TRANSFERS!
And . . . God answeres prayers! Hermana Farias and I are both staying another transfer in Willcox!!
BUT
We got to meet again with Annie and share with her the message of the Plan of Salvation and she loved it. She said she feels so at ease with us because there is such a sweet spirit as we talk with her. She is really looking for peace and answers and I am eager to help her find them.
We also this week got in with Cynthia, Haley and Jessie's mom. We met Haley when she was outside playing and she loves to read the Book of Mormon, but her mom didn't seem to want anything to do with us, that is, until a couple days ago. We had a member with us, Brett, and had struck out on our first plans. The name of a kid we had tried my very first week in Wilcox came to mind: Nate, Haley's neighbor. When we got there though I knew we should try Haley first. We'd tried her dozens of times but this time Cynthia let us in and after talking with us for a while said she knows she should go to church and wants to come to church with us.
Tuesday, all our appointments fell through, we had to take our car in, and then dinner was an hour away in San Simon. By the end of the day we just wanted to go home, but while we were in San Simon we thought we would try someone Hna Farias had tried before. We searched for over half an hour and couldn't find them. Hna Farias knew where the turn off should be, but . . . I don't know how else to explain it except that it wasn't there. A little discouraged, we decided to try one last person, Julia. She hasn't attended church in years. Despite the late hour, she let us in, and by the end of our discussion told us she wanted to come back. Sunday morning, she made the one hour drive, then stayed for all three hours of church and told us she loved it and would be back next week.
Wednesday we got in with the Chanez family. Their twin girls, Jaira and Yajaira, have the most interest in the church. Jaira told us when she prayed to know if what we were telling her was true she felt this peaceful feeling. She described it as a wind that kind of rushed through her and she felt so powerful and peaceful. She loves to read the Book of Mormon and last week attended a baptism to see what it would be like. Her parents, though, and older sister don't seem as interested and her parents won't pray. We decided to read the Book of Mormon with them and the older sister, Ademaries, said, "I love when we read this together, it feels happy." And, for the first time, their mother prayed.
We also got a call from a member from the other ward that she wants us to visit her friend, Carmen, with her. We had our second lesson with her yesterday and she, too, didn't want to say the closing prayer. She said she only ever said memorized prayers and had never prayed out loud.
"Why do you pray?" I asked her.
"To feel at peace, to be touched," she said.
I told her about a time when I hadn't really wanted to pray out loud either and my friend had asked me the same thing. My response: to be with heaven. My friend then told me that when we pray out loud with others we are letting them see our heaven--experience what our heaven feels like, and, for that moment, be there with us. I told that to Carmen, that when she prays out loud, we are all meeting together, counseling with, and being with heaven.
She said the closing prayer. And it was one of the sweetest prayers I have ever heard.
One of my very favorite parts of serving a mission is teaching others to pray and hearing them pray for the first time. True, it is beautiful to hear the prayers of those who have, their entire lives, been developing their relationship with heaven, but, for me, there is nothing so sweet and marvelous as when heavenly Father hears the prayer of one of His children for the very first time.
Hermana Anderson
Pics:
Found this sign outside a park. We always wondered why he park was so
empty all the time . . . I guess that might be a little bit of a
deterrent.
We started excel isn't in the mornings with a less active, which means
waking up at 5:40. It also means beautiful sunrises.
Because we are always saying Lechuga (lettuce/let us) . . . She thinks
she's hilarious. I told Hna Farias I love her because I don't have to
feel like the only crazy one.
We drew each other while we were bored at service. We laugh because I
look again and she looks African.
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