Small and Simple Things

I possibly just had one of the most miraculous week in my entire misión. I loved, loved, loved the meetings that I had with Presidente Salas and the Assistants and all of the district leaders. It was definitely interesting to be one of the three hermanas in the meeting with about 30-40 elders. And it was also very intimidating to be a North American, because the Latinos were definitely in the majority. Just to paint a little picture, I was the only White girl in the room. Needless to say, I was a tad bit nervous! The thought came to my mind several times, that I should not be in the meeting. Pres. Salas pointed out to me that I was the youngest one there in the misión (which was probably evident with my S skills). But I absolutely loved all of the things we learned. We started the day with breakfast and started the meetings at 8:30 and ended the meeting at about 4:00 everyday (with only an hour break for lunch.) It was weird how much I missed working out in the field, but I learned so many important things and left the meeting edified and excited to apply everything that we had learned.

The meetings consisted of several different clips of a missionary training movie, and then missionary commentary, and then practices. My favorite part was watching the movie because I was always so nervous to go up in front of a bunch of latinos with my gringa accent. But I´ve learned the importance of humility and the power of the testimony. I figure with those two things, God will take over and help us say what we need to say. I wish I Could explain to you how strong the Spirit was in these meetings. I had so many different ¨Awww!¨ moments. An ¨Awww!¨ moment was every time something just kind of clicked in my head. The Gospel of Jesus Christ just all fits together like a puzzle. I love how I can spend so much time studying about the scriptures, the Gospel and Jesus Christ, but I can still learn something new everyday and still have these ¨Awww¨ moments! I absolutely love it!! But the best part of this week was when we Could go back to our areas and apply the things we´ve learned and then see the miracles!!!

Por ejemplo, we found a new investigador this week named Gabriela. We taught her about the Book of Mormon. We actually did a couple of practices and learned how we present th eBook of Mormon better. So we tried to apply it and the Spirit was so strong!! When we told her about 3 Nephi 11, when Jesus Christ came to the Americas, she was so excited. You could just see the hunger in her eyes to learn more. And because the Spirit was so strong, she already knew it was trae. She Could feel it because the Holy Ghost gives the witness of truth in all things.

And then we taught our investigador named Mariela. She´s 16 years old with a baby, but she absolutely loves the church. She loves going to church, and reading the Book of Mormon, and learning about everything. But we were a little hestitant to teach about the mandamientos because she doesn´t necessarily like rules. And often people feel that mandamientos are rules. But we applied what we learned in the meeting and followed the Spirit and she accepted all of it. She´s following the Word of Wisdom and has already seen the blessings in her life.

And the last thing that happened was when we went to one of my favorite familias that are part member and part investigador. The members hadn´t gone to church for about 3 months and the investigador hadn´t gone for 5 months. I was afraid that they would never return. But we taught about Alma 37:6-7 and how the Lord blesses us with great things when we do the small and simple things like going to church. We completely relied on the Spirit and the words just came out of our mouths. It really felt like we were instruments in the hands of God. And the Miracle was that they went to church the next day. The whole family was sitting in the back row!! I love the promise in Alma 37:6-7. It´s my absolute favorite scripture in the misión. And I can testify with all of my heart that this promise is true. I love doing the small and simple things everyday like passing by people, and committing them to read the scriptures, or pray, and then seeing the big miracles that happen in their lives. I love the Gospel and I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and knows me and wants all of us to be happy. And we can be happy because Jesus Christ suffered everything for us. We can find happiness and peace through Him. And I know that through the small and simple things (like going to church, reading the scriptures, praying everyday) we can see the miracles in our lives as well. I love this Church and love all of you. ¡Cuidense!

Les amo,

Hna. Ellsworth