super excited to give it, i already know that my missionaries are doing everything they can to follow the things he taught us judging from how incredibly all the numbers in my district jumped this last week. One thing i have been doing is randomly through out the day when i am not teaching someone, i`ll call my missionaries and if they arent busy i`ll talk with them for a min and do a little practice teaching with them there in the street so they can keep their focus where it should be. And its been working pretty great.

Welp i love yall Keep me posted!

Sorry I was late....nope, not really.

So forgive me for not writing yall yesterday. I was in a Skype Conference with Elder M. Russell Ballard, and so i had to change my p-day in order to talk with hm. But talking with an apostle made the little sacrifice worth making haha

Ok before i forget i´ll finish the blessing story.

A few days later i was walking in the street when my companion turns to me and says ``that woman looks really familiar, who is she?´´(we were on divisions when i taught Maria so he didnt know her very well) And i notice that it was Maria. And before i can say much to him she sees us, and a huge smile on her face comes up to us and shakes our hands. And i think my companion forgot about the story i told him, but he asked her ``Hey, what are you doing in this part of town´´ (it was relatively far away from where she lives) and she said with a big smile on her face ``Its a nice day today so i decided to go on a long walk´´ And then after talking for a little more we set up another appointment to come by another day, and she happily accepted the invitation. And then we let her go. And as my companion and i were walking away he said to me ``Didnt she say to us the other day that she hasnt left her home for months unless it was absolutely necessary?´´ And i said ``yes she did´´ and he then asked ``What happened, i thought she couldnt walk?´´ I then sad ``You´re right, she couldnt.´´ I then reminded him of the story i told him a couple of days earlier. And we walked away happily knowing that miracles are real.

Ok now i dont remember where i left off on the jail story so i`ll just tell you why i was there haha

One of my investigators was caught stealing, and he already had a couple of other outstanding warrants and so they put him in jail. And they put him and all of his family in jail because they were with him wen he was stealing, actually they were participating too, it was like a family reunion in jail, al the uncles the parents, the kids, Big Party. So naturally their first thought is Lets cal Elder Crockett, he`s probably the only person in the world who can help us right now. And i beforehand i had already been in and out of the jail on multiple occasions so i didnt have any problems with being surrounded by Robbers and Murderers (visits there arent like they are in the movies,with the big glass panel and everything. We have to go to the center of the prison, where all of the criminals are and in a big room filled with people), and so i went in to visit them. And i went there with the intent of just giving them all books of mormon, and getting them to start reading it so that when they all left they would have a stronger testimony. and so i went there and started teaching them. 

And then i left. And thats when i saw that the mission president called me (you cant have phones inside of jail, so i left it in my house) The next week i go back to make sure that they were reading, and all of them were r except for one of them, and he was going to be in there waiting for his trail for 70 more days, and then it is prospected that with all of the warrants he had out he was going to be in there a lot longer. but i get there and all of his family is in there visiting him. And i have actually been teaching this family for a while, and they all love me, and so they were all happy to see me, and so they let me in on their conversation. And they had a lot of plans to ``get him out early´´, to say it one way, and they told me what they wanted to do to ``help´´ So they told me their little plans and then i left. Immediately when i left i said to my companion, that we needed to tell the authorities the things we knew now. So after talking a little to the jail guard, we went to visit a member who is a member of the PDI (the chilean version of the FBI) and told him everything. he then informed the proper authorities and then told us everything we had to do to not be involved anymore. And sense then we have been doing it. I am not going to enter the jail to see them. which is ok, because you cant be a progressing investigator while you are in prison cheating the system to get out of jail early (they have been in and out of a ton of different jail. they are actually pretty ´`intelligent`´´)

Well shoot i am pretty much out of time now. i wanted to tell you guys about meting with Elder Ballard. but next week i will have more tome to. just remind me hahaha

well Love you all. Keep me posted

District Leader Elder Crockett‏

so if you want more part of the story here is another part

I get home from jail and i see my cell phone has a missed call from the mission President from about an hour  earlier and so i call him back, and here is the conversation that followed

