Week 34: The Fruits of our Labors

Qué onda!

Well, this week was the week where Elder Tellez and I began to harvest all of our fruits. This week, we had more lessons than we have ever had... More lessons than I have had in all of my time here in Libertad. We now have a few investigators that are listening and doing their homework!! We have been finding alot more people in their houses and we have not been walking quite as much :). 

Well, we credit all of this success to the Lord because Elder Tellez and I have felt that the Lord has been trying to teach us a lesson all this time in Libertad. And that message as been to rely on the Lord. These past couple weeks, we have been really humbled because we know there are alot of people in our area who are ready to listen to this Gospel, but we just have not been able to find them. We have been looking and looking, but I feel that we have been relying on our own strength more than on the help of the Lord. And I believe the Lord wanted to teach us this lesson... That we need to ask for his help. And not to just ask, but to really mean it. I can honestly say that we have not changed anything with our planning or how we walk and talk with the people. The only thing that we did differently was to pray more sincerely.

One of the most important things that I have learned from this expierence is that this work is impossible with out the help of the Lord. Of course, we always say our prayers, give our thanks, ask for help, and try our very best to fulfil our purpose. But this time, the Lord wanted a little bit more. He wanted more effort on our part and our faith. And this is exaclty what Ether 12 in the Book of Mormon teaches us. I have always read and loved this chapter, but it is not until we truly expierence how weak we really are, that we begin to understand what this chapter means. The farther we fall the more we feel the Lord lifting us back up. 

This week, we found a family!!! Kind of. We contacted this old Catholic woman about two weeks ago, and we have taught her one or two times. She kind of has a blind faith type attitude - "It doesnt matter what you say, I will always be Catholic." But her grandson always opens the door. So this week, we had the plan of inviting her grandson to listen and teach him instead of his grandmother. His name is Ramiro and he is 15 years old. He is very smart. We were teaching him the restoration, and we had just finished teaching the part where we explain that the Church of Jesus Christ was lost from the Earth, when Ramiro asked us, "If the church was lost, then who restored it?" He understood the restoration perfectly!!!! Long story short, he now has a baptismal date for the 19th of March. He went to church on Sunday and our goal is that we can invite his whole family to listen to our message. He has a mom and two sisters, one older and one younger, and we are so excited to teach them.

Also I had a really awesome experience this week with the gift of discernment. We contacted someone in front of their house and asked if they had a few minutes to listen to us. He said yes, and then we started to teach. But as we began to teach, I could tell that he was not really listening, that his mind was somewhere else. We started to teach the restoration, but I could tell that he was not listening. I was then praying that the Lord would help me to know what to say to spark his interest. Then looking in his eyes, I could see that he was sad, as if he was about to cry, but there were no tears. I then felt inspired to ask if he has ever lost anyone close to him. It was a completely random question at the moment and the truth is, I felt really uncomfortable asking that question while we were talking about the restoration, but I felt that I had to do it. In that moment, he immediately started talking about his family and how his dad is in the hospital and a bunch of other things. But from that one question, this man began to talk and to open up, and we were so happy to begin to share the Plan of Salvation with him. 

Well that was my week...a week of alot more success. We still have alot of work to do here in the "Restoration of Libertad B," but we have alot of faith that we are going to find more people this week and help them to come unto Christ.

Love You all so much 

Elder Snyder

p.s. I'm so sorry, I forgot my camera, so I dont have pictures to send. But will try to send some next week. Also, it's starting to get hotter here. :(