Let it Rain

*it literally rained for 3 days and nights straight. It was a great excuse to pull out my old friend the rainbow umbrella. The people stared at us even more than they usually do and we just smiled and waved. Spreading sunshine.

RAIN

It was really rainy this week.  For about 3 days and nights straight it just rained, and rained, and rained some more. Sometimes it sprinkled, sometimes it poured. All the streets turned into ponds and rivers and all things turned muddy. 

We enjoyed the rain and splashed our way through a lot of puddles. It was still hot though...I couldn't ever quite tell if the water running down my face and body was from the rain or if it was sweat...Salina Cruz probs. 

One morning we went out in the pouring rain to go teach the gospel and all our appointments rejected us. They were all home, but all came up with one creative excuse or another and there we were. Sweaty and wet and with no where to go. 

We wandered around for a while trying to contact or knock doors. Nothing. So we decided to search for a reference. We walked about 30 minutes and finally ended up running into the street we were looking for. We found the house and knocked. They rejected us. Ouch. We were tired, wet, hot, frustrated. We had worked so hard for so long just to get turned down. It was rough. We weren't about to give up though so we starting knocking more doors. 

Finally we came across someone who had enough compassion to let the poor tired and wet Americans sit down in her dry house. After some chatting we figured out that she is the mother of a totally golden investigator we had found one time but then lost contact with and that old lost golden investigator lived in that very same apartment! It was cool to see that God really had led us to that door after hours of walking and sweating and getting rejected in the rain. Just keep swimming.

LAST MINUTE

We had a last minute baptism this last Saturday. On Thursday night we were teaching our amazing investigators and they let us know that their baptism that was supposed to be next week wasn't going to work out because they were moving for work. They asked if Saturday could work. Like in 2 days. 

Why not? So we made it happen. We had Friday to throw something together. The ward came together and we had probably one of the most beautiful baptisms I've ever been to. There was so much love. 

These last few months of teaching Natali and Jesús has been such and honor and a blessing. Its a great story. For the type of work that Jesus does he knocks doors to find clients. His work shirt is white too. He's kind of like a missionary. Except he sells pots and pans and doesn't teach the gospel...anyways, one day he knocked a door and the lady invited him in. She was Mormon and the missionaries were there with her. They invited Jesus to listen and gave him a Book of Mormon. 

They invited him to general conference that sunday and he showed up! The sister missionaries contacted him there and started visiting him and Natali. The rest is history. They overcame obstacle after obstacle and inspired us all with their diligence, sacrifice, and faith. 

I feel so honored and blessed to have been permitted to be a small part of their conversion. Such a beautiful family. Three young kids. Natali has started talking to her daughters, "so when you go on a mission...." haha we love them so much. 

The baptism was powerful. We played Families Can be Together Forever on the ukulele. Both cried leaving the water. They understood what they were doing and it impacted everyone present. Powerful.

HIT IN THE FACE

So whenever we teach people we give them a Book of Mormon and invite them to ask God if its true. We usually explain that God won't be sending them a message on facebook or hitting them in the face, but that he will answer through feelings and thoughts. 

However, something peculiar happened this last week. We went and saw a new investigator and asked her if she read and prayed. She said she had. We asked her how it went. She then told us the GREATEST story ever. 

She has been reading the Book of Mormon and was thinking about it and praying to God in her head when she bent over to get something on the floor and someone opened the cash register and it popped out and smacked her right in the face. 

It was heavy and metal and HURT. But our investigator told us that on any other day she would have cussed out the person who opened the register or pushed them or gotten really mad but that she didn't even let one swear word slip. Instead, she laughed. "It was so unlike me!" she exclaimed. "It must be because I was thinking about that book! Like maybe thats my answer!" 

Her cousin, who joined in the lesson, piped in, "maybe it's a sign from God!" We just smiled. Who says God can't answer by hitting you in the face with  cash register? The Lord works in mysterious ways my friends.

*The first hermana to ever teach them who has since finished her mission was able to see the baptism via i phone! Hermana Purcell, we love you!!