Zarahemla Week 48

El Barrio Zarahemla

Family,

I can't believe that two years have passed, and I am heading home. And when I say I can't believe it, I literally mean I don't feel like it's over yet! I'm in 100% denial! It's an interesting feeling, but I'll try to have a good concluding letter.

Saying goodbye to Edis and his family

We had an amazing week; full of crazy miracles and very interesting experiences! Luckily, there are lots of people who are preparing to be baptized next transfer, who have lots of promise! Armando and Luis continue to surprise us; every lesson we have with them shows us how solid they actually are. They have not gained a strong testimony that what we teach is true quite yet, but they are putting in the efforts necessary to receive one. They are willing to be baptized when they know! They have started reading and praying consistently, and have even been inviting their roommates to church! They are awesome!

Zarahemla District

We also have started teaching these two men who moved from Mexico a couple of weeks ago, Pedro and Domingo. They are super cool! Although they are very busy looking for work and a place to stay and everything, they have allowed us to meet with them consistently! Just last night we were teaching them about the Book of Mormon, and they understood it so very well. Everything made sense to them, and they made the connection between the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to the truthfulness of the restored church of Christ. That was a miracle; that doesn't happen very often! It was amazing to see how the Spirit helped them learn and understand, and most of all feel of the truth. They were so excited to read it!

Saying goodbye to Elder Toledo

On Sunday, to my surprise, the entire ward threw a going away party after the services! It was so much fun, and I was very touched and felt their love tremendously. There was lots of my favorite food, and tons of families and people that I have grown to love immensely after serving in this ward for an entire year. We took lots of pictures (attached!), and said lots of goodbyes. I'm going to miss serving with them so much!  

La Familia Cosme

It has been an honor to serve, and although I still refuse to realize that it's over, I know I am going to miss being a full time missionary. I'm going to miss talking to people on the busses and metros, teaching people sitting down on their floors, having absolutely insane people approach us and tell us the craziest things, having every single person on the street stare at us and our nametags as we walk by... but, most of all, I will miss testifying of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of His love for us, and of the blessings of His Atonement. I will miss watching closely as the Gospel changes people's lives and being a small part of it. I will miss watching people I love with all my heart enter into the waters of baptism and make covenants with their Heavenly Father. I will miss being a representative of Christ, and being able to share a portion of His love for each person I have met. I will miss participating in this labor of love.

Hermana Guerra

Although my mission is coming to a close, I know that I don't have to miss these things. Each one of us can participate actively in missionary work. When I go home, I will still be able to testify to those around me of Christ and His gospel. I will still be able to participate in the conversion process of other people. I will still be able to stand out and be an example to those around me. All of these things don't have to come to an end once a missionary goes home, and they shouldn't end. It is the responsibility of each one of us to preach the gospel and share the blessings we enjoy with those around us. When I go home, my purpose will not change. My purpose as a returned missionary will be "Iviter les gens à venir au Christ, en les aidant à recevoir l'Évangile rétabli par la foi en Jésus-Christ et en son expiation, par le repentir, par le baptême, la réception du don du Saint-Esprit, et par le percévérence jusqu'à la fin." How great is our calling!

La Familia Lemus

I would like to end by sharing my testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. As a missionary, not only have I been able to see that testimony grow drastically in myself, but I have had the wonderful opportunity to see it grow in others as well. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ changes lives. I have strongly felt the cleansing and freeing power it can have in our lives as we live worthy for it. I know that it is available to everyone, as I have seen time and time again on my mission. I have seen its power change lives; lives who seemed "unchangeable." I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It, with the Bible, allows us to come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is the keystone of my testimony that the Church of Christ, His Gospel, and the Priesthood Authority have been restored in these latter days. I know that anyone can truly know for themselves if they will simply read, ponder, and pray about what is on its pages. I know through my testimony of the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God, and that through him, these things have been restored. I know that we, as those who have taken upon ourselves the name of Christ, are responsible for sharing this precious knowledge to those around us. And I know that, by doing so, our lives will be filled with joy, love, and peace, and that we will see the hand of God daily in our lives. I bear my witness that I have seen the hand in the work that I have done as a missionary. I know that it is His work, and that He guides it. And I know that He does so because he dearly loves His children. I bear my witness of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.

