Monday, February 3, 2014

1/27/14


Hola familia!
 
This week was full of...you guessed it...teaching! We did a lot of work this week as we continued to follow up on those elect that we found last week and search for other that have been prepared as well. It was a lot of fun and we were busy every single day. I love the days when we get home just so worn out and tired that we just pass out as we hit the pillow-after planning, of course. We were pooped pretty much every day this week! We had a lot of fun, and we are really cleaning out our area book and weeding out the wheat from the tares. We're doing good!
 
The highlights of this week were our lessons with Claudia and Elvia and also a new family we found, Familia Lima. Claudia and Elvia are doing amazing! The lessons with them just keep getting better and better. Claudia completely opened up to us this week and explained that she, too, wants her whole family to be together in a Church, and she feels really good when she goes to this church with her family. She's always been super stiff when it comes to the topic of baptism, but we have been talking a lot with her mom lately about setting goals for baptism to help us show God what we are working for, so the last lesson with her, we talked to her about it, and she didn't cringe! In fact, she set a goal for the 2nd of March! :) We were beaming as we left that lesson, because not only that, but Elvia is doing great, too. They are both reading and praying, and they are completely open about their doubts and questions. They are progressing so well, and we're so happy for them. Claudia came to church again, but had to leave right after to take Elvia down to Tijuana to pick up her grandma who isn't doing too well. She enjoyed Sacrament Meeting, though, and enjoyed the talks. She just seems so different! It's great. :) On top of it all, we were talking to Hno Chavez about them at church yesterday, and he said that the night of our lesson, he came home, Elvia walked up to him, and told him that she is ready. That she wants to be baptized. She has never been that certain and straight forwrad with him before! It was great to hear, and she was telling him that she set the goal for the 16th of February, but that she thinks she wants to get baptized earlier. We will be seeing them tonight, so please keep them in your prayers that all goes well at the Family Home Evening we are going to have tonight so that they will continue to feel good about their decisions and enjoy it! :) Claudia also mentioned that she wants her family to get together once a week to meet together. That's when we told her about Family Home Evening and how all meetings in the Church are moved and set around Monday being set aside for Family Home Evening. She loved it and was amazed. :) They're doing so great!
 
Now as for the Lima family, they are great, too! We found them originally trying to follow up on a contact the English Sisters in our area had made and passed to us. However, we found out when we got there that Mario didn't indeed live there, but we found the Lima family! :) It was pretty amazing, because from the beginning, they have been very willing to listen. She invited us in right away and we sat down and talked to them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end, she said the prayer and then thanked us for coming, told us that it wasn't a coincidence that we were there, and told us that she hopes we convert them. haha It was so cool! The Spirit was super strong during the lesson, and they are truth seekers for sure. She wonders why there are so many churches, and she really likes knowing that there is another book to help us understand the Bible and a living prophet nowadays to lead us. We set a return appointment for the following week, but they weren't home and we couldn't find them the week after either, but we finally found them again this week, and this time, another man who lives there, Juan, joined us for the lesson. We reviewed the Restoration again because Juan was new to listening to us, and it was even greater than the previous time! He is a truth seeker, too! He had pretty much the same questions, and is so genuine in the way he talks and in sharing with us his desires. He has been prepared for sure with the rest of the family. The return appt fell through again because of a soccer practice and they weren't able to make it to church, but when we stopped by again, we met her Sister and her family as well, and they, too were very accepting and inviting. We have an appt with them soon, so please keep them in your prayers that they will have time to listen and be edified. We are very excited to meet with them again. We're excited to see who else lives there. ;)
 
All is well! It was a pretty basic week, but we can definitely see the blessings of the Lord in our lives. I'm never happier than when I am teaching. There truly is no greater call. I feel so honored to be a part of the Lord's work and teach these souls who are yearning to hear the truth. I love you all so much, and I hope that you, too, are taking time to help those around you by teaching them about the truths of this restored gospel. I know that at this time in the world, there are can be so much confusion about religion, but I know that because Heavenly Father loves us, he has given us ways to find out for ourselves. Everything we do is an invitation, and I sure hope we all take that opportunity to find out for ourselves, because no one on this earth knows us better than we do. For that reason we need to search for ourselves...try it for ourselves, and then look to the only one that knows us better than we do, and He will guide us to the truth. I testify of that with all my heart because I have experienced it myself, and I will never go back. :)
 
I love you all so much, and I hope you are doing well. I hope all those back home take a chance to go through the Gilbert Arizona Temple Open House! I have heard that it is a remarkable experience. I sure would love to be there for it, but I'll be waiting for the Phoenix Temple for all of that. ;) Love you, miss you, and hope to hear from you soon!
 
-Elder Gallego

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