Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the father: Ye shall have eternal life. -2 Nephi 31:20

Monday, November 26, 2012

Barcelona week 21 - Elizabeth falls from the sky

So this last week was a huge blessing. Elder Kent Richards from the Europe area presidency and his wife Sister Marsha Richards came to tour the mission and Elder Cerqueira and I had the incredible opportunity to travel with them and Pres and Hermana Pace. On tuesday we had the conference here in the Hospitalet stake center, then we took a plane to Bilbao and had the conference there on Wednesday, then we took another plane to Valencia and had the conference on Thursday, and then that night we took the train back home. WOW i learned so much from those two. Elder Richards talked a lot about how to teach - simply and powerfully with a lot of questions... something that Elder Cerqueira and i had forgotten a little bit about. He talked about how as leaders in the mission and in the church all we have to do is teach the doctrine and correct principles and then invite others to apply in their lives. It´s like the new youth program they have for sunday school classes that we need the investigators to DISCOVER the gospel for themselves. It was just a spiritual feast the whole week. We were able to talk to them personally a lot and ask them questions and learn from them. Heavenly Father really just blesses me with so many opportunities i literally dont feel worthy sometimes to receive so many blessings.We didn´t have very much time in our area this last week but the Lord just poured out even more blessings upon us. On friday night, the Hermanas from Barrio 1 called us and told us they had a referral of a girl named Elizabeth who came to their ward on Sunday but she lives in our area. On saturday, barrio 1 was having a talent show night and Elizabeth was going to be there so we set up with the Hermanas to meet her right before it started. The next day as we got to the church, the Hermanas came up to us and said, "Elders, we´ve been talking with Elizabeth and she told us that she wants to be baptized! Come meet her!" We went and talked to her for a little bit and set up for her to come to church the next day and then we would visit with her Sunday night. She came to church and told all the members that she wants to be baptized and then when we met with her last night she easily accepted the fecha for the 15th. What in the world? She´s from El Salvador and is 21 years old and has a 3 year old daughter. Turns out that she lived in Madrid before and went to church for like a year but could never be baptized because she was living with her boyfriend. They just got separated and she decided that she needed to change her life and help raise up her daughter in the Gospel. She´s incredible. It was just a pure miracle from the Lord that came unexpectedly. People are being prepared everywhere. We just need to be worthy of the blessings and be able to teach like Elder Richards taught us so the investigators understand and gain their own testimony of the restored church.
We´re still working hard for our goal of 600 and we´re hoping to see a huge jump of baptisms in this last month of December. We´re at 447 baptisms as of yesterday and we´ve got 5 weeks left to see the miracles of the Lord come forth. We´re already seeing them right now so we´re super excited to see how it turns out. Thanks for all your prayers and especially to Mandy and Cambria for your letters!! I loved them. Made my day. Love you all

Elder Reeves

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