I hope that you're all doing well and that you've had a great week!!!
First off can anyone believe that its almost June??? Where did May go and also April and this whole year? Haha time goes by so unbelievably fast and it's crazy how many things happen and how much changes in such a short period of time. This upcoming week will be the last week of the transfer and then the question is, will I stay here in Vicente Noble or am I off to another place? Well, we shall see :)
This week I have a really special story and experience that I would like to share. I am so grateful each and every day that I get to be here serving as a missionary and for the awesome people and families I've been able to meet and work with. There is a family of menos activos that have been inactive for a very long time. In my first transfers here, Hermana Johnson would tell me about them but then said that weren't ready and weren't ever that receptive to listening to the missionaries. In the first week with Hma Velasquez this transfer, we decided to pass by their house and they were willing to listening. We've been visiting them every since. One of the members of this family actually just came home from a mission. He is super awesome and super strong in the church. He always comes with us to lessons and is always there to help and support in the lessons with his family. He has such a strong desire to help his family and was so excited when we started to visit them again. This Saturday, we had a truly amazing lesson with this family that I will never forget. It was just us, this member and his menos activo mother. She has always been willing but not really that receptive to act on the invitations and testimonies we've shared with her. She has a lot of baggage with things that happened in the past and these things have held her back from returning with her family. This Saturday, we were sharing a part of the Plan of Salvation with them, about how after this life we will wait in the Spirit World for the day when we will be judged of our actions here on Earth. We will once again be in the presence of God with a perfect remembrance of all we've done, good or bad. She admitted that if that moment were to happen right now, she did not think that she would be ready. We testified of how this is the time to prepare and change. We never know what will happen, but we can choose to exercise our faith and follow Christ and be ready to return to God's presence. The blessings of repentance and Christ's Atonement are always extended to us no matter what. I 100% know this to be true. We can always return to the straight and narrow path of Christ's Gospel if were are willing to be humble and change and show our faith. We were nearing the end of our lesson and she was listening well but still in doubt. It was at this time that her son, this faithful member and missionary began to speak with his mother in such a direct and loving and desperate way. He began to recount a story when he was younger and first investigating the church. He was the last member of his family to be baptized so they were all members and going to church for some time before he joined. He began to tell a story of one of the first times he went to church, when he wasn't really sure but then his mother encouraged him and helped him have this desire to go. As he stated it, it was an "invitation from mother to son". He then began to plead with her that she might accept his invitation from son to mother. That she would soften her heart and remember the things she once knew. He expressed his grief and hardship in that he was able to leave and serve a mission for 2 year and help other to change their lives, but he hasn't been able to help his own family. He has such a strong desire and testimony of this Gospel, and Hma Velasquez and I were able to support and testify his words to help his sweet strong mother see the importance of these things. It was a sincere, powerful plea from a son and the Spirit was so unbelievably strong as he spoke with all the power in his soul for the sake of his family to help them remember their faith in Christ and the desires they once had to follow Him until the end.
Family and friends, I know that this Gospel is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that through Him, we can live with our Heavenly Father again. We can have joy in this life and be ready and joyful and light when we once again return to God's presence. There need not be any fear, any doubt or any regret. We can always come unto Christ, utilize his Atonement, and once again be counted among his disciples. I am so unbelievably grateful to be able to be here, so share in these experiences and to preach this Gospel. There are sweet tender mercies and miracles awaiting us, all we have to do is show our desire and continue on in faith.
I love you all so much. I hope you have a great week!!!!
CON AMOR,
Hermana Graham
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