BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!!

Hola y'all!

This past week has been pretty busy! We have had many lessons with our investigators and we've been meeting lots of people this week!  

Starting with past Monday.  We went to go get a hair cut and after I got mine done I was sitting there waiting for sister Hale to get finished.  A man walked in the hair place and looked at us and said with a very loud voice "HEY ITS THE MORMONS!"  He immediately walked over and shook my hand and asked me where I was from and then continued to ask us questions.  Then he said "where's your church building I want to come?!"  We ended up talking for like a half an hour to forty five minutes with him!  He asked about what we believed in and then he told us to call him and see when we could come by and teach him more (MIRACLE)!  Then later that day when we were shopping we saw him again and he came up to us and said "SISTERS! SISTERS!...I own a BBQ place in Lockhart if y'all want to come by and have some good BBQ its on the house! " (well that was a plus!). We were able to call him later on this week to set up an appointment of when we could come by!  Sister Hale and I are so excited to go visit him and teach him and his family more!

Tuesday was very HOT!!!!  We rode our bikes all over the city of Gonzales! We talked to a lot of people that day, which was great and worth all of the time we spent in the heat! Some people think we're crazy being out in this weather!  Most people offer us water so by time I got home that night I had about 4 or 5 water bottles in my bag.

Wednesday we had our district meeting and then as a District we went to Blacks (a really good BBQ place hear in Lockhart).   Then Sister Hale and I drove out to Cedar Creek, which is a small town that we cover in our area.  It's very country out there (which I love) and a lot of our Mexicanos viven allá (live over there). We had a rough time that day with talking to people...No one wanted to talk to us and we had been driving around trying to contact every potential or less active in that area!  When it got to be almost time when we had to head back home we remembered a man who we stopped by a couple weeks ago and so we decided to go stop by his house.  This mans name is Carlos. We met him and his family about 2 weeks ago outside riding horses.  We stopped to talk to them and then set up a return appointment but then when we went back last week they weren't home. But I really felt like we should stop by Carlos's house!  Well when we got to his house his sons were playing soccer in the driveway and so we talked to them for a little while and we asked them where Carlos was, and they said he was out riding his horse.  After when Sister Hale and I got back in the car I expressed to her that I really felt like we needed to find him.  I really didn't know if it was the Spirit telling me that or if I really was just thinking that.  We ended up driving around for a little while trying to find Carlos, and when we almost decided to give up, we pulled over and prayed to ask Heavenly Father to lead us to him, or lead him to us.  When we got done praying I looked up and Carlos was coming up right by our car waving at us trying to get our attention (Miracle!!). I almost started to cry!  As I rolled down my window He said to us in Spanish "Hola como Esta!?"  Then he continued to say I've been hoping you guys would come back to my house and teach me and my family more!  We continued talking to him for a little while and then we drove home.  That was defiantly a miracle and I couldn't help but pray all the way home and thank Heavenly Father for answering our prayers and leading us to find him! 

This past weekend we were able to go and talk with RJ when he came home from scout camp!  He really enjoyed the experience that he had.  He is getting baptized this Saturday July 23rd at 7:30pm and we are more excited then ever for him, and he can't wait!  We also went and taught Primitivo more and he has been reading in the Book of Mormon and loves it!  He's awesome and really wants to continue to learn more.  We invited him to be baptized but he is waiting to learn more before he makes a decision which is great!  Saturday we met with the Holgine family!  They are amazing as well but we haven't been able to really teach them lately because of there work schedules, but when we stopped by there house we talked with them for a little while and they told us that they decided to stop working so much and focus on being together as a family more, and that they wanted to continue to learn more and come to church (Miracle).  On Sunday we taught the lesson in Relief Society on Temples and Family History work!  It turned out to be a great lesson and I learned a lot myself from studying the lesson!  Then we spent the day in Gonzales.  

I want to share something with all of you before I end this email.  My old Mission President (President Slaughter) used to say these things to us...

"I am a friend of the Prophet."

Joseph Smith once expressed that is was becoming ever more difficult for him to discern who was friend and who was foe. Similarly the trend of our day is to remain neutral–authors and speakers and bloggers have adopted this fashionable fad as if it were a sign of high character. It is not! TSAMers stand with the Prophet. We are not neutral. If no one else has the courage to tell his story, we will. “The message of the Restoration is either true or it is not” (PMG, 39).

"Blood of the Restoration."

To say “the blood of the Restoration flows through my veins” is to say that the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and all that has been revealed through him, is an integral part of who you are and how you see the world. It is life to the soul and light to the eyes. The blood of the Prophet, spilt at Carthage, not only sealed his testimony, but it also continues to flow in the veins of those who still seek counsel and blessings and authority under his hands (D&C; 122:1-2).

 

"Fire of the Restoration."

To say “the fire of the Restoration burns within me” is to refer to the passion and feeling and spiritual outpouring one experiences, almost as if to the point of explosion. Only those who have felt it, understand. It is akin to Jeremiah’s experience: “his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing” ( I could hardly keep it in; Jeremiah 20:9); or like Nephi’s experience: “I am filled with the power of God, even unto the consuming of my flesh” (Jerimiah 20:9; 1 Nephi 17:48; 2 Nephi 2:21)

I would just like to express to all in the close of my email that Joseph Smith was not only a great man, but he was an inspired servant of the Lord, a prophet of God. His greatness consists in one thing--the truthfulness of his declaration that he saw the Father and the Son and that he responded to the reality of that divine revelation. …

I testify that the Father and the Son did appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith to initiate this great rolling forth of the latter-day work in our time!  I testify that this church is true!  I love missionary work!  I wouldn't chose to be anywhere else but here and this moment right now!

I hope y'all have a great week!  

Con Amor,

-Hermana Mann