¿Qué tal amigos?
Wao this week. Milagros/faith really getting tried.
On Wednesday I got to talk to President. That is always one of my favorite parts of the entire transfer. President understood my situation and difficulties perfectly and gave me some really good advice.
One thing we talked about was teaching intentionally. Purposefully guiding the lesson in such a way so that at the end, the person you're teaching is extending the commitment to themselves because they arrived at it themselves through your teaching and the Spirit's whispering. I want to be that missionary so bad. I want to figure out how to teach in that way every lesson.
I have had a really good example my whole life. My dad is really good at teaching intentionally. He approaches normal life as teaching opportunities and expertly asks questions to get his kids to arrive at the thing he was trying to teach us without him outright saying it. That makes the learning experience much more memorable and valuable.
We have a friend named Mayka. She's been on and off date, wanting to get baptized but then scared or unsure. I wanted so bad to get her back on date, but we had already seen that us explaining why she needed to get baptized wasn't gonna cut it. So I tried implementing President's advice.
We taught a lesson on faith, guided her with the scriptures, and at the end asked her what she wanted to do next to act in faith. Her answer: "get baptized". She picked her date.
That was an awesome experience. It was the Spirit, not me, but I'm grateful that I got the chance to participate and learn something about being intentional.
Speaking of being grateful, I hope you guys had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We ate mofongo as a district to celebrate because it's... kinda like stuffing? The closest we could get, anyway. I'm grateful for my awesome family (including extended family --- special shout out to the Kelly's who I got to talk to on Thanksgiving since my family was at their house!). And more than anything, I'm grateful for my Savior and His perfect love. I'm grateful that He paid the price so that He can reach out to each of us in mercy. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary right now and proclaim the good news of the gospel.
We have another friend named Victor. Victor is golden. He is reading his Book of Mormon every day. He wants to get baptized. He has a job that he desperately needs because he's paying for his sick mom's treatment, but this job requires him to work on Sunday mornings.
We had a call with him on Friday night and he was practically in tears because he couldn't come to church. We decided to start a fast right then (even though it was almost 10pm) for 24 hours for Victor to have some way to go to church.
I poured my heart into this fast. I was praying constantly and sincerely. I have never had so much faith about something as I did about this. I was so sure that God was gonna soften Victor's boss's heart. I had no doubt that God would provide a way for Victor to go to church on Sunday.
Victor's boss said no. None of his coworkers were willing to trade him shifts. He worked Sunday. He didn't come to church.
Let me tell you something honestly. That sucked. I had a lot of faith that this prayer was gonna get answered, and it didn't. I felt like I had faith possible to move mountains, and it didn't even bring to pass one little "sure, you can have tomorrow off". I don't understand why God didn't answer my prayer. I don't understand why God didn't give us this one little miracle when it was the desire of our hearts and we were united in faithful fasting and prayer.
BUT. This much I do understand: God is perfect. He has perfect love for His children. He has a perfect plan. His plan didn't end up with Victor at church this Sunday. Maybe that was to test my faith. Maybe it's to see just how far Victor is willing to leap in faith --- on Saturday night when we ended our fast he said that he was thinking seriously about leaving his job. I don't know the reason that we didn't see the miracle I wanted, but I do know this for certain: God was listening. Every single one of those soul wrenching prayers that I offered up, He heard. He loves me, He loves Victor, and I'm not done believing just because what I wanted and really thought was gonna happen didn't happen this week. God's time is not my time, nor are His ways my ways.
And faith isn't about understanding, anyway. It's about believing in things which are not seen, which are. Alma 32:21.
God blessed us with a different miracle on Sunday. Not one of the many people we thought we were going to come to church came. But five people we weren't expecting did come. A mom whose kids are members showed up with her sister and her nephew. Her cousin also showed up because we had gotten him as a reference and invited him, and he came! Fun little unexpected family reunion at church. The mom wanted a Book of Mormon and I gave her the one I was carrying around in case something like this happened. She was so happy and is so excited to read it. It warmed my heart to see someone genuinely joyful about receiving the single thing that has impacted my life the most. I am so excited to teach this elect family this week.
Wow, that one was a novel. Congrats if you made it all the way through reading about the journey that was my week. I love you guys and hope you have an awesome week. Remember that God IS listening and the Church IS true. Doesn't matter if you're in the DR, Reno, or Xalapa, God doesn't change and He's got a plan that tops any plan I could think of.
Hermana Cazier
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