Los milagros nunca cesan... The miracles never cease. It's been so cool this week to see even more miracles happen and just awesome things with the families that we're teaching (and just started teaching). So the two people that told us last week that they wanted to get baptized got baptized on Wednesday and it was super cool to see these two families get that much closer to being complete and happy in the gospel. So they're actually cousins and it was funny to see them tease each other after the baptism. They were each telling the other, "Wow, it's a miracle that you got baptized..." And then they would get all defensive and talk about how they come to church every single week. I think it's so incredible how obvious the change is that happens with baptism. Not only is there a huge change spiritually but we can see it way obvious after they get baptized. They look different, they're happier, they're glowing. I don't know if I've ever seen it quite so obvious before as I have with them. Their path has been so long and they've both struggled a lot to make this decision and this commitment, and now that they've made it - the change is undeniable. So we got to see them both confirmed yesterday, even though they were both super nervous about it. I don't know why, but everyone that we teach gets incredibly nervous about going up front to get confirmed (even though they don't have to do anything but sit there) in sacrament meeting, and Xochitl and Angelica tried everything they could to get out of it. It all worked out though and we were excited.
So we got a text last week with a referral that we were pretty excited about. It talked about a lady named Reyna that was a single mom with 5 or 6 kids...PLEASE BAPTIZE THEM!!! We thought that was interesting, so we were way excited to see what would happen. They live in the very corner of our area, so it was a little while before we were able to make it out there to see them. We met the kids and they were way cool - 11-year old twins and a 10-year old. They're skater dudes, and just super friendly. They immediately attached to us and we were best friends. We didn't meet the mom yet, set up a time the next day, and she still wasn't there. The next day during a lesson, I got a random text and call from an Idaho # and it said it was this guy named Rocky who was taking this family to the temple to see the Christmas lights and he asked if we were there. He ended up picking us up and we got to spend the evening with them!! It was also funny, because we were on exchanges, so Elder Loomis and I got to know them (he lives in our apartment and covers the English in our area). So Rocky is an RM that came back from his mission Mexico about a year ago and works with Reyna. She talked about how beautiful the temples and the churches were, and he started taking her and her kids to church with him. She loves it all, but she had to move (she lived in Mesa, but the part in the Mesa Mission) and didn't really get taught to much by the missionaries. When she walked out of the Visitor's Center and saw the temple with all of the lights and everything, she said she got the chills and knew that it was something special. We got to talk to the kids about baptism and they're already excited to turn 12 and be able to go inside. Reyna was sick yesterday, but she took the kids to church yesterday and it was funny to sit with them through everything and explain it all to them. They have all kinds of crazy questions and find everything very entertaining.
So yesterday we had a mission president's fireside, and brought Alberto and Adriana to go watch it. We translated again for it, and it was way harder than any time before... the main problem was with some of the people I couldn't even hear what they were saying in English! It's hard to translate something you don't hear... So I may or may not have been making up some of the things I said - all true doctrine of course, but maybe not necessarily what the speaker was saying. It was solid though, and it was also cool to talk to the young men in church about Christmas and what it means to be a missionary during this time. Our ward hasn't had a missionary out for quite a while (there really aren't too many young men...) and we're really trying to get a couple of them to go on missions. The Young Men's President invited us in on the lesson yesterday and all 4 of us bore testimony about what being a missionary means to us and how much it's helped us. It was pretty powerful.
It was also sweet teaching Alberto and Adriana yesterday! They were talking about all the blessings and changes they've seen in their lives since we've stopped by and started teaching them, and they just kept going... Alberto bore his testimony about the Word of Wisdom and they were just talking about how much they love everything we taught and how they're so much stronger as a family because of it. They're excited to be sealed in a year and be able to see all of the blessings of the gospel. They get answers, they get comfort, they have so much more happiness in their life. They study all of the time in the Book of Mormon and love it. Goodness, I can't wait to see them baptized Christmas Eve! They're going to get married and baptized right after.
Well it's about that time... Life is great, and we are so blessed right now during this Christmas season. I'm pretty sure this is gonna be the best Christmas of my life (so far)!
~ Elder Carlson
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