this week was pretty swell. on monday we played soccer and some horse too, which was fun. on wednesday we had a zone conference that was superb, and at the end we watched Meet the Mormons! dio gusto.
but anyways, people. we've continued teaching Hector, and he couldnt come to church yesterday cus his dad was working, but has his baptismal date set for this saturday. there's a young man preparing himself for the mission who normally accompanies us to visit Hector, and when we asked Hector who he wanted to baptize him he said David (said young man) which was cool as we wanted David to be able to have that experience.
on tuesday we went to the Villalba family. we got to their house and Esteban (the dad) had just pulled up in his car. we were starting to lose hope a bit as it had been like two weeks since we had been able to find him, and then, his wife came walking up too! (it's been more than a month since we talked with her)(and it was a bit of a miracle because she usually goes to the gym at night, but today decided that she was tired. when she got home she didnt really want to share with us but then when she sat down and started talking with us, she felt completely fine) Esteban never wants us to pressure him to be baptized, but we had a good lesson about baptism and Juani (his wife) accepted a baptismal date and wants him to get baptized with her. we had an appointment on friday with them, but it ended up falling through, so we planned to go again on saturday. as we were on our way on saturday, we passed by the house of their neighbors (who are members) and saw that they were home so we decided to invite them to come with us. so we went with the couple and their two young children, and clapped (knocked), and Tania (the daughter) was home. she saw us, and thought (as she commented during the lesson) ''darn the elders came, but my parents arent home. i suppose i'll just tell them i'm busy and cant share.'' she came outside and saw that her neighbors were there too and said that all her worries just disappeared, and she invited us in. we basically just talked for a while and us and her neighbors were answering questions about the church, but i was determined to not leave that house without talking about baptism and inviting her to be baptized. when i mentioned baptism her first response was basically ''oh this again'' but then, without us even inviting her, she said that she wants to get baptized. we explained that she has to go to church three times and she came yesterday to the conference! then on sunday we went again, and we were able to teach the whole family together. we taught the plan of salvation but also talked about a lot of other things too. Esteban commented to us that we were the third group of Elders that got to their house, and he said that he had actually disliked the presence of the other two companionships, and they all agreed that they felt something different when we visited them (which showed us the true power and effect of striving for exact obedience to the gospel) and that we talked a lot more about baptism. Tania commented to us that in the time in which we were only able to find her dad, that he sometimes commented to her that we had visited, and she replied sarcastically ''oh i bet they wanted you to get baptized, didnt they''. they said that at first it seemed like a marketing scheme but now we've seen that they have truly gained the vision to be baptized, and understand the gospel. i often smile when they understand things and when they accept what we teach, and they always say 'marketing!', but yesterday Tania commented that it was just cause we want them to be saved. we taught about the Atonement and asked how they felt upon meditating on what Christ suffered for us and they said they felt bad, for what they made Christ go through. we asked how they thought Christ would feel when they got baptized, and they said happy, and Juani gave a great summary of everything that is the Atonement. at the end we explained that as a family they could all get baptized together the fourth of april (individuals need three attendances, families two) and Juani said okay then i'm gonna get baptized the fourth. Tania reminded her that she couldnt do so unless Esteban also got baptized (he's a bit tough still and wants to wait more) and she said yeah i know. it was awesome cus we got to see that Juani has gained a vision to be baptized, and to baptize, and they're really understanding well. also, the greatest worry of Juani was that her mom would object to her baptism. but while Tania was in church, her parents were in the grandmas house, and Juani commented to her mom that Tania was in the mormon church, and her grandma was really happy about that, and said that we're a good church. it's amazing how God is just putting everything in place so that they can be baptized. sorry for writing so much, i just love this family and they're super prepared.
we're teaching another youth too, Natanael, who came to church yesterday. formerly, he had told us that he wanted to get baptized, but that he didnt have time to go to church. we kept teaching him and this sunday we went to his house to go to church with him (there was a rented bus waiting in our chapel to take us to the stake center) and his sister told us he was getting ready. he came and it was a miracle! but then after the conference the bus left without us and we had to take a normal bus. it reminded me of that time when we lived in St George and you guys went to church without me, and as i walked out of the house i saw you guys pulling around the corner.
another investigator came to the conference too - Richard. he's the boyfriend of a less active member and we had been teaching him a lot. he had promised us that he was gonna ask if the church was true before February ended, but he didnt and we kind of stopped going quite as much. but then he went to the conference and they talked all about the family (one of his big doubts is that he doesnt want to get married). we tried to go visit them last night but they had had to go to the vet.
and i think that's about it. I know that this is the work of God, that the power of the Spirit (and our obedience, by which we gain said power) is essential in his work, and that his plan makes perfect sense, if we're willing to take the time to understand it.
Elder Woodfield
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