Elder James

La Familia Infante

Obispo y Hermana Voelcker

José Daniel

La Familia Silva y Luisana

Los Hijos Amador

La Familia Jeria

La Familia Carillo

La Familia De Lucio

La Familia Ortega y Antonio

La Familia Martinez

La Familia De Leon

La Familia Labrana

Hermano Mendoza

La Familia Amador

(They told me to do that haha!)

Zarahemla Week 47

Hermana Lemus wanted to teach us how to make
Pupusas! They were delicious!

This past week has already gone by in a flash, and I'm starting up my last full week in the field. I cannot believe that things are coming to an end, I still don't feel like it ever will end! But I'm happy to keep it like that; I have to sprint to the end! Anyway, here are some highlights from the week!

We saw a cool miracle the other day! We went home for dinner, and our whole evening fell though, and we had no idea what to do. When reflecting on what we should do, my companion had a brilliant idea to pray and ask the Lord for direction. We did so, then discussed. We than had an impression to go pass by a person named Raul, who had told us that he'd be home that night, which we had totally forgotten! We immediately left and started walking over there. On the way, we saw two Latinos sitting down, so we stopped and talked to them. One of them, Omar, was actually someone we had contacted before in the bus, but we left the bus running and weren't able to get his number down completely correctly, so we couldn't contact him. But, the Lord but him back in our path! We talked to both of them and set up appointments! (We had a lesson with Omar yesterday, and it went so well! He's very prepared!) Then, in the same building that we were heading to, there was a Latina woman just sitting down on the stairs. We started talking to her as well, and ended up having a 30-minute discussion! She was super cool, and loved discussing with us! We set up an appointment with her for this Saturday. It was an amazing miracle! Then, when we were finishing up, Raul and one of his roommates showed up, and invited us up! We taught both of them the whole restoration, and Raul was telling us how much he wants to go to church. We'll be meeting him and taking the bus together this Sunday! He's super cool! It was awesome to see how although our plans had completely failed, and we had no idea what to do, as we humbled ourselves and asked God what He had planned for us, it was revealed and turned out to be much better than our original plans! It was awesome!

There have been many really cool miracles like that happening all week, and I really attribute it to the faith of my new companion; he's doing so well. It's been so fun training him and being able to see all the progress that he's been making. He's changed so much already!

Well I'm grateful that I still have a good amount of time to get some work done. We will see many miracles this next week, I know it! Thank you for all your support and prayers, they mean a lot! I love you all!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 46

The observatory from the Olympic Stadium

We've had another fantastic week here in the vineyard of the Lord! We've been seeing miracle upon miracle, and we have been blessed by the hand of the Lord overwhelmingly. Elder Salvador and I are having an amazing time working together, and it's been a blessing for me to see him improve so much in such a short period of time. He is truly becoming a tool in the hands of the Lord! Here are a few highlights from the week!

We started teaching someone named Armando this week, who moved here from Mexico a couple of months ago. We were teaching one of his roommates, but last week when we went to his apartment to visit him, he wasn't there; but Armando was! We set up a return appointment and came back later. When we taught him, we saw right away that he is a very humble, sincere seeker of truth! He is very willing to change and grow closer to God. We invited him to be baptized on March 10th on that first visit, and he readily accepted. He came to church last Sunday and loved it! Yesterday we visited him again with Leonardo, one of our recent converts, and it was an amazing lesson. He said that he had taken the Book of Mormon to the park and read the assignment we gave him, and some more! He is super awesome and it's been a pleasure to work with him already. He will be baptized!

Walking under the Autoroute 

We have been finding very consistently this transfer, and we continue to find more and more every day! In Spanish areas, usually we have to cycle through many people to find those who are truly prepared to accept the gospel, and that entails finding as many people as we can. We have been working hard to find those who are ready to accept the gospel now, like Armando!

I went on exchanges with the Monte Rey Elders this past week. I was with Elder Toledo and Elder Montano in Monte Rey. We had a miracle filled exchange! We planned to do some finding that day near the YMCA (where many Spanish speaking immigrants stay when they get here), and we found 15 new people to teach, including two complete families! The Lord blessed us so much as we exercised faith and looked for those who are ready now. He truly is preparing people for the gospel; I have seen it so many times on my mission!

