Zarahemla Week 28

The winters up here are so pretty!

We had such a miracle filled week! It's hard to describe the feeling of being used by the Lord, but I can say that it is a wonderful feeling! We feel like we are not doing anything to deserve these miracles, but we've been given them anyway! It's been awesome!

Made more tortillas the other day. 

Elder Toledo said they were very authentic! 

Looks like Elder Clark is more Mexican than I gave him credit for!

A few days ago, we were on the bus going home, and I saw a Latino guy that was looking at me a little more than people usually do. So of course, I went to talk to him and realized that I had contacted him multiple times when I was here LAST YEAR! I even membered his name, Mauricio (which, if you know me is a miracle in and of itself; I'm TERRIBLE with remembering names)! It was very cool, especially that the Lord has been given him many chances to accept the gospel. It might seem like a coincidence, but that almost never happens. It was cool to see how much the Lord loves him, and thus shows how much he loves each of us!

David and Gaby, that family that I said "dropped out of the sky" last week, are some of the most prepared people I've ever met. We've been able to teach them super often! They moved here from Mexico a little over 30 days ago, and have been having a hard adjustment to life in Montréal. David's cousin, who lives in Longueuil (just south of Montréal), has been being taught for the past 3 weeks or so by the Spanish missionaries down there. After visiting them one night, said that he would send the missionaries to their house. We got only their address from the missionaries down there, with no other information, and we happened to be in the area so we decided to visit them. We showed up 10 minutes after their cousin left! And, since that day, they have been progressing so fast. Sadly, church was cancelled due to a freezing rain storm we had, so they weren't able to come, but they are super excited to come next week. We saw them last night, and they were so disappointed that they couldn't come! They said they woke up very early to get themselves and their 4-year-old daughter ready when they saw the text we sent them telling them that it was cancelled. They're just so willing to act; it's amazing! We were also able to invite them to be baptized on the 13th of April, and they accepted! They honestly might even get baptized before then; they are progressing so fast. We did nothing to deserve that amazing miracle!

It's hard to see, but there's over half a foot of pure ice that covers everything.
It's been very hard to walk recently! We've been falling everywhere!

On top of that, we had a lesson the other day planned at the mission office with some people that we met last week. We showed up at the office and waited for them. And waited. And waited. The appointment was at 4, and they didn't show up until 5:20! But, they brought a friend! I was a little bit frustrated, since we had to reschedule another appointment we had, but it was supposed to happen. It was an amazing lesson! We taught them the restoration and it the Spirit was so strong. They all accepted to be baptized in April as well! We hadn't even ever had a lesson with them before! Again, another miracle that we were not prepared for, that we don't seem like we deserve!

We also had a super cool lesson with a guy named Alan the other day. He showed up to church the other week with his friend, Erick, who is a returned missionary. They just got here from Mexico a few days ago. We tried to see him last week, but were not able to, and kind of forgot about them since we were so busy (it's surprisingly so easy to forget about someone if you don't have an appointment with them!). But, the Spirit reminded us, and we called and were able to set up an appointment up that day. We went, and were able to meet with both of them. It was one of the most spiritually powerful lessons of my mission. Alan is a very intelligent man, who has been looking for the truth about God for over 7 years, from what he said. He has studied essentially everything and couldn't seem to feel like he could find the truth. We had a lesson with him, and it was amazing. Erick shared an experience from the beginning his mission when he wanted to really know if the church was actually true and if he really was supposed to serve a mission and sacrifice the 2 years of his life. He was 100% willing to do it, but he just wanted to KNOW. He shared the answer that he received, and it was super powerful. The Spirit testified that what he said was true, and I'm sure everyone felt it. Alan also accepted to be baptized in April, if he receives an answer by then. I know that he will, if he puts in the effort.

The weirdest storm hit us on Sunday. Freezing rain, rain, hail, snow,
all of the above. It was the weirdest weather I've ever seen!

Anyway, I'm sorry for the long email, but we are seeing so many miracles that I wanted to share a taste of the amazing experiences I've been having recently. I know that the church is true. It is Christ's church, and each of us can know for ourselves if we truly ask in faith. I love you all so much, and I hope you have an amazing week!

Elder James