Week 95

WHATS UP PEOPLE! this week was not too shabby! we had some really interesting experiences haha

So first interesting thing to mention, Tuesday we went over to see that Yorjanis guy i talked about last week and we knocked on his door and he let us in, we sat down at the table and as soon as we sat down he said, hey can yall come with me real quick? i need to pick up a buddy and i asked him how long it would take and he said oh dont worry itll be real quick just come with me haha so after driving about a half hour out of our area i began to worry haha but it turned out okay we basically just talked with him and got to know him more and after he picked up his buddy he asked hey can you guys show me where the church is? so we said sure haha and we drove to the church and had a unplanned church tour with him and his friend which was really good! they both commented that they felt something really peaceful when we entered the chapel so it was a really cool experience.

Wednesday we had the cool experience of watching a worldwide Missionary Broadcast put on my members of the Quorum of the Twelve and the Missionary Board which was really cool, we received training from Neil L. Anderson, David A. Bednar, and Dallin H. Oaks and others so it was really cool.  Later that day we went and had a lesson with José and managed to convince him to come to try and visit some people (José is very timid and he only agreed to come after we promised to not make him talk and after we gave him a piece of candy haha) but he came with us and we had a great lesson with a Family of four, Parents and their 2 teenage daughters.  The daughters were a little more interested (probably because we had José "El Guapo" with us haha) but the parents were VERY VERY catholic.  They asked us if we would be offended if we came in because their house was full of "saints". they had at least 500 million statues of Mary or Jesus on the cross and everything in between. But they were a very nice family and were excited to keep teaching them. José also said it helped him a lot to be able to come teaching with us, which is exactly what we wanted haha.

Thursday we had a meeting with our Bishop here which went really good. After we had a breakthrough lesson with a less active member named Vidal and he committed to come to church and to bring a friend which was a huge step for him.

Friday was the worst haha we got a text from President Brough saying we should stay inside because of the "snow storm" that was going to hit. It maybe snowed 4 inches but it took like all day so it really wasnt that bad. But i ran out of things to do quick haha Elder Clawson told me i would make a terrible Astronaut because i got cabin fever after like 2 hours haha

Saturday we were able to help shovel some snow which was good. We also sat down and had another lesson with José, he is going through a lot right now but has been really steadily progressing.

Sunday we had Yorjanis and his buddy Alexey both lined up to come to church but they bailed on us the morning of which was lame. BUT Vidal did come and he brought a friend which was super cool! His friend was very interested in coming to church but told us he wasnt ready to meet with missionaries yet but that will change soon.

Other than that things our going pretty good around here, not much else to report! love you guys, hope you have a great week!

Para siempre Dios esté con vos!  

Week 94

Whats up people! we had a really good week this week, the weather wasnt too big of an issue which was good. 

Tuesday we went out with a member to visit some families in the ward and this member is a semi-retired cop here in Louisville and we heard some pretty interesting stories haha but it was a good time we went and visited a few widows in the ward here. 

Wednesday we taught a man named Hermes(Cubans always have crazy names haha) and he was pretty accepting of the gospel and accepted a baptismal date for late February so that's pretty exciting. 

Thursday we had a Zone Conference in New Albany and received some great training from President Brough. In Zone Conference its tradition for all the departing missionaries to share their testimonies at the end so i got to share mine which was really weird! i felt like i was giving my goodbye speech but i still have like 2 months left haha crazy!  Thursday i also did an exchange with an Elder in New Albany which was really fun, we learned a lot from each other. 

Friday we had a really good lesson with José and talked about Alma 32 with him. He has been up and down with his feelings and testimony but our lesson was really good and the spirit was super strong.

Saturday we  found the worlds most golden Cuban haha his name is Yordanis (again with the Cuban names haha) but we talked to him a little and found out that he had read about the book of Mormon and Joseph Smith so we taught him about the restoration and before we even invited him to read the Book of Mormon he said "can i have this book? i need to read it!" haha and then before we could invite him to church he said "what time is church tomorrow?" haha he sadly didnt make it yesterday but he did accept the invitation to be baptized in February so were pretty excited to keep teaching these Cubans! Viva Fidel! just kidding Cubans hate that guy haha

Sometimes in missionary work, you never get fed hardly any meals, until one day when all the stars align and every body you see wants to feed you and that's exactly what happened yesterday haha we had three meals in a row but you gotta love it! My companion hardly doesnt eat anything either so he would like dumb his food over to me like i was the dog under the table haha

Anyway hope yall have a great week! love you!

Para siempre Dios esté con vos! 

Week 93

God sent la migra, the Devil sent the snow

WHATS UP PEOPLE! 

This week we were surprised to find a large amount of people were in their houses almost whenever we would try and visit them and we just kinda chopped it up to be random luck but later we found out that since the 2nd of January, la migra (ICE, immigration, or whatever you wanna call them) have been on the loose haha they are trying to track people down mostly just those who have like criminal charges or run-ins with the law but that causes the word to spread around and generally scares everybody to just stay home.

So that has helped us a little bit, we had some pretty good lessons this week and things were going pretty good, we had a family committed to come to church until Sunday morning we opened the door and saw a little bit of snow on the ground, and as is typical of Kentucky lots of ice! so our little investigator family didn't make it to church, thus the subject of the email! 

Other than that things are going pretty good, times is flying by and were working our hearts out here in Louisville. Thanks for all your love and support! love you guys, hope you have a great week!

Para siempre Dios esté con vos!

Week 92

WHATS UP PEOPLE! this week was another good week, a lot of stuff has happened and i've learned a lot. 

I think one of the biggest and most important lessons I've learned this week is that even through our trials if we don't doubt our testimony, in the end it will be for our good, but if we do doubt our testimony our trials will have no point other than to make us suffer and eventually we will lose our testimony. I don't know if that makes sense and is relative to you people but just remember, don't doubt what you already know when hard times come!

This week i was able to go on an exchange and work with a really new missionary which was a lot of fun. We worked really hard and saw a few tender-mercies. We were walking through a trailer park and it was really windy and cold and we saw a guy on his porch talking on his phone and we decided even though he was busy he probably still needed to hear about the restored Gospel so we just walked up and waved at him and stood there waiting until he got off the phone haha awkward but it worked! he then invited us to sit with him on the porch and him and a friend proceeded to pound us with doctrinal questions and tried to confuse us about everything they could think of but it was really comforting being able to rely on the spiritual witness that i have received of the Book of Mormon and not having to rely on the philosophies of man. They could receive so much more knowledge and blessings if they would just ask God if it was true! but they weren't willing but maybe someday. ( i just picture Ashley's face saying "Sucks to suck! haha) but it was a pretty good exchange and we learned a lot together.

Thursday we spent the New years celebrating and partying hard haha not really i drank too bottles of Martinellis by myself and we went to bed at like 10 haha HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

But this week over all was good and we are starting to teach a few new people which is good. We've had a few cool experiences finding people and getting the opportunity to teach them, we teach so many people the first lesson and then never find them again haha but all we can do is carry on! 

Love you guys, hope you have a great week!

Para siempre Dios esté con vos!