View of the City from the top of the Olympic stadium 

The work is going very well, and it's been so fun to be here with Elder Salvador in Zarahemla. I love this place so much, and we're having a great time serving. I hope you all have an amazing week, I love you all so much!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 45

Old Port

Another week has quickly gone by here in Montréal! We are already in week 3 of the transfer which is still boggling my mind... I feel like I just got back to Zarahemla a couple of weeks ago! We've been busy, which for sure helps us stay focused, and training has helped a lot with that as well. It's been fun! Here are a few quick highlights from the week!

I went on exchanges with Elder Toledo,
and we saw Horacio! It was a fun day.

We had a cool experience going finding the other day! We've been working at being bold as we talk to people, and as we were passing by someone in an apartment building, we noticed an open apartment door with a large group of Spanish speakers having a party. It'd be pretty awkward just dropping in on the party and preaching repentance to them, but we decided to do it anyway! But, it was a miracle! The mother ended up being a member who used to go to church a long time ago with her dad, but stopped when she was about 13 years old. She was interested in coming back though! She has two kids that may have potential as well! It was awesome to see that as we just got over the awkwardness of some situations, the Lord makes miracles happen! Super cool!

We ate at Hermano Farfan's house!

We had Zone Conference, and it was President and Sister Phillips' (as well as my) last zone conference. There were many tears; we will all miss them a lot! We talked a lot about Spiritual Gifts which was very informative and uplifting. We discussed a lot about what spiritual gifts we had, and it was very interesting! I think what hit me the most were two principles that we learned... One, that all spiritual gifts are to be used to bless the lives of others, and two, that the Lord desires us to have ALL spiritual gifts; we just have to work for them. We were able to identify some specific gifts that we have the capacity for, and set some plans on how to develop them! It was a very uplifting experience.

Made Pizzas with Elena again 

Well again it's been a great week, things are going well, and Elder Salvador and I continue to have fun together! It's great being here in Montréal, and I'm excited for all the miracles the Lord has for us! I hope all of you are doing well as well, and I hope you have a great week. Love you so much!

Elder James

Found a public ping pong table in Old Port 

Today's P-day activity

Zarahemla Week 44

Winter Montréal

Summer in Montréal

We had a great week, as always! It was Elder Salvador's first full week, but it seems like he's already fully adjusted! We both still have a lot of learning to do, but we are having tons of fun. We've seen lots of crazy and interesting miracles this week, and we have continually seen the hand of the Lord in the work. I'll share some highlights!

Exchanges with Elder Montaño!

Piero, who I believe I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, was super hard to see these past few weeks. But, after repeated efforts, we were finally able to see him! We even ran into him on the bus a couple of times! It was cool to see that as we try our best and work persistently, the Lord may bless us with the thing we desire! It was a cool little miracle.

Piero took us out to Lunch at an awesome Peruvian restaurant

We were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Friday, and we saw some really cool miracles! We wanted to go pass by someone that used to be taught a while ago, and it turned into an unexpected miracle as well! We knocked on the apartment door, and two Indian guys opened the door. We just talked to them a little bit about India at the door and I told them of my love for Indian food, and then just opened the door and sat us down! It was super cool, they were very friendly and nice, even though they had literally no idea who we were! We were able to discuss a bit about the gospel, and help them understand a bit about God. They didn't necessarily share our beliefs, but they were very open! They were very kind!

The other day, we felt like we should go by Horacio again. We're not visiting him as much as we used to, since he doesn't feel like everything is ready for baptism yet, but he did something that really showed to us his desire to follow Christ. He called us one morning (he almost never does that), and told us that he let a family that just got here from Mexico the other day stay in his apartment. We were confused and thought he was making a joke or something, so we didn't think much of it. We then felt impressed later in the day to pass by him and see what was up. We passed by and he was there, and he told us again about this mysterious family that he let stay in his apartment. He asked if we wanted to see them, and then he led us out and took us to another apartment in his building. He knocked on the door, and introduced us to Liliana, the mother, and Evelina, the daughter (the father was out working)! They were SO very kind, and we chatted with them a little bit, then were able to share a quick lesson with them. Horacio was teaching and testifying as if he were a member! He told us that he really wanted to bring them to church and share the gospel with them. It was so adorable! It's cool to see that as someone truly tastes the fruit of the gospel, they can't help but share it! It reminds me of a scripture in 1 Nephi 8, which talks about the fruit that Lehi tastes, which represents the love of God and the blessings of the Atonement. It says, "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." As we taste of the love of God and of the blessings of the Atonement, we cannot help but to share them! Horacio was a very cool representation of that concept. He's so awesome!

