Our area is so good! We've been teaching Gloria and Indalecio and they are doing great! They will have their baptism on Saturday. On Sunday, Hermana Johnson and I felt impressed that they should get blessings to help them prepare for and remember the things we have taught. They did, and it was a very tender experience. Both of them were emotional, very sweet, especially for Indalecio because he has Alzheimer's. He was crying! Gloria described it as a feeling that came into her neck and moved down her back until it filled her whole body. They have both felt the spirit so strongly and are very excited for their baptisms!
Hermana Johnson is great. She is an awesome missionary and a great companion. She is so capable and I trust her to teach our investigators with the spirit and with love. She has such a strong desire to work hard and to get better and better. I love her!
Our service project was so fun! On Saturday we went to a park and helped them clean it up. We got to work with some members and a cute 13 year old kid named Gabriel who came to help out. We cut down a bunch of old plants and picked cotton out of bushes, and in the end, it was cool because we could really see a difference with the work we had done. We had a lot of members from the branch there and the park looked beautiful! We had to end a little early because of the rain, but it was a really fun experience!
This week, I enjoyed reading in the Book of Mormon a lot. I am just starting the "war chapters" in Alma in Spanish, and it was neat to read them with an expectation to learn a lot, because with that mentality...I only made it through half a chapter. (A good thing, I promise!) I learned that we must fortify ourselves and prepare ourselves not only with weapons, but with armor. We have to protect our weaknesses, and trust that they are from God to help us be humble and depend on Him. But if we don't have that mentality and "armor", that is where Satan will attack. We also must counsel with trusted leaders and work as a team. And most of all, we don't have to do it alone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was in Alma 43 that I was reading. It talks about how Moroni realized that the Lamanite armies were going to attack the weakest part of the city (like Satan attacking our weaknesses) and so he gathered all of the people in that area and prepared them to defend and fight. It reminded me of how we, as missionaries, need to work with members and the ward council to really strengthen those who are spiritually weak, less active members and investigators. It was a good study :)
Have a great week!
Hermana Clark