Scripture Power

Hi Everyone!

Another week and another bat in our apartment! My companion and I picked it up in a box and wanted to keep it as a pet … but #Rules. So we went to let it go, and she threw that animal at my face too … no joke. This week was really good because almost all of our investigators are progressing! Every day my companion and I look for ways that we can be better representatives of Jesus Christ, and ways that we can teach better. We realized that people don’t fully understand the importance of scriptures, and more specifically, The Book of Mormon. We start from 1 Nephi 1 with all of our investigators, resulting in true miracles. One of our investigators had a problem being addicted to coffee, but after reading multiple chapters with him, he smelled coffee that same day and said that it smelled repulsive to him! We fasted and have been reading with our other investigator, Raimundo, who is an alcoholic, and he has stopped drinking for a whole month, and reads The Book of Mormon every night with his wife. That is the power of The Book of Mormon! It is a power we can have when we exercise our faith … we receive strength and also great blessings.

One of my favorite experiences this week was with Lima. One day we were walking in the road and we felt prompted to clap (the way we knock here) outside of a door. A man with kids opened up the door and said his wife was inside and that we could enter. A couple minutes later his wife came out and looked like she had just crawled out of bed. They didn’t have time to meet, so we scheduled to return another day. We are now teaching her, and she told us that the day we first visited her, she was sick in bed for two days and literally couldn’t get up. But for some reason, when we entered her house she arose out of her bed and felt prompted to talk with us. We have taught her about the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and that it is a commandment from God. We shared scriptures and I testified about this commandment. I spoke about how my family has received blessings and I always felt love in my home … that when I would leave my home I was fortified with the strength I needed to face the challenges of our world today. She told me that she liked the scriptures we shared, but even more than that, what we testified of was exactly what she has been looking for in her family and for her kids. I am so grateful for my family and for the experiences I am able to share. I can’t tell you how many times random stories that I had forgotten about, or experiences that I had in my home, come to my remembrance and I am prompted to share them with the people here. Lima loves The Book of Mormon and came to church with us on Sunday. She just loved church and was totally participating in every class.

Every Sunday morning we leave our apartment almost 2 hours before church to round up "our sheep”. We wake people up, we help people shower and pick out their clothes, so that they can keep the commandments and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them through partaking of the sacrament. I will do everything I can to help these people be in church with us, but I will also do anything and everything so that I can live with these people I have truly come to love for eternity with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love this work; I know that when we are in the service of our God we are entitled to His help. I feel the help and sustaining influence of my Heavenly Father, my Savior, the Holy Ghost, and of ministering angels here.

Love you all,

Sister Vance