January 17, 2011

Hey fam!

Hey fam, I had the best week of my mission up until now. We had 19
lessons with a member and it was an awesome week of hard work. I think

that I have mentioned Lourdes in my previous emails. She has a date

for the 30th of this month along with her two younger siblings. We

went to her house and taught her the restoration again. We got to the

end and invited her to pray about it again to recieve her answer. She

said that she had been praying but wasn't quite sure how she was going

to recieve her answer. She had gone previously to the temple with her

sister and she had really felt the spirit there, without knowing what

she was feeling. I asked her how that experience was and after she had

described the feelings she had, I told her that's exactly what the

spirit feels like. The spirit put those feelings in your heart and

made you feel that way. He was telling you that you're in the right

place. He changed your heart without you even knowing it. He told you

that these things are true. I said, "Lourdes, maybe you recieved your

answer before you even prayed." I felt like everything thing that I

said wasn't coming from me. I had the words and I spoke almost perfect

Spanish, but thinking back on it I couldn't even remember much about

what I had said. The other two Elders that were with me Elders Cervera

and Robles gave powerful testimonies. I could see in Lourdes´s face

that she was feeling something. I knew she could feel the spirit

because I could feel it and powerfully. When we had finished. She

started to cry and said "5 minutes" and left. She left and we waited for

a moment. She came back still teary eyed and choked out the words.

"I dont need to pray about being baptized anymore. I know it's true. I

have a feeeling in my chest that I can't describe. I'm going to be

baptized the 30th for sure."

How incredible it is to see the spirit work in someone. We could see

on her face the work that he was doing inside of her. To be present

when someone recieves such a powerful change of heart is something

that I will never forget. I love this work and I love feeling the

spirit. How sweet must heaven be, if just feeling the presence of the

spirit feels so wonderful how wonderful it must be to be in the

presence of our God eternally. I'm so thankful to be here.

I had many experiences this week. We were crossing the street one time

and I saw a man and his son watching us. They were standing in the

door of their carpenter shop. I felt that I needed to talk to them.

We went and talked to them and they invited us into their shop and we

taught them there in their shop. We kneeled down on the sawdust

covered floor and brother Victor offered a prayer. It was inspiring.

We have an appointment with him and his family tomorrow. I know that

the lord is preparing people to hear our message. We just need to open

our mouths and talk to them. I love you family. I'm not quite sure why

you didn't write me but I hope that everything is alright. I love you a

ton. Thanks for your prayers. I hope that everyone is reading the Book

of Mormon. That book really has power to change the world one heart at

a time.

Love Elder B

(We did write! Even email is slow to Peru!)