Livin Dominican: Carpe Diem

We had a sisters conference yesterday and talked about seizing the day and taking advantage of every second that we have here. It was amazing and gave us a little more motivation to just keeping working as hard as we have been. We are still seeing a ton of miracles here in Conani and I love it! This past week we had 14 less actives and 5 investigators come to church again. It is good because the members are starting to notice and have more confidence in us as well.

Chico and Erika are doing alright. This family certainly has their share of problems. Chico is an alcoholic and has a lot of women apart from his wife. Almost everyone tells us that this is a hopeless case and that it will take a miracle to change this family. I love their kids though so I just tell them that I guess we're going to start praying and working for miracles. We had a really cool lesson with them this week where we talked about the atonement and how we can have a start fresh thanks to Christ. Chico started crying at one point. He hid it by picking up one of the kids and turning to wipe his face but I saw it all the same. I feel that there is a part of him that wants to be better but doesnt know how. We will continue with faith and hope that with a lot of help from the Lord this family can experience the miracle of forgiveness.

We saw another miracle this week with a young woman we are teaching, Marlin. She has been coming to church for months now but her mom has not wanted to give her permission to get baptized. The sisters stopped passing by Marlin and started trying to teach her mom but she was never there or never wanted to listen. This month we decided to try and help Marlin get baptized because she has such a great desire. This last week we gave them an assignment in the scriptures. When we pass by people we leave 3 questions that they have to answer with 3 different scripture references that will help them. This week we decided to focus on the question, "why do I need to be baptized again?" When we got there the mom had not done the assignment so we read it with her. We started in 2 nephi 31:5-9 with the subquestion "why are we baptized?" then Acts 19:1-9 and Mosiah 21:32-35 ("What is the importance of the authority in baptism?") and then finally 3 nephi 11:21-28 ("how does the Lord want us to be baptized?"). We had a member with us who shared an object lesson about the importance of the spirit with baptism and how we can repent and be purified afterward which was amazing as well. The spirit was so strong in the lesson. It was one of the best lessons I have had in my mission. As we explained the mom said she understood all of these things but just wanted Marlin to be sure and so she needed to take a few more years to investigate the church. I felt impressed to share the story of Paul. This woman is very Catholic but was not familiar with the story. So I related how he was a persecutor of the church and then on the road to Damascus an angel appeared to him and told him to repent. He loses his sight and then goes to Ananias. Then the most important part is the question that Ananias poses after restoring his sight, "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." I testified that the Lord loves us and forgives us. In this story the prophet invited Paul to be baptized in that same instance even though he had been a horrible person before. Then we asked Marlin what she wanted and she said to be baptized. This time when we asked her mom for permission she finally said yes! She has her baptism scheduled for Saturday and I am so excited for her and to know once again that God heard and answered our prayers and fasts for her.

We are having wonderful experiences here and seeing miracles. On Saturday night we were putting goals for the next day and noticed we had only received 6 references during the week and our goal is 10. So we set our goal at 4 and then said a prayer that we would be able to obtain them. Sunday we left with a member that gave us exactly 4 references unexpectedly. That was a tender mercy for me. The Lord knew it was something important for us and put the people in our path. We have similar experiences every day as we put our faith in our prayers and the work. We have one rule in the companionship- never doubt. The Lord is doing wonderful things because we are trying to exercise faith in Him.

We've been having some weird experiences in there with all of our wonderful ones. Like on Sunday we had some guys follow us all the way to the church yelling stuff in English to me. Im used to people yelling crazy stuff all the time and hitting on me constantly but this time it legitimately got to us because they followed us and they were speaking really profanely. I have never felt so relieved as I did when I entered the chapel and knew I was safe. We also have parts of our area where we dont go without a priesthood holder with us. We are the first sisters here and I am the first American girl to walk these streets in a LONG time because they had problems in the past. We are still waiting to see if they keep sisters here or pull them. I want to stay so badly.

We've also been hearing a lot of crazy stuff about the branch and some things that members are doing. Being a missionary is kind of like being a spy because you know the secrets of everyone. haha. I was talking to Elder Bowles about all of this and wondering what we were going to do with all this insanity and he reminded me of something cool. He said, "Remember what you told me on the bus ride here?" (I didn't remember) "You said that you had heard that Conani is a horrible branch. But then you said that we were going to make some miracles happen. That made me excited to be here. You sisters are seeing miracles. We are changing Conani. We are going to keep going until this is one of the areas where people want to be sent because the church is so strong. We'll keep working miracles." I had forgotten about that conversation but as soon as he said it I remembered. The whole world apologized to me during transfers saying that this area would be super rough. But we are seeing miracles. And I don't want them to stop. Carmen was baptized on Saturday and we have another baptism this week. Entire less active families are coming back to church. We are completing partial member families. The members are leaving with us every day. In zone meetings the leaders are asking what in the world Conani is doing to see so much success. The answer is faith, hope, hardwork, and a lot of help from the Lord. I feel so blessed and humbled to be able to see these wonderful blessings and the Lord's hand in the work here.

I hope you all are doing wonderfully! Seize the day this week. Take advantage of every second of every day. Put the Lord first. Seek His help. Believe in miracles. You will be amazed with the results.

Love you all!

Hermana Ewell