Tanta paz

Hey! I´m a real missionary!

You know what that means? I finished my 12 weeks of training! Now I´m not new. I´m just a junior companion :)

So remember how at church last week I was all stressed and it was crazy? Let me tell you about the miracles that happen when investigators come to church.

Last Sunday involved missing primary teachers, missionaries running around looking for manuals and copies of scriptures, babies screaming and throwing juice on the floor (thank goodness the floors are tile) and all sorts of craziness.

This week when we visited each of the investigators who was there, we asked them how they felt in church. They all responded similarly.

"So much peace. It was beautiful."

Peace?

Let me tell you, that "peace" was the Spirit. It doesn´t matter what kind of crazy stuff happens at church, the investigators who come with us feel the Spirit there in a powerful way. It´s a miracle.

Spanish Lessons with Hermana Clark:

Galletas- Cookies. As in "We´re fine, thanks...but I guess we´d be better with some cookies." That´s a quote from my awesome companion.

Torta- a certain type of sandwich. But that´s a bit controversial, because in other countries it means cake. The Spanish textbook I use during language study uses it to mean cake in about every chapter.

Profeta- Prophet. As in "Prophets are men who are called by God to act in His name, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to direct His church on the Earth. A prophet is like a spokesperson for God. They have His authority to teach us His will. Prophets have written the scriptures that we have today, and we have modern-day prophets to guide us."

La Conferencia General- General Conference. As in "General Conference is this coming weekend! Those modern-day prophets I mentioned are going to speak to us. They will testify of Christ and give us direction that will greatly bless our lives. Everyone should watch General Conference! It happens in 4 sessions- Saturday at 10am and 2pm, andSunday at the same times. You can watch it at lds.org."

 

 

 

(Hannah's caption: Ooops. I don't know how to turn these pictures.)

Speaking of General conference, apart from the 4 sessions I mentioned, there is a women´s session and a session for the men.

The women´s session is broadcast the Saturday before General Conference weekend, and we went with one of our fantastic investigators. One of my favorite parts was in the talk that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave. I heard it in Spanish, so I´m not sure exactly what he said in English. But from my translation, it´s something to the effect of:

"So we´re just living with the hope of happiness in eternity?"

"Exactly, and right now is a part of eternity."

Eternal happiness doesn´t start after death. Eternity is happening right now, and we can enjoy eternal happiness right now!

A few experiences with investigators.

Last night we taught a lesson to our investigator who has a baptismal date. The coolest part was that as we were teaching, every comment she made was pretty much explaining the next part of the lesson. She learned things we hadn´t taught her yet. That´s what happens when you teach with the power of the Spirit.

This week we found two families who we started teaching.

We taught one of them yesterday. We had planned to teach about one topic, but as we started the lesson, the mother asked a question that she has always had. "There are so many churches. How do we figure out which of all the churches is true?" So we taught a completely different lesson that we had originally planned. It was powerful, and it answered her question.

One day this week we had a lesson with another one of our investigators. A young adult from the ward came with us. We were talking about the Book of Mormon and how it is the key to knowing whether this is the true church. The member who came with us is a convert to the church, and she bore a powerful testimony about when she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. She said that moment was when she realized that she was ready to get baptized, though she had been telling the missionaries for a while that she wasn´t going to be ready any time soon. Our investigator heard that testimony and it really touched her. She told us she would like to get baptized, and she´s talking with her husband about when she´s going to do it.

So things are going great here in the Pueblo! Thank you for your support, and forgive me for attaching the photos incorrectly last week. I´ll send them again.

Have a great week! Watch General Conference!

~Hermana Hannah Jo Clark

 

Last week's pictures:

 

(For Sept 16)