Got Miracles?? Creo que si!

December 14, 2014

In the "Garden of Eden"

Hola!!! Yay, another week has come and gone! Now for the update from last week since my email was absolutely awful. My mom will probably post pictures of us in the ¨Garden¨of Eden. It was the house of a lady and after we greeted her she made us take pictures all over throughout it. This may or may not have been because she was just a little tipsy...or a lot. Esta bien. She was very sweet though, and we got some great pictures. We also got our first mango given to us by the abuelo <grandfather> de Familia Vera. It was REAL good. Hurray for mango trees everywhere! (Now, if they just had the dried kind like Costco...) That is really all that I left out for last week. Onto this week....whelp I hit the big 3 MONTHS in the mission. Halfway to 6 months baby! Crazy. The time is flying by...mostly. ;) So Hermana Dance was really sicky on Wednesday... good thing I know a nurse. :) We got her some medicine, sleep, and TLC and she is ALL BETTER! Yay!

So some cool experiences that happened this week. First with Laura and Sulma, and Carmen. Two different lessons but the same principle and lesson learned.

Plan of Salvation - Click on the link for more information

Both of these visits we were just talking with the women and getting to know them better when something they said highlighted a struggle they were having. Coincidentally...or not, it was with the plan of salvation. Laura y Sulma don't believe they will ever see their father again, who died 7 years ago. For Carmen, her mother died in a lot of pain and she is sad that she will never be able to talk to her again. For both we were able to share the message of life after this, and the principle of forever families. It was awesome to see that just as PMG states. If you are listening and truly trying to understand you will not have to wonder what to say or what to teach. It will be given to you. In both of these cases it so clearly was, and because we were truly listening we were then able to teach with the spirit and the lessons were powerful. It was AWESOME!!! 

We also did a lot of contacting this week. AKA tracting. Which I will be the first to tell you is not my favorite. People here are super sweet and let pretty much anyone in, but this is frustrating as well because they are not usually ever serious about really hearing your message. This week though we found a couple of hidden and potential gems. Their names are Perla and Carolina. They are both in their 30s or 40s. Perla does not have a religion in her life right now but she has a relationship with God. We were able to share a little bit with her. Then with Carolina. She is a sassy one. First Paraguayan feminist I have met. She is a devote Catholic primarily because they worship Virgin Mary, and Mary is a woman. Haha made me laugh. We were able to discuss the importance of women to her and our roles. She even gave us cookies when we left after the second visit. She is definitely a gem. We have a fecha <date> for her, so we will see what happens this week. 

Hermana Dance and I at a Paraguayan Pizza Hut!

Lastly, my miracle of the week. We were up tracting in an area before we had another appointment, when I had the thought to visit someone that we had contacted into the week before, her name is Christina. We headed up that way and turned on the street that I thought was hers. There was a woman outside her house with her little baby. We stopped and began talking to her,  came to find out that the house I thought was Christina´s was in fact this ladies house. As we were talking a man walked past that I recognized as the son of Christina from before. The woman we were talking to waved at him and said, "Oh, that is my brother." I then realized that this young woman who also was named Christina was the daughter of the woman I had felt prompted to visit. The best part was that she was SUPER excited about our message. She thanked us multiple times for giving her a LDM and expressed interest in coming to church. We are very excited to see where this goes, but for me it was a great moment to see that even simple thoughts can be promptings from the spirit. I would never have realized the sweet spiritual experience had I not followed the soft voice of the spirit. The Lord is in this work and it was so great to see that so incredibly this week!

Hermana Gamarra

Now for some funny stories. So the Hermana's from a different zone stayed the night with us this week. During these short few hours they broke our extra bed, our toilet, and ate all our delicious Pepas. (A cookie here.) Kind of funny. Don't worry Hermana Dance fixed the toilet like a champ. The bed frame was a goner though. Next, we had lunch with Familia Gamarra this week in which she cooked us a HUGE slab of meat. We are talking like an 18 to 19oz steak. I took a picture of the bone so you could see. Ginormous. They love meat here. Then we had a crazy rain storm this week in which we were stuck at the home of Familia Vera for 2 1/2 hours. Yikes. Good thing they still love us. 

Oh, and then we saw a HUGE tarantula get eaten by a tarantula hawk. Good thing too because I was about to kill it after Hermana Dance shook it off her foot. Scary!! Oh and apparently there is this random bug that flies around and lays huevos <eggs> on laundry. Last week I found some of these little nasties on some of my clothes. Flicked the little guys off and all was well but had the heebie jeebies for a while after. So now whenever I am getting laundry off the line I am always thinking, No huevos, no huevos. Reminds me of the game show. No whammy, no whammy. Hahaha. 

As for spiritual. Mosiah 23: 13-14. Who should you follow?? 

What does God want you to be?

¨The moment you start comparing yourself, is the moment you stop becoming what God needs you to be.¨ Such a great reminder for me and all. Be what God needs you to be, don't compare. You are you for a reason and YOU ARE SPECIAL TO HIM!!!! 

Hermana Dance and I -- LOVE HER!

Favorite New Quotes: Obedience is the price, faith is the power, the spirit is the key, Christ is the reason, love is the motive, joy is the reward. Unknown

God does not have distracting hobbies off somewhere in the universe. We are at the very center of his concerns and purposes. Neal A. Maxwell

The more we serve our fellowman in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. Spencer W. Kimball 

Love you all, hope the Christmas season is wonderful and you are all taking time to remember who it is really all about. He is the gift!!!

Hermana Albach