"We Touched His Heart"

Family and Friends,Family and Friends,Family and Friends,

We started talking to a guy this week that was in the streets and he explained that he was an alcoholic because his wife died. There was still some alcohol in the bottle and we told him to "throw it out". Then he said, "okay, … no, I am going to throw it IN", and just went to chug the rest of it. Then the wind picked up and blew the alcohol right into my face and mouth! When someone asks me in the future about what my experience with alcohol was like, at least I will have a good story to tell! I was dying laughing and was using my hand sanitizer as mouthwash! Haha!

On a sad note, one of our investigators passed away this week. His name was Raimundo and he was married to Luzia. They have been going to church with us and had a baptism date for this past Saturday. His blood pressure ran high and he had 3 strokes and then went into coma in the hospital. But they didn't have room for him in the unit that he needed. It was all so sudden and such a shock to us. We have been teaching them for about two months. But as sad as it was, my testimony kicked in and we had powerful, spiritual lessons about temples and how Luzia can have the opportunity to be sealed with him for time and all eternity. I would try to explain more, but I can't put it into words how special these moments were for us, testifying as his whole family was there listening to us and the Spirit that was present. His kids were shocked that he had been attending church with us because for all of his life he had refused to attend. They all started crying as they heard that when we contacted him in front of his house and talked about the plan of salvation, that HE was the one that accepted our messages and asked us to teach him and his wife, because "what we said touched his heart". I have no doubt that another set of missionaries in the spirit world are finishing our work.

Maurceilio is an 18 year old boy that we contacted sitting in the road, and then when we went to teach him in his house realized that we had already knocked on his door! But the Lord has given us and him another chance to meet! He accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 27th and was at church on Sunday! His aunt, when she saw that he was reading the BOM, said a ton of bad things about our church and even said that we don't like black people … lies. He told us that, "I shut her up and said that, in fact, one of the missionaries that visited me is black, so you're wrong". Wow! My companion and I were just ecstatic because he is already defending the church! Investigators usually get disinterested when someone starts making things up like that about our church There are so many miracles and so many changes in the lives of so many here; and in my own life as well!

Love you!

Sister Vance

p.s. Raimundo looks like a mad grumpy man in this photo, but he is the sweetest man ever!