Well things are going amazing here in Zarahemla, and I'm enjoying every minute of it! I hope you each have a fantastic week as well, I love you so much!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 43

First Poutine

We had an interesting week! I received my new companion on Thursday! His name is Elder Salvador. He is from California, but his family is from Mexico originally. He just got into the mission field, so we've been working hard at getting him adjusted! He's doing great though, he has a lot of fire. He talks to everyone he can, even though he doesn't speak too much French yet! He's been doing very well! Well here are a few highlights from the week!

Said goodbye to Elder Ramos Chen last week. We had a really fun transfer together, and saw so many cool miracles! He is super smart and taught me a lot. We'll see each other at BYU though, so I'm excited!

Met my new trainee, Elder Salvador!

We've seen Julio, the man we regained contact with last week, multiple times this week! He's doing very well! We have been focusing on the basics, on helping him read the Book of Mormon and praying. Yesterday he expressed how he has been seeing lots of change and help from God as he's become more actively applying the principles of the Gospel in his life. He wants to be baptized soon! He has quite a bit of changes to make, but he is motivated and has the goal of baptism in mind. He's very humble, and it's been fun to work with him!

Saying goodbye to Elder Ramos Chen 

We started teaching someone named Yair this past week. He moved here from Peru just a few months ago. We had our second lesson with him on Elder Salvador's first day, and I made Elder Salvador invite him to be baptized. The Spirit was very strong in the lesson, Elder Salvador invited him to be baptized, and he accepted! It was awesome! It's been humbling to see him work, because it really reminds me that we don't do anything in the work; it is truly the Lord's work. Sometimes we get caught up and put too much of the work on our own shoulders and take too much of the credit. But it's been clear to me in watching Elder Salvador work miracles that it really doesn't matter how "experienced" we may think we are as missionaries, if we do our best and have trust in the Lord, he does the miracles!

We're ready to work! 

There is a scripture that I love that has been on my mind a lot recently. It is found in Matthew 6, and I wanted to quote a few verses:

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"

"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

I have found this passage to be so true on my mission. I have seen the difference in peoples' lives, and in my own life, between having God as our first priority and having other things as our first priority such as work, school, money, etc. There is happiness, power, and love in the one, and a lack of said things in the other. It is so true; God knows we need food, He knows we need to work, He knows we need money, He knows we need sleep, He knows we need all these things… Nevertheless, the passage says it so clear: these things will be added unto us, if we put God first. It's a promise, and I know it is sure!

Well it's been an amazing week, I hope you all are doing well as well. Have a great week, I love you!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 42

The Zarahemla District!

Greetings from Montréal! We have received our transfer calls... And I will be staying, yet again, in Zarahemla! This means that I will have spent my entire mission on the island of Montréal, and exactly half of my mission in the Zarahemla ward! I feel like I have become one with the members, it's so fun to be with them. They are like my family! Elder Ramos Chen is already leaving, which is sad, but I will be training a brand-new missionary! I don't know anything about him yet; it will be a mystery until I meet him this Thursday. But I'm excited to spend my last transfer training! It's going to be fun! Here are a couple of cool experiences we had this past week.

The other day, we had a bit of time left before needing to be home, so we decided to do a little bit of metro contacting. We got on the metro, and were finding Latinos, but we had a feeling that we needed to get off at a particular station, and turn around and take the train north. We got off, we went to the other side of the tracks, and got on the other train. At first there were no Latinos, so we decided to walk the length of the train to find someone who spoke Spanish. We walked and walked and walked, and then we found Julio! Elder Toledo and I had found Julio last transfer, and he was super cool; he even had a baptismal date for a while. But, some things happened, and he dropped us. I recognized him and said hello, and he seemed very happy to see us! He apologized for dropping us before, and said that he just had a lot of things going on at the time and wasn't in the best place emotionally or spiritually. He said that he was actually interested in us coming back, and invited us back the next day! It was cool to see that although we judged incorrectly that he was no longer open for the gospel, the Lord corrected our decision and put him again in our path! It was a great experience.

