¿Como estan? Espero que ustedes esten bien y que tuvieron una semana fantastica! Estoy muy agradecida por su ayuda y oraciones y amor. GRACIAS.
Entonces, I will now switch back to English :) I promise I can say more than that in Spanish but writing is harder and I´m sure part of that is wrong. haha
ANYWAY, I really do hope that you all are well and had a fantastic week! I had a great week here in Vicente Noble, full of a lot of hard work and learning and trying to be the best missionary I can be for the Lord. So, what happened this week. Well it was a pretty normal week. The only special thing is that this is the last week of the transfer so we've been anxiously waiting to see who would stay and who would go. Hermana Johnson and I already knew we would be staying here because I'm not done with my training yet. We got the calls Saturday and Hermana Walter is leaving our house and going to the capital. I'm really sad to have her go but we all pretty much knew she would leave because she's been here in Vicente Noble for a while. Another Elder from our district is also leaving so we will have some new missionaries here starting tomorrow. It's amazing how close we've all gotten in just 6 weeks. It really does make a difference to be unified in this purpose and to be working alongside these amazing missionaries. While change is hard, its also a great blessing. I'm sure the new missionaries coming will be amazing and exactly what we all need! The Lord always puts people in our paths exactly when we need them. Nonetheless, I will miss Hermana Walter a lot. She is a great friend and even better representative of Christ.
This week we've been focusing a lot on planning and setting goals and in general being prepared. It's amazing how goals can help to focus and motivate to be working for the benefit of the specific people here. When we plan and are prepared, we become more effective instruments in the Lords hands. We can share exactly what the people need to here as guided by the Holy Ghost. Its been amazing to see how this preparation and attitude has helped to have some great teaching experiences that were both spiritual and successful. On Friday we went to teach a family that lives next to one of our menos activas. The family wasn't there so we went to check on our menos activa, who's cousin just passed away. We ended up getting to share with her grandma who is having a really hard time. Even though we don't know this sweet older woman very well, she allowed us to share some things to help console and comfort her. We spoke about the eternal plan that Heavenly Father has prepared for us, that allows us to see our loved ones again and allows us to know that they have entered into His rest. We also spoke about Christ and the fact that He is always here to comfort and help us through hard times. With Christ, we can find the strength to continue on. While she was very emotional throughout, I think she was able to feel a greater sense of peace and acceptance. It was such a humbling and tender moment to be able to represent Jesus Christ and offer words of comfort during this time of sadness. It's so important to be prepared and ready in these moments so we can share things by the Spirit, so we can share the scriptures and testimony that can really make a difference in the lives of these wonderful people.
We had the opportunity to teach our Haitian investigator again. We brought with us our translator member for Creole and taught about the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. It's hard to teach him super effectively because the translation takes time and he has many questions so there are often tangents from questions. But we were still able to share with him about Joseph Smith and the restoration of Christ's Gospel and church through this modern day prophet. This was an important lesson because we spoke a lot about how he can know for himself. Understandably, he has a hard time accepting this account of Joseph Smith. He wanted evidence in the Bible that spoke specifically about Joseph Smith. Finally, we just taught him the role of prayer in coming to know that these things are true. We can teach and answer questions and look up scriptures all we want, but it really comes down to sincerely asking our Father in Heaven in prayer if these things are true. I had the opportunity to testify of these things and the importance of prayer. I asked him to have patience with us, that we had a lot more to share than just this. I explained that this message is not our's, its not the message of Joseph Smith, its really a message from God. I know that through prayer, we can accept and receive the blessings of this message and of Christ in our lives.
Its such a wonderful opportunity to be able to represent my Savior here in Vicente Noble, to be able to testify of Him and the blessings of this gospel and message. I know I have been sent here specifically for these people at this time to help them and remind them of the importance of Christ. Through hard work and diligence, we can see miracle here in the Dominican Republic.
I love you all so much. Thanks for everything!
Con mucho mucho amor,
Hermana Graham
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