Letter #37 July 28, 2014

Hey Everybody!!

Wow every week I feel like P-day comes faster and faster.  This week was the last of the transfer so we worked hard so we could finish strong.  Monday, I did divisions with Elder Vindas.  It was a weird change because the last time that I did divisions with him he was my Zone Leader and now the roles were reversed.  We worked hard so that we could meet as many people as possible!  We began clapping houses and a lot of people let us in.  I want to share one experience that we had together that was especially powerful.  We walked down the street and met a woman named Jorgelina who was out on her porch smoking.  Elder Vindas asked her if she was stressed and she sad yeah.  Then we asked her if we could share a message that brought relief and she brought us some chairs.  We began to talk to her and she just wouldn't open up to us.  She gave us very short answers and didn't show much emotion.  Then out of nowhere, Elder Vindas began to tell her what he felt about her.  He began to make bold statements about why she was the way she was, and what had happened in her life.  I watched in shock as my friend, filled with the spirit of the Lord, made bold observations about her.  After a minute or two,  I looked at Jorgelina and she just said "Si".   It was an amazing experience!! I learned a valuable lesson that night, that when the spirit tells you something, DO IT.  Thanks the spirit,  we were able to get to the heart of Jorgelina and she accepted a baptismal date of August 9th.  Our divisions were focused on being bold.  I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 24:12 (Look it up)  Everyone of us can be more bold in bearing testimony and sharing the gospel.  This week we really focused on the Barbosa family.  The kids all had sufficient attendance so they could be baptized the only problem was their dad.  He drinks a lot and he thinks that his kids are not prepared sufficiently to be baptized.  This Saturday, after a lot of hard work, all 3 of the Barbosa kids entered the waters of baptism.  We headed out to the Barbosa´s house (around a 20 minute walk).  We had the baptism planned for around 5 and so at 4 o'clock we got to their house.  Only Maura, the 12 year old daughter, was there.  We waited until 4:45 when finally Alfredo and Carlos showed up.  After we got to the bus stop and waited for another 20 minutes, we learned that there were not any more buses from Ita Paso at that hour.  We had to call a taxi and at around 6:30pm, an hour and a half late, we had a baptism!! It was so cool to watch the look on their parents faces as their kids took this incredible step!  Their parents are still trying to get through the marriage process so that they can be baptized, but you could see the motivation in their eyes after the baptism.  There are great things ahead for this family!! Other than that,  this week was good.  There's always a lot of stories to share, but they will have to wait another 14ish months ha.

I love you all and you are in my prayers constantly!! Keep fighting and stay cute cool crazy!!

Elder Ollerton