January 20, 2015
Area: Trinity River
Companion: Gamez
For us, this last week has been full of progress! We were able to visit many families, including a new one, and help them take steps towards our Heavenly Father. We were excited to see the progress that the Chavez family made this week. Francisca approached her boss on Tuesday and asked for Sunday off of work, and he said yes! On Saturday, they gave us the sad news that her boss was not going to be able to work that Sunday morning, so she would have to work. They still were able to make it to Sacrament Meeting, and they brought their son, Manuel, and they all had a great time! This was their second time at Sacrament Meeting, and they are determined to make it to the classes as well this next week. We also caught Maria Mata at home, after about 2.5 weeks of not being able to find her. We had a great talk with her and caught up a little bit. She has been suffering depression since the passing of her mother about 3 months ago, but just in these last few weeks, she has been so busy that she didn't have time to sit down and think about the death of her mom, so she has been happier. She told us that she loves us coming over and it always makes her feel better, but anyways, the conversation changed slightly and she said her oldest son, Guadalupe, was sick almost all of last week. We offered to give him a blessing, but I guess he wasn't home, so instead she asked us if we could go visit somebody else! She told us about her sister that lives about 5 minutes away and how she has been feeling more depressed than even Maria has been. She gave us her address and we promised to go visit her the next day. We ended up visiting her, and we had the wonderful opportunity to teach her and help her understand the Plan of Happiness that Heavenly Father has for us. While we were teaching her, we noticed that her countenance was changing. She looked sad and depressed when we got there, and while we were teaching her and while we were leaving, she was actually happy! She also wanted us to talk with her 3 children, who are all grown up and 2 of which are married and have their own children, so her oldest grandson is 8 years old. I am super excited to teach their family and get them to come unto Christ and be baptized, especially because I think it will help Maria act more upon the teachings.
This Sunday evening, Elder Gamez and I had a really good heart-to-heart talk. It ended up starting because he got frustrated with an idea for a baptismal date for the Chavez family that I put out there. I just wanted to understand why he disagreed, and we opened up about our feelings for the Chavez family, as well as he brought up that he wanted me there at the lesson because the plan was originally to go on exchanges after P-Day. I feel so much closer to Elder Gamez now and I feel like he feels closer to me. I just feel like I trust him and he now understands why I have been pushing for getting the Chavez family a date as well as other things, so I feel like our desire to work has increased as well as our desire to baptize. He just mentioned that he feels like he loves them so much that he almost doesn't want to let them go, he just doesn't want to push them away by trying to get them to baptism. We decided to share some of those feelings of love for them yesterday in our lesson with them. We took some time in the morning and found some scriptures that expressed those feelings and our desires for them, and we went to the lesson prepared, as well as us having President Escobar and his family with us. The lesson went better than we could have imagined! They are truly gaining spiritual light and they have been noticing it, and how it is good, so they want more. We talked about how the brother of Jared came up with his plan to have light in their boats, expressed faith in the Lord, and asked him if he would make the plan work. We then compared it with a baptismal calendar. We went over the commitments on the calendar with them and they realized how close they are, they only have 5-6 that they haven't done yet. We invited them to be baptized on the 8th of February, and invited them to make themselves a plan on when and how they will live the commitments and present it to the Lord, like the brother of Jared did. The lesson went great, and we feel like they now share our vision and the spirit is edifying them. I am certain they will be baptized before the end of the transfer, perhaps before the 8th of February. They only need to get married, live the laws of the tithe and fast, attend a baptism (optional, but recommended), and have the interview. I can't wait to see the fruits of my labors here!
I
also wanted to ask you, mom, what ended up helping you get through your
depression? I would like to share what helped you with Maria Mata and
her sister Evangelia.
Angie and Carolyn, how did the daily scripture reading go this week?
I love you guys, and I hope you have another great week!
Elder Stanley Scott Dye
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