``Elder Crockett, what happened, why didnt you answer the phone when i called´´

``i was in the jail, they didnt let me have my phone with me, so i just saw that you called a few seconds ago´´

``Let me get this straight. You didnt answer your phone...because you were prison?´´´

``Yup, that just about sums it up President´´

``Why on Earth were you in jail?´´

``Well a couple of days ago...´(to be continued, maybe hahaha)

Actually the mission President was only calling me to tell me that i was going to be the new district Leader. I am in charge now of 8 missionaries, 2 of which are sisters. And i actually have very little idea what im supposed to do. Other than make sure all the missionaries are ok, take all their numbers, and run and teach the meeting we have every week. But i´ll learn.. Actually when the mission President called me, after telling me about how many were going to be in my district he just said ``Well Elder Crockett, these missionaries are really going to need your good example, and your help, but you know what to do.´´ 

And then i responded ``Dont worry about anything President, you can trust me´´

He then replied ``I know i can, thats why you have this assignment´´

And then said bye. And then my companion was right there looking at me, and starts jumping up and down, saying ``I knew it! I knew it! i knew you were going to be a district leader!´´

It wasnt actually until about a half hour later i was walking over to an appointment i had and suddenly i realized that i have no idea how to be a DL, i´ve only been companions with one like a year ago haha But im excited.

So this last week i was teaching a family that was super awesome. I actually met them knocking doors. And the Husband is a inactive member who hast come to church in like 15 years, and the wife isnt a member. And i`ve actually been teaching them for a while, but the wife is almost never home, and so i have only taught her once before. But i set up an appointment specifically to meet with the whole family. And i went there and we taught the restoration. And I brought with me Hno Jacob (that man that you talked to the other day mom) (P.S. Love that guy to death he s my ward mission leader, and hes awesome) But while i was teaching i say to the wife ``When you know that this is true, will you be baptized by.....´´ And before i even finished my sentence she cuts me off with a very enthusiastic ``YES´´ And so i do the second part of the invitation for a specific date. And says ``Of coarse i wll.´´ and then starts telling me ``I have been going to different churches ever since i was a little girl, but i never was baptized. Because i wanted to be sure that i was getting baptized in the right church. 

 

And i have been waiting SO Long to be able to find that church. And i believe that its your church´´ We then invited her to a baptism service that we had this saturday. (i dont have my camera with me. next week i´ll send you the pics) And she came with all of her family and they loved it. And after words they came up to me and said ``Elder Crockett, at what time does the church start tomorrow?´´ And so i say ``10:00´´ And she says ``Awesome! See you tomorrow at 10!´´ And then asked me a ton of question about the church and how the meeting were and everything. And her inactive Sunday (who was now super excited to come back) said i still remember just about everything i will tell you more about it on the way home.´´ I actually have an appointment with them in a couple of hours, and honestly i am super excited. Most people would think that being P Day and all i would be thinking about what to write the family, and other such trunkynesses. but actually right now i am thinking ``I am really excited to talk to them about the Book of Mormon!´´ 

Well I love you all! look Forward to hearing from yall!

Uuuggghh....a cliffhanger.

So Im sitting in my house on Sunday after church, getting my stuff ready to leave to work, when there is a knock at my door. And it is two young men who are preparing to leave on missions. And they asked me if they could go on splits with us. So i told them sure, and real quick i divide the plans so my comp can visit half the people, and i could with the other half. And so we split up, and about five mins after leaving the work i get a phone call from another one of my friends who is leaving on him mission in a couple of months. And he told me that he was on his bike on the way to my house, and that he wanted to leave to work with us. So i told him where i was and a min later we meet up.

