November 3, 2014: The Miracle of Working with the Members

Hola Familia!

            So, I've only got limited time to email so I'll get down to the good stuff..This week, Hermana Maxwell and I planned to go nuts on the members. And by that I mean, practically visiting the entire ward. There were so many miracles and blessings that we saw from it and one that I'd like to share happened on Wednesday night..

            So we had time to visit just one more family/member for the night. I pulled out a list of members that the ward council wanted us to see and asked Hermana Maxwell, "Which one do you feel like we should see?" She looked at the list and said, "Perett." (Quick background info...we only get a limited amount of miles for the month and we were super low..) I thought to myself, "Oh my gosh, that's so far away!" But I knew that this prompting was from the Lord. We first called to make sure that they were home and they said that we could stop by..wahoo! We got there and we were talking with Hermana Perett..She's in her late 30s and is dating a nonmember..We asked about her efforts to do missionary work and she said that her boyfriend wants to get married in the temple and be baptized..They read the Book of Mormon over the phone etc..Hermana Maxwell nearly died in happiness..She said that we can teach him! Wahooo! The Lord always has a blessing for every sacrifice we make, no matter how great or small it is..If we hadn't seen her, what would have happened?

            We visited many less actives this week as well and we saw the fruits of our labors yesterday at church..The chapel was FILLED! We have a really small amount of active ward members so the chapel is never filled..But yesterday it was! I realized that it was going to be my last opportunity to bear my testimony in a Spanish ward and the thought nearly made me cry..I got up and thanked everyone and bore a simple testimony that THIS CHURCH IS TRUE.

            Unfortunately, we were on lockdown from Friday through Sunday..We spent Friday night in an urgent care clinic..Hermana Maxwell had a super bad case of strep throat but she's all better and ready to go now! We thought we were going to die from cabin fever..

            Last miracle to share..We saw the Razo family and finally taught them the Plan of Salvation..ahhh..it was so wonderful! At the end, we asked them about baptism and Hermana Razo said to her family, "I want to be baptized. I want to start fresh." Her daughter asked, "Do you know that this is true?" She responded firmly, "Yes, I know that the things the missionaries teach are true and that the Book of Mormon is true." Wahoo! It was one of the happiest moments on my mission..to watch her bear her testimony..This was the first time she told her family that she wants to be baptized and it was so powerful. Unfortunately, her husband does not want to change at all, even though he knows it's true...ahhh...

            During zone meeting this week, we talked briefly about obedience..A thought came back to me from the time I had read, "The Fourth Missionary" by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge...Obedience has to come from the desires of our heart. If we are being obedient just to follow the rules but deep down, we don't want to do it, we're not going to change to be like the Savior. We have to have the desire to follow the rules, then we will be truly converted. So basically, if we're going to church, reading our scriptures, and praying daily just to say that we did it, we're not going to benefit from it at all. In fact, you're just wasting your time. if you have a hard time having the desire to do these things, study the atonement and pray for a desire to choose the right. I can promise you that your desire will grow and the natural man/woman will shrink. You will truly become more like the Savior.
I love you all! Have a wonderful week! Stay strong!

Love,

Hermana Emma Seymour