July 4th, 2011

Hola Familia. Another good week in the mission. We had some way hard times and I was having a rough time, but that's good because it means good things are ahead and same with the blessings. I realized that life isn't so complicated and when your life is getting hard it's because God is preparing something great ahead of you. That is an awesome blessing and He is testing you to see if you're going to be faithful to him and to continue working diligently and with a lot of effort. I have a story thats very special to prove it. First off, Hermano Ramiro is our investigator with a baptismal date for this week and he is so faithful. It's awesome. We teach him and he is willing to obey the commandments of God. This week when he went to work he told us he told his boss and the workers that if he was going to work there he is not going to chew the coco plant but he is going to work with the same strength a endurance. Which is awesome because almost all the workers here depend on the coco plant to have energy. Then we had a family home evening which here is called noche de hogar. We went to pick him up and his three kids didn't want to come and he kept calling for his son to come and his son kept saying no. Then his nephew came and started to tell him not to go and same with his niece. He was inviting them to come and they said we were pentecostal or something like that haha. They were telling the kids not to come with us and that were liars. But we were waiting for Ramiro to come and so we walked back to the house in his driveway. His family were all around him telling him to go to the park with them but he broke out of the group and started walking towards us. He did not have any support from his family or those he loves so much. He walked towards us with them behind him and came with us to the family home evening. Not 5 minutes passed and out of nowhere came his daughter. Me and my comp were so shocked! She was the last we would have expected to come. But she came and took her dad's arm and helped him walk in the dark so he wouldn't trip and fall.(because he can't walk very well) . This was truly special. We watched a film about our purpose here on earth and she and her father were really into it. Afterwards, we talked and had some hot chocolate and little scones. She asked my why the people here are so loving. I told her this is the Church Hermana wants to join and this is how the members are. The next time we visit them, I will explain more, because we have more time. But we really need to be the example as members because that's the first lesson we teach to non members is how we are so happy, and a hello, and a smileand how are you doing, and hand shake reallly can make the world of a difference place. I love you so much. I know why I'm here and who I am serving. Love Elder Christoffersen