Pretty Sweet Week

This last week was pretty sweet. We started teaching two awesome families.

The Vasquez fam. Felix, Alicia, Lisandro, Carlos, and Brisa. Brisa actually is a neighbor that is always in their house. We taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They accepted everything perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, I thought that we were secretly being filmed by the church to make a Latin American version of "The District" (training videos for missionaries that are filmed in the States in wards that work really hard in missionary work and that have lots of baptisms and everything always goes perfectly). It went perfect, they even accepted the idea of modern prophets. They accepted everything, that is, until we whipped out the Book of Mormon. Alicia had a really hard time accepting the idea of any book that isn´t the Bible. So, we shared Mormon 7:8-10, and explained that the Book of Mormon wasn´t written to replace the Bible, but to teach people what the Bible teaches, that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. That seemed to help, and the "The District" scene started up and we were able to commit them to be baptized the 11th of March. Later, we realized that the 11th of March we will have stake conference, so, when we pass by again, we will change that date to the 18th of March.

The day after visiting them, we recieved some bad news. We called them to have daily contact, and Brisa answered the phone. She seemed pretty bummed, and we asked what was the matter. She said that her mom got mad when she found out that she had talked with us and that she had given us her phone number. So, Brisa, against her will and ours, fell through. But, when the Lord takes away, the Lord gives something even better.

The Blanco family (blanco, in Spanish, is "white", so Elder Brown is now teaching the White family). We are teaching 3 members of their family: Juan (35ish), Yoana (35ish), and Florencia (11). They have another daughter, Uma (2), and another son (whom I have not yet met). Yoana is the sister of a recent convert, and is pregnant. We have taught them twice. The first time we taught them, we taught the Plan of Salvation, focusing on the Pre-Earth Life, birth, and the life on Earth. That seemed to really interest them, especially since they shortly will be welcoming a new member of the family.

Then we taught the Restoration, and they loved it. They even seemed excited to accept a baptismal date and asked if they could go to church. An investigator asking a missionary if he or she can go to church is like asking a two year old if he or she wants a sucker. We said "Of course!!" They have the date of the 18th of March.

This work is incredible. I love it. I am so grateful that I have the chance to be doing what I am doing, and that the Lord took me out of Gilbert to help me learn all about his mercy and love, and how to learn to be merciful and loving myself.

Elder Brown

"Throughout the remainder of my life, I will seek to learn by what I hear, see, and feel. I will write down the important things I learn, and I will do them." -Elder Richard G. Scott