Week 73: January 7, 2019 - Touched by the Spirit

Hey Fam!!! Happy New Year!!!!!!

So, for new years, we went and had dinner with a family in our branch. They were super nice. They have a son that returned form his mission not too long ago and another that is going on his mission next month. We shared a message about the atonement and how it helps us change and invited them to make goals that would allow them to become more like Christ. It was pretty neat.

We contacted this super neat lady one morning. She had a super interesting question that I had never heard from anyone before. She asked why Christ would suffer for her. We gave her Alma 7 which explains what Christ suffered with the intent of explaining more about Christ's atonement and telling her about the Book of Mormon. She said how she had talked to the missionaries before at her friend's house about 20 years ago. I thought it was so neat how she could remember 20 years ago a short conversation like that. It goes to show how powerful being touched by the spirit can go. We taught another lady and her husband named Sara and Eduardo. It was super neat. They are so humble and were so willing to hear us. They had a little kid with them, about 2 years old. At the end of the lesson, we asked Sara if she would be willing to say the prayer for us. We taught her how to pray, and then she said one of the most heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. She asked in her prayer for strength to take care of her son and then she just started crying. It was super touching.

We also went and visited an Ex investigator named Carlos with Maria da Paz and Bernardino, 2 really strong members. It was a super neat lesson. We are going to help Carlos quit smoking a be baptized in a few weeks. He was super excited! We made plans to have constant communication with him, us and Maria and Bernardino. We are also sending him scriptures to read every morning form the Book of Mormon. So far, he is on track!!! We are super excited for him!!!

We also taught Pedro and Lecia again. It was a super neat lesson!!! They asked so many questions, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time trying keep myself from exploding and just teaching like crazy!!! We didn't have much time with them, so we had to focus a ton on the message we needed to share. It was one of those lessons I was just impatient trying to listen to their questions, I just got so excited to teach!!! I would pull up a scripture to answer a question they asked and then they would ask another question, then I would come up with another answer and by then they had already moved on to another question!! It was super neat!!! Pedro also told me how you can tell if someone is your friend by the way they give you a handshake. If they are firm, they are a friend, if they are loose and light, they didn't care so much to greet you or talk to you. He also said how giving a pat on the back is a huge sign of friendship. Lets just say giving pats on the back became our thing that night!! hahaha, it was pretty funny!!!

We also saw a huge group of boys hanging out and started talking to them about Christ. We taught them how to pray on the spot and invited them all to pray when they got home by themselves. It was pretty neat.

Love you all soooo much!!! Hope you all have a great week!!!

Love,
Elder Barton