Funny story from last week first though. Last week we were supposed to have dinner with an investigator family, but when we showed up, only the brother, Manuel, and a friend, Ivan, were there (they are like 40 and 35 years old). They didn't really know what to do because Miguel and Filomena weren't there, but Ivan had some oysters that he had gotten from the harbor earlier that day. So we ended up going into the back yard and eating raw oysters drenched in lemon and tapatio (chile sauce). EWWW!! It was good in a gross way. Better than the Pizza Rolls someone else fed us. Anyway, they both speak Spanish, but Ivan preferred to talk to us in English, even though Manuel couldn't understand. We pulled out Book of Mormons (or is it Books of Mormon...I still don't know...) ANYWAY. We kept trying to talk about the Book of Mormon and Ivan just kept talking about how
Anyway, another cool story from this week. On Friday we had a lesson with a less active/recent convert couple who are super young, like 20. They just had a little baby about 2 months ago. Background: Richard is the dad and he's 21 and was inactive for the last few years. Nicole is the mom and she's 20 and just got baptized over a year ago. They have both struggled with addictions, but decided they wanted to get married and start a good life and quit smoking and stuff. They're super awesome. Anyway, we had a lesson with them on Friday. Thursday night I was praying for them and asking God what we should share with them. Immediately I thought of Alma 36. When we went over to their house on Friday, we were worried cause it smelled like smoke outside. We stuck with our plan and went inside and read and discussed Alma 36 with them. Richard was in awe. He told us that the day before, he and Nicole had relapsed and bought cigarettes and smoked. They have been fighting cravings and having a really hard time staying strong even though they don't want to relapse. But, after reading in the Book of Mormon, Richard said that he no longer had the desires or cravings to smoke and that the whole chapter was answers to questions he'd had for a long time. IT WAS SO COOL!! God know's what's up.
We spent a lot of time doing service for Chazahla this week. She's an 81 year old British lady with red hair. She has to be out of her house by Tuesday and she has A LOT of stuff. So we've been helping her pack since we got here and sharing messages with her before we leave. This week was crunch time, so we called in the Elders on Saturday to "get some muscles" to help load a truck full of boxes and plant. In the evening, after the truck was loaded, we helped her clean and pack a little more. The Elders were singing hymns while they cleaned outside and Chazahla just kept yelling, "I have to shout over all this noise!" Hey, I didn't think they sounded that bad! Good news is, we got her mostly moved out so we will be able to do more teaching and finding this week! Yippee!
Well, I think the biggest lesson I've learned this week is the importance of acting on spiritual promptings. Last week, President Felix responded to my letter to him by saying, "The secret to success is responding to spiritual promptings quickly." Wow. This is so true. As we pray fervently, and meditate on what we need to do, for ourselves and for others, we receive answers. And we MUST act on them. We are His hands. Each of us, missionary, member, or anyone else. And we MUST do what the Lord asks. All the Lord asks is for us to be obedient, and that includes obedience to spiritual promptings that we receive personally.
I know that this is an inspired work. I know God's hand is in it. His hand is in each of our lives and He is constantly preparing us to do more and be more. Because He knows we can.
Have a great week! Thanks for all the love and support!!
Que tenga un buen dia!
Hna Clark
P.s. we straightened my hair this week! I think I need a haircut...