This week, we started teaching Blady, who moved from the Dominican Republic a while ago. He's super cool and is so very humble. He came to church on Sunday, and we met him before to discuss the Restoration of the Gospel a little bit. It made so much sense to him, and it was clear that the Spirit testified to him that what we were sharing is true. It really showed to me that when we are humble, the Lord can actually teach us. If we are prideful and unwilling to learn, the Lord cannot do much. Every single person that I have taught on my mission who were truly humble received clear and specific answers that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, etc. On the flip side, rarely do I see a prideful person receive answers. It takes humility and sincerity to receive direction from God, and Blady is a perfect example of that! It's a pleasure to teach him.

We had a sad experience this week that turned into a profound learning moment. Horacio, who was ready to be baptized last Saturday, last minute decided not to be baptized only hours before the service. Elder Ramos and I were crushed, primarily because we love him and care for him so much, and because we know of the blessings that he will be missing out on. On contemplating and reflecting upon this, the Spirit helped me realize that now I understand a fraction of what our Heavenly Father experiences and feels when he sees his children reject the blessings that he freely gives them. I strongly believe that experiencing this type of divine disappointment is part of the process of us becoming who God wants us to become. Although it is very saddening to witness, we are able to take solace in the fact that we worked as hard as we can, and did everything in our part to allow specifically Horacio to receive these blessings. But, as always with missionary work, we cannot force anyone to accept these things. It is always up to them. It's a privilege to be able to use these experiences as opportunities to grow. It reminds me of a scripture in John 17:3 which says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." In order to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ, I believe we must learn to experience, in part, the suffering that they have felt. Reading about God's suffering in the scriptures is one thing, but experiencing that suffering (a fraction, of course) is another. Experience isn't just the best teacher, I believe it is the only teacher.

Well I apologize that this turned into a sermon, but I am grateful to be here in Montréal, and to learn more about God and Christ through experience. Although we do sometimes have difficult moments, the positive far outweighs the negative. I am enjoying my time here a ton! It's been the best experience of my life! I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week.

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 41

It's been a pretty good week here in Zarahemla! Transfer calls are already in a few days; I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone by. We'll see what happens, it will be my last transfer call! Other than that, we've seen some really cool miracles, and had a few new developments! 

We found a super super cool young guy this week that we started teaching. His name is Piero, and he moved here from Peru a few months ago. He's super prepared! We taught him on Wednesday for the first time, and he was just hungry for more... He asked so many amazing questions, and was so willing to learn. He has a very humble character, he is honestly searching for the truth. It's hard to see him often since he works a lot, but he really loves the gospel already, and is committed to learn more! He's super cool!

Horacio is finally committed to be baptized! He should be baptized this week! Like he always says, he will do it "si estoy vivo todavia!" (If I'm still alive)! He's super awesome. We will have his interview tomorrow, and hopefully everything will be good! It's been so cool teaching him, although he's very old, it's cool to see how the Spirit helps him understand. It's been a miracle!

We had a district fast this week to raise our faith in getting people to come to church, and we saw some really cool miracles! Blady, a man who for months we've been trying to get to church, just showed up on his on will! It was amazing! He really loved it, he even gave the closing prayer in Elders Quorum and was very proud of himself. It's so nice that we have a great ward that helps them feel so welcome and loved! It makes such a big difference when they feel love from the members. I hope I am one of those members when I go home!

This Sunday I had the opportunity to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. I talked about how we can receive, recognize, and understand the Spirit. In the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 32:5, we are taught, "For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." What an amazing promise! If we do our part, the Holy Spirit WILL show us everything we need to do. Temporally, as well as spiritually. That is such an amazing blessing! We must constantly and actively work for the guidance of the Spirit, and if we do, we will be guided by the Lord. I know that that is true, I have seen the Spirit help me constantly as a missionary; I can't go a day without its help. It's an amazing gift that God has given us!

Again, everything is going well, It's STILL cold up here, around 9 degrees celcius! But hopefully it will get warmer sooner! I love you all so much, I hope you have a great week.

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 40

The Mejia family at their baptism!

We had a great week! Lots of work was done, and lots of progress was made with some of our friends that we're working with. Here are some quick highlights!

We had an amazing wedding/baptism in the ward on Sunday! It was super cool, the mother is a member, but the father and kids were not, and they were all baptized right after the father and mother were married! The Sisters were mostly teaching them, but it was a whole ward effort! Elder Ramos was able to baptize them which was super cool, it was his first time! It was a great experience; the ward is growing so much!

My favorite Poutine and a Québécois soda made with
Maple Syrup. Regrettably, I ate it all.