And the first person we taught was a woman that i started teaching just a few days ago actually. She was a reference that her sister in law gave me. And i had only taught her once before, so i didnt know too much about her. But as we were walking over to her home i told the young men what we were going to teach her. And the plan was to teach about the book of mormon. So we get to her house, and she invites us in. And after a min of talking we pray and i start teaching. And i start out by verifying if she read the pamphlet i gave to her the other day, and she said ``Si´´ But was really quiet. So i asked ``And did you pray to know if Jose Smith was a prophet?´´ And once again quietly she said ``Si´´ And so i ask. ``How id you feel when you pray´´ And she explained to me exactly how any mormon would explain the holy ghost. And so i told her. ``I really like it when i feel like that when i pray, because i know that God is listening to my prayers. And so i know that he listened to your pray´´

 I then asked if she believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet. And once again she said ``Si´´ So i bear my testimony about how i know that he is a prophet as well. And then i start teaching about the book of mormon, and how it is a gift from God providing us with even more evidence that He restored his church to the world. And then after teaching i ask Abraham (one of the young men) to bear his testimony, And he bore an incredibly sincere and powerful testimony ( he just got baptized a little while ago) And then after i testified that what he said was true and then taught a little more.

And then i asked Alexis (the other young man) to bear his testimony, and he bore an incredibly testimony as well. And after i again testified of what he said. And then i asked Maria (the woman we were teaching) how she felt right now. And she told me ``Really calm, and at peace, and i feel something really good in my heart, almost exactly how you said happened to you Alexis (referring to his testimony)´´ And the spirit was incredibly strong there in the room so i said `Hermana what you are feeling right now is the Holy Ghost. And its God telling you that the things we are teaching you are true. And that this truly is Gods only true church on the earth.´´ And i paused a second then said ``And Maria when you are a member of this church, God promises that you can always have this same feeling that you have right now.

And so we have an invitation for you. Maria, when you know when the things we are teaching you are true, will you be baptised for someone who has this authority that was restored.´´ And she sat there and thought about it a second, then said ``Si´´ So i said ``And i want to help you prepare yourself to feel ready to make this covenant with God. And so my companion and I are preparing a baptismal service the 28th of February. Will you prepare to be baptised on this day´´ And she thought about it a second, and once again responded ``Si´´ And then i promised a bunch of blessings. And then asked if we could end the lesson with a prayer. And i asked her to do it, but she said  that she would prefer if i did it.

Now whenever an investigator does that it means the either dont know how to pray, or they feel embarrassed praying, so i taught her how to pray, and then said that if she wanted i could pray so that she could listen and have a example of how to pray, and then she could pray after me. And so i prayed. And then once again taught the steps of how to pray, and then she prayed. And after i thanked her for her time and asked if she needed something. And she said ``Actually yes there is´´ And she started telling me about a problem she has with her legs that caused her alot of pain every day. And then just stopped talking as if she was expecting me to do something. So i said ``Maria do you remember how in the bible Christ and his apostles healed the sick and preformed miracles´´ And she said Si. So then i said ``Do you believe that really happened´´ ANd she said ``Of coarse i do´´ And then i said ``All of those miracles happened because of faith´´ And then explained that faith was a prerequisite to miracles.

And then i asked ``Maria do you have the faith to be healed?´´ And then she started to tell me about how every night she has been praying to God for a miracle so that she wouldnt be in so much pain, and had been praying for a long time, but nothing ever happened´´ Then Alexis said ´´God heard your prayers, and He sent you one of his servants so that you could be healed´´ Then she started looking really attentively at me at the edge of tears and i said ``Maria remember how i taught you about the priesthood being restored to the earth´´ And she said Si. And i asked ``Do you believe that this is true´´ And she said ``Si´´ again. So then i told her ``Maria this priesthood is the same power that Christ gave to his apostles to perform miracles, so do you believe that you received a blessing by someone who has that power that you can be healed´´ And very emotionally she said ``Si´´ once again. I then said ``Maria I am one of those men, who holds the power of God to be able to give one of these blessings. Do you believe me?´´ And she said Said Yes and then asked me for a blessing. So i gave her one, and the spirit was incredible strong. When i finished i set up another appointment and we left. And the two young men who were with me were incredibly silent obviously deep thinking about something, probably from the thing they just saw haha. So as we were walking away they were both just very reverently silent, and i felt like i needed to break the silence so i make a little joke and then start telling them stories from my mission. And then start telling them the plans for the next person we were going to teach. The story doesnt end there, but im out of time, ill have to tell you the rest of the story another day

Welp love yall. Keep me posted!