Hi family!
We had a really good week this week. Especially with Amber. She had surgery on Friday so the relief society made her dinner and she was so touched. We brought the dinner over and visited with her for a bit. When we left we put in The Testaments for her to watch and she said she really liked it. Her husband even watched some of it with her! Which is a HUGE step for him. She said that he's been changing a lot lately and has been warming up to the idea of getting married. Which is good because she has a baptismal date for August 17!
The very first time that she came to church was a fast Sunday and she asked me why everyone who goes up to bear their testimony cries. I told her that sometimes there isn't any other way to express how we feel. Anyway, we visited her again on Saturday and she started telling us how she really thinks this church is true and how she's been through a lot of trials and always felt alone but now she knows that she's not alone. She started crying and then said "Ah man! Now I'm one of you guys!" It was funny but SO amazing to hear her bear testimony. Usually we're the ones bearing testimony, but she's learned so much and can now do it for herself. It was so amazing and powerful to hear an investigator bear testimony of the truthfulness of everything we've taught her and everything she's learned in church. It really strengthened my testimony.
Amber's also doing missinoary work without even realizing it! This is my favorite story from my mission so far....Amber's neighbor (Nuri Rodriguez) is a less active in the Spanish branch. Amber didn't even know that she was a member of our church and asked if she would drive her to church because she wasn't going to be able to drive after surgery. It was amazing in and of itself to see the Rodriguez family at church but then to find out that Amber was the reason they came was even more amazing.
Last thing about Amber....when we went to see her she said she hadn't smoked for 5 days and that she doesn't even have the desire to. We didn't even know that she was trying to quit! Hmna Garcia-Gomez asked if she could throw all her cigarettes out and she told her to go for it. Please keep her and her family (especially her husband) in your prayers that they'll be able to one day be sealed in the temple together.
Ricardo, who'll be baptized on June 8, has also been doing his fair share of missionary work. Every time we go teach him he invites all his friends over. As we were driving home after our last lesson we got a phone call from his mom and she said that Ricardo, his 8yr brother Luis and all of their friends were reading the book of mormon together. We had assigned them "homework" but didn't think they'd do it right away! His parents are both very active members and ricardo (10yr) was just adopted by them this last month. His friends are learning alot and love it when we come teach them but don't come to church because their parents won't take them.
Last investigator update is about Ivan. We started teaching him the same time as Anthony but only taught one lesson. Then he disappeared and we didn't see him for weeks. We ran into him at this work (grocery store) and he told us he had a new address. When we visited him he told us that he did what we said and read the Book of Mormon and had been praying about it and wants to be a mormon. He said he'd also been doing research about Joseph Smith and he actually knew quite a bit about his life. I love when people take what we say seriously! All we ask is for people to do their research (read the book of mormon) and find out for themselves (pray). Is that too much to ask? He set a baptismal date for June 22 but it'll be difficult to get him to church. Although he did ask his boss for Sundays off so maybe things will change.
So I called my bank to see if I had enough money on my card for groceries this week since I already spent all the money that we get for the month (it was my comps b-day I had to treat her well!!) and there was a lot more money on there than when I first left. Any explanations? Thank you to wherever that money came from!
Well I think that's all for the week! Hope everyone is doing great!! :) Oh, I finally finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish out loud :) Hope to hear from you all soon
Love, Hermana Billings
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