Sean has been making really good progress! We've been teaching him most of the commandments, and he is very committed to keeping them. It really helps that his wife's family are some of the most solid members in the ward! They have been doing a great job at bearing testimony and helping him stay strong. They've been pushing him and reminding him to read the Book of Mormon, to pray, and he's been coming to church with all of them very consistently! It's been awesome to teach him, he's so prepared.

We've made serious progress with Horacio this past week! He was struggling to read the Book of Mormon consistently, and so we set some alarms on his phone in the morning and evening to remind him to read. And, ever since then, he's read about 2 chapters every single day in the morning and evening! It's been such a cool miracle! We've been struggling with him not being motivated to be baptized soon, but we know that as he reads and prays and comes to church consistently, he will be able to know what God wants him to do! He also came to church on Sunday, and the members did a great job at fellowshipping him. Another Colombian member bonded with him a lot, and will be going to teach Horacio with us tonight! Horacio is really excited, it's great to help him have some more friends here. He's doing awesome, it's been such a pleasure to teach him!

This past Sunday, we went to visit a referral that some other Elders sent to us. We couldn't confirm with him, and we had other things that we could have been doing, but we felt that we should visit him nonetheless. We showed up, and not only was he there and willing to receive us, but he had 3 friends living with him, and we were able to teach them all! It was awesome to see that the Lord guided us and helped us know where to go. They all moved here from Mexico a couple of months ago, and they really want to get involved in the church. They were super cool! It was an awesome miracle!

Jonathan, the man I talked about last week who we talked to for an hour standing by the street, kind of disappeared last week. He came to church and loved it, but for some reason we couldn't get a hold of him for the whole rest of the week. We thought that maybe he was just ignoring us, but we prayed really hard yesterday that we would somehow be able to regain contact with him. Later in the day, we were doing some finding in the Metro. We felt like we needed to get off of the train and go in the other direction, and as we went to the other side of the station, Jonathan was just sitting there waiting and said hello to us (This is a miracle, millions of people use the metro every day and you very very rarely see anyone you know)! He invited us over right then and there, and we were able to have a good lesson at his house! It was awesome! Such an amazing miracle!

Things are going amazing over here in Zarahemla. I'm loving my time here, and I'm excited for all the experiences awaiting us in the weeks to come! I love you all so much!! Have a fantastic week!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 39

Waiting for the bus by this weird Québécois statue

Another amazing week in the Lord's Spanish Vineyard! We've had some interesting experiences, and have seen a lot of interesting miracles! Being with Elder Ramos Chen has been very fun, we've been seeing lots of success together. It's crazy that it's already the 4th week in the transfer, it feels like we started together just yesterday! It's crazy how fast the time is going by. Good thing I have a long time left!

We had an interesting Saturday. We had a TON of appointments set up with potentials, other investigators, and lots of other things to do, and literally every single appointment fell through. We were a little bit sad, and we felt like we had wasted time, and after dinner we just left not knowing what we should do. But, we then saw lots of miracles! I talked to this Algerian lady on the bus (well, she talked to me to be exact!), and she was super cool! She was Christian, but because of the Muslim culture in Algeria she didn't know too much about the Bible or Christ, or anything. So she wanted to learn more! We got her information and the French Sisters should be teaching her soon. She was super cool and had lots of awesome questions! We were supposed to be there at that exact time with her. Also, we went to go finding on the street near the Jean-Talon Metro, and we stopped Jonathan, a younger guy that moved here from Mexcio only a couple of months ago. We had a conversation with him just standing there on the street for one whole hour! It was amazing! He's super open and humble, and he even came to church with us the next day! It was awesome to see that although at first it seemed like we had a failure of a day, the Lord led us to where we needed to be at the right time! As we try our best and make plans according to our best thinking, the Lord will correct them if need be! It's been so cool to see this happen very frequently as missionaries!

We saw Sean again, and he's progressing super well! I found out that he had a Saab, and we bonded over that for a little bit haha. The Silva family is doing so well at fellowshipping him, it's great. He just understands so well and is so willing to apply everything! It's been a blessing to teach him. He's got the right things in order! We hope we'll be able to see him baptized by the end of the transfer, but if not, definitely soon!

Things are going great, life is great as a missionary! I hope you're all doing well as well. Have a great week, I love you!

Elder James