GOD KNOWS - JULY 10, 2017

Cutting through the brush

Hello there everyone! I hope you had a great week. This week was amazing and filled with so many miracles. I was just amazed at how many times I realized how this is truly God´s work and not mine, because if it were mine i would never be able to accomplish anything! This week it rained a lot the first few days. We were teaching a lesson with someone on Tuesday when suddenly it started down pouring. We were bummed because we had a few appointments and the rain was super hard so we weren't going to be able to make it. So we stayed there for about 2 hours waiting and I felt useless thinking of the people we could have been teaching. Then it was about 7pm and our plans had fallen through and I just felt the need to visit the branch president, which is something we almost never do. When we got there, he said, "Elders, you heard my plea! I was praying all day that you guys would come." Turns out that he was sick and quite a few people in his family were sick, so we had the chance to give them blessings. It was great to know that we were being instruments in the Lords hands. As missionaries we always have our plan, but His plan is always greater than ours!

I have really been able to notice in the mission how many blessings God pours upon everyone. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes and see them. There are so many small things in life that people don't realize are blessings from God. Literally everything is a blessing from God, even your trials. It makes life a lot better if you think like that. Then on Wednesday once again it started down pouring rain in the afternoon. We were teaching José, my recent convert. We were there for about 2 hours waiting and once again I was bummed that it was raining. But Jose´s dad has a little mechanic shop there where we were getting away from the rain and there were 2 guys there waiting for their car to be fixed. We were there literally 1 hour and didn't say a word to them, but finally I decided to take advantage and we started talking to them and turns out they really would like to hear the message we share. I realized once again how God always has His plan and He puts people in our path to hear our message! 

Once again on Thursday we had an experience like that. We were walking in the street and someone yells "Mormons!" which isn't that rare of a thing to happen here. But we started talking to this guy named Alberto and turns out he has a ton of problems. His son is in the hospital and he doesn't have a job. But usually people just ask us for money, but he said, "I want you guys to teach my family how to pray and get through this trial." It was really amazing to see once again how the Lord put us in his path. Turns out he had already talked to missionaries in Merida and they told him my name and to look for me here, and he found us!

This week we were working really hard and it went really well. Sometimes as a trainer I feel like it is hard to realize if the trainee really appreciates all the teaching I have done for him. But this week Elder Alvizures said something that really touched me. He said "you really are the best trainer and companion I could have asked for." It just made everything worth it and I know that the Lord inspired him to say those words to help me know that my efforts are always appreciated. And your efforts are always appreciated too! Never doubt it! 

Cristel y Grecia

Yesterday we had a special district conference here because they changed the district presidency and now Calkini doesn't have a branch president!! Everyone says they want me to be it haha. Yesterday President Ruiz in his talk talked about me for like 5 minutes about how much time I have been here in Calkini and how he is going to ask Salt Lake City to let me stay here 6 more months to be branch president because I am already going to finish. It would be great and I would totally do it, but I'm not sure if my parents would like that too much! Haha. But I am happy because Sauli and Grecia came to church and they are going to be baptized this Saturday!! Woohoo!! I am so excited for them. We have been trying to help them so much and they have grown so much and I cant wait to see them get baptized this Saturday. I hope it all goes well. I hope you guys know how much God loves you, have a great week!!

Elder Plowman