Week 30: Juana Diaz Round 2

Hola a todos!!

 

So, I'm staying in Juana Diaz with Hermana Escobar!!!! WOO!! We are super excited because guess what...? We might have a baptism in November!!!! We are praying super duper hard!! But also, we might be moving houses, so don't send me anything til I know for sure next week.

 

So I just have to start with our amazing lessons that we had this week with Morgan! Oh my goodness, they were awesome!! So our first lesson with him we taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he took it super duper well - he already has a ton of faith and believes in baptism and the Holy Ghost and all of that, we just had to clarify some things. But it was so great because we had asked him to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon the week before, and he read the whole thing and basically taught us what the chapter was about! He read 3 Nephi 11 and he said he really liked how it testified of Jesus Christ and taught about baptism and the Holy Ghost. And then he said, I know it's true. Uhh, what? He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon!!!! I almost died right there in the lesson! But it's poco a poco so we are having him read a lot more. So at the end of the lesson, my companion asked him to be baptized - and he ACCEPTED, but he first wants to be able to come to church and keep reading a little bit more! So that's a start and we are definitely working with it! So that was Wednesday. So we went back yesterday with the Elders Quorum President and taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation. Again, he read 2 Nephi 31 and really liked it!! Ok, what I love about the lessons with Morgan is that when you talk, he really listens and ponders what you are saying. His desire to know is just incredible! Anyway, so as we rapped up the lesson, we asked him how he was feeling about everything. Then, he began to say how the other day when he was reading from the Book of Mormon, he started to feel something and he knew it was the Spirit; and how when we talk to him and teach him, he knows that we are all telling the truth, and that he can feel it. I was almost in tears!!!! And then comes the best part, his prayer! Oh my goodness I kid you not, my eyes even though they were closed, were full of tears! He said in his prayer, that he has NO doubt that what we were saying was true and kept asking Heavenly Father for the knowledge that he needed to keep going in the Gospel. AHHHH!!!! Can you say miracle investigator?! We just feel so blessed for the opportunity to teach him!! Now, of course he needs to be coming to church, so that is something we are really striving for. We have Stake Conference this week in Ponce... so that's a little bit of an obstacle, but we are hoping all will work out! Hna Boaz y Ramos have a baptism this Friday, so we are invited him to that!! Keep him in your prayers!!

 

So, with Carlos, sadly he didn't make it to church this week but the lesson with him about the Book of Mormon was so sweet!! So, I'm not sure if I told you, but he has an eye problem right now so he can't read. But, we wanted to give him a Book of Mormon so that we he can, he will be able to read it! Oh my goodness, to see his face when I gave it to him, wow! He just held it and looked at it like it was the most amazing thing in the world!! Which it is ;) We also taught a lady named Virgen and she is such a gem! She lost her mom 4 months ago and so was a little emotional when we talked about families, but she sald that she felt something different and that she really liked what we talked about!! Woo!!

 

So, that's what we are working with right now and we love every second of it!! We are hoping for exciting things this next week :) The church is true everyone. We talked to a lot of people about the Plan of Salvation and families this week - which is my favorite thing to talk about because really, the knowledge that we have has brought me SO much joy. I am SO grateful for the Restored Gospel and for all that it entails. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us. Jesus Christ lives and I feel beyond grateful to be a representative of him. Have a great week everyone!!

 

Love,

Hermana Holt

On our P-day we got to take a trolley ride and tour Juana Diaz

 Enjoying the beauty of this place

The awesome foursome

Hermana Holt was here

I love being a missionary

Hi Mom and Dad, I found this old fashioned phone.  Guess where I am going today?

We finally got to go to the ocean

I love the Puerto Rican beaches

 Another cool statue

 They have black sand

I love these girls

Proud missionaries

Having a Titanic moment

 Say hello to my little friend

I think I'm gonna be ok

Hermana Ramos

Going on exchanges

Hanging on to Hermana Leonardo before she heads home.  This is our zone.  Do I look tan to you?

The Elders trunk at the trunk or treat party

the YW presidents son

The Stake President's wife and some young women

Week 28: "I'll go where you want me to go"

Hola a todos!

 

Well, I forgot my mission planner and now I feel like I can't remember anything that happened in the week haha.. but can we just start with GENERAL CONFERENCE?!?! Did you guys just LOVE it?? I definitely did, it was amazing! I can't even explain how grateful I am that we have a living prophet and apostles who guide us here in these last days. Their words are truly inspired words from our Heavenly Father!! I hope everyone will take time to read and study their talks again once they come out. I know that we can all improve on something and that as we pray to Heavenly Father, He will help us to know what to do and where we can improve! It was absolutely incredible, and I testify that ANY question that we have, we can gain our answers through Conference - through the words of living prophets and apostles. My questions were answered and so I know yours will be too. Wow!! I just can't get over it haha I'm pretty sure that us missionaries haven't stopped talking about it since yesterday!

 

So the work was a little bit slower this week, but we were able to contact a lot more people and we have some potentials, so hopefully this week will be better in lessons! This week I had exchanges with Hermana Ramos and it was so fun! She is absolutely hilarious and has no fear when it comes to talking to people haha and I mean none!! Haha I have been so blessed to work with sister missionaries who have no fear speaking, it has helped me a ton! In the process of the exchange I was introduced to two new less actives that we were able to teach, so we are super excited to work with them! One is a sweet family of 5 who actually got baptized about a year ago or so, but they are super humble and we are praying really hard that they will have the desire again to come to church! They have a daughter who is 16 who is more willing than the others, but we are hoping that we will be able to help the parents feel the spirit. The other one is an older lady and she actually got baptized into another church... last saturday... but! She lets the missionaries into her house so we'll see what happens!! Haha faith, right?

 

So do you know how in the hymn I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go it says, "...over mountains or plains or sea.."? Well, this week we DEFINITELY walked over mountains. Haha well what happened was, the other Hermanas told us that there was a road they hadn't been on that was now in our part of the area and that one day we should see what there is. Haha so we did.. oh my goodness it was literally just a one way windey road for miles in the mountains!! There were some houses a long the road thank goodness but it was insane!! As we kept going and going and going we ended up in an area called Rio Cañas Arriba which when you take the main road, is about 20 min IN CAR from where we live... and we got there through the mountains!!! Yeah, my body has been pretty tired this week, but all the hard work comes with the name tag, right? So it's definitely worth it!!

 

Well, I hope everyone has a good week, my time is limited this week because the Library is full so they are kicking us off! I love you all!!

 

Love,

Hermana Holt