A God of Miracles

Merry Christmas everyone! I have been very blessed this year with a wonderful Christmas and many opportunities to serve and feel of the Savior's love.

Last week we were able to help with the Institute Christmas program. I played the piano for the choir and then sang a solo. It actually turned out really well and was a very spiritual experience. Sister Douglas came to play violin, another sister played cello, we had an organ and piano, viola, and then the choir. I always love that I have so many opportunities to share music here and step in when otherwise they would just go without. 

I got to step in again on Sunday during sacrament meeting. The Relief Society president had asked me to help play the piano and sing a song as a special number. I agreed and then realized I hadn't asked enough specifics. So we got to church on Sunday and I just decided I'd wing whatever it was. The bishopric announced that I would be singing an intermediate hymn and so I got up and ready to sing at which point the Relief Society president stood up and said that the choir was supposed to sing that song. haha. So I went over to the piano and the choir came up and sang. Afterward the bishopric said that I would be giving a talk. I am pretty positive no one ever asked me to do that. So I got up and made a little joke about how sometimes serving in a different language can be really funny. Then I explained that Sister Suero had asked me to sing a song and that I was going to share my talk/thought in a little unique way. I explained how even when the world has a lot of turmoil and bad things around us we can still find peace in Christ and His love and gospel. Then I sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I feel like it went pretty well but I had to laugh at the confusion during the entire meeting. 

The Christmas gifts that we received this year was no water and no gas. As I've told you all before, my water goes off quite a bit and I have become an expert with bucket showers. Unfortunately, in order to have a bucket shower you have to be able to bottle water to have it stored. We haven't had water enough the past few days to store any water and so we haven't been able to shower either. We just laugh and try to use extra deodorant so we don't smell TOO bad. 

The country has scheduled power outtages so that everyone can have power at least part of the day so pretty much every house has gas appliances so that if it's your turn to lose power during lunch, you can still cook. We bought gas about 6 weeks ago but I guess there was a leak or something because we ran out again this week. None of us has more money because we went all out on a service project (more details to come) and so we knew we couldn't buy more gas. We found an old rice cooker in the back room and plugged it in and used it as a pot. It gets hot enough that you can boil water in it and cook some things. It was a nice little make-shift stove for a day but we knew that it wouldn't be very practical to use for another week or so until we get more money. Luckily, the Lord is always looking out for us. We went to visit the bishop that night and I told his wife a little about our dilemma. She perked up and said, "I have an electric stove that I never use!" It has 2 little burners and it works like a gem...when there's power. I could not be more grateful. 

The highlight of this Christmas (and quite possibly my mission so far) is the secret santa that we did for a less active in our ward. This less active lives in one of the most humble circumstances I've ever seen. She has 5 kids and they live in a one room shack with a little bathroom attached. Inside they have room for 2 beds that they all share, and a broken table that holds their gas stove. The tin roof leaks and the walls are made of scrap wood that they've found laying around. Her boyfriend (the father of 2 of the kids) is a drunk who comes around once every few weeks. The rest of the time he gambles and drinks and says that he can't work because he has too much stress. She wants to come back to church but struggles to get all of their kids there and is afraid of what her boyfriend will think. Nevertheless she has been coming with her one month old baby the past few weeks. 

This Sunday we went to visit her after church and we asked why the other kids hadn't come. She started to cry and told us she doesn't like to tell the real reason. We assured her we weren't there to judge and she proceeded with, "They don't have shoes and feel ashamed to come to church bare foot." She explained how they haven't had money to buy food or any other things they need. Her oldest daughter who is 10 asked her if they were going to have anything special for Christmas and she said she sat down with her and explained that she would love to do so many things but that the money just didn't exist. Her baby is really malnourished because she doesn't eat so her breastmilk is scant. She doesn't have money for formula so she gives him sugar water or tea when she can find it. I wanted to start crying with her as she told us," I told my daughter that if she prays and asks God for help maybe we can have a miracle. I believe that God can help us if we have the faith. She has been praying the last few nights. She just wants to have pretty clothes like the other little girls to go to church. Sisters, it is so hard to live here in this little shack. I don't even have paint for these walls and I don't have a bathroom like other people do. I don't know how I'm going to feed these 5 kids because we just don't have anything. But I know that God will help us."  

We assured her that with faith all things are possible and that the Lord knows her circumstances and loves her. As we left I turned to my companion and told her I wanted to do something. She said she had the same thought. When we got home we told the other sisters our plan and we got to work. We all went through our clothes to try and find something that would a small, malnourished 10 year old or her mom. Luckily Hermana Cayax and Santana are both really small so we found some things that we could give. Then we moved to the kitchen and started going through our food. Anything that was boxed or canned was placed in a bag to give away. The next day we put our money together and went looking for clothes, toys, and shoes. There are a lot of little tents here where people sell old clothes. We went and chose a few outfits for each of the kids. As we approached the lady to pay we explained the situation and asked her to please give us the best price she possibly could. She gave it all to us for just under 800 pesos ($18 more or less). We headed to the grocery store and bought a big bag of rice and beans, and some cookies so they could have something sweet. We continued to stop throughout the day in little stores to try and find some shoes but everything was way out of our price range. Nobody was in their houses because it was 2 days before Christmas and everyone leaves to see their family. So after passing by the house of every single investigator we have, we decided to try one last place to find toys. We walked in to a little store that sells toys pretty cheap. Then I walked to the back and found shoes...for 200 pesos. We started explaining once again what we were doing and asked the clerk to help us guess the size of these kids giving her their ages. She helped us pick out 4 pairs of shoes. She asked us, "What if they don't fit?" and we said, "They will. They will fit because God is a God of miracles. This family needs a miracle. Their little girl prayed for shoes and He will make these shoes fit her feet." I wanted to cry in the store as I felt so wonderfully grateful to have been able to find everything this family needed. The Lord really did work a miracle. 

When we got home we laid everything out and were surprised with just how much we had been able to collect in one day with such limited funds. Yesterday we were able to deliver the surprise. There is no way we could ever do a door-bell ditch in this country. Partly because there are no door-bells and also because someone would probably steal it in the time they came. We also didn't want them to know that it was from us, or anyone related with the church. So we asked a Domincan elder in our district to deliver it for us. He dressed in normal clothes without his tag to take the 5 bulging bags to this family and said that the sister wasn't there, but her mom and boyfriend were. I know that her mom is a good Christian woman, which comforts me because I don't trust the boyfriend at all. I hope that they received everything. It really was such a humbling experience to be able to try and help this wonderful family and even more humbling to know that this little girl will have her prayers answered. That now she can gain a true testimony of the power of faith and prayer and know that God works miracles in our lives through others. 

Like I told the woman in the store, our God is a God of miracles. I am grateful to know that He knows me and loves me. At this time when we celebrate His birth, I am so grateful to know of the greatest miracle that He accomplished, the atonement, which makes it possible for us to live with Him once again and overcome all the struggles and challenges and shortcomings that we have here on earth. It is wonderful to have this opportunity to think of Him and catch the light and spirit of Christmas but it doesn't have to end on the 26 of December. Keep the light all year round. Share His spirit every day. And always, always remember Him. I know that He loves us. May He bless you all.

Love, 

Hermana Ewell