Monday, January 13, 2014

January 13, 2014 A week of Sunshine!‏

Well hey there :)
 
It has been warming up in Texas! I still use my coat just about every day. But yesterday I think we hit the 70's!!! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Sure feels good :) How's it there in Utah? ;) Hahaha, only kidding! You can laugh at me again when it hits July and I'm sweating so much I look like a popsicle under the sun! Monday was pretty good. So Monday night we had a lesson with the Quezada familia. She is the one we met at the lavandaria and she made me papusas on my birthday! :) Anyhow, her husband is VERY very into his church. I believe they are some type of Christian church. The last time we went over it started to cross the line of talking and teaching to Bible Bashing. We never like to get into that just because the Spirit leaves. If people have real questions we love to answer them but just trying to fight using the Bible is never good. I remember being SO NERVOUS when I got my call to Texas because it's the Bible Belt. Honestly though, if you are following the Spirit and truly studying and doing what you need to be as a missionary... everything works out. Anyhow, her husband didn't really want to listen to us when we tried to share the first lesson. Instead, he wanted to teach us. I love and respect them so much but as missionaries we are not here to be taught and convinced... we are here to teach. So as nicely and politely as possible we told him that we respected his beliefs but that we didn't believe in the same things. In the end... he told us not to give up. He said he was going to start a church and wanted us to be a part of it. He needed our help. Well, as you know that is not exactly our purpose as missionaries :) It breaks my heart sometimes. I love the people so much that we teach. In the Book of Mormon it talks of those who will say something like Bible, Bible, we have enough Bible. We don't need anymore Bible. What people don't realize is that God is ALWAYS going to reveal His Gospel to try and help His children. People get too caught up in the facts and don't listen to the Spirit. Sometimes it is really hard to see. But I just pray that one day the Spirit will change their hearts. I bear my testimony as strongly as possible and let Him do the rest. Tuesday we had SUCH an incredible lesson with Maria Sanchez. The last little while her progress has been slowing down. I really believe it is because she doesn't have the support from her family. We are trying so hard with them and hopefully one day they will come around. We invited one of the Hermanas from our ward to come with us and man the lesson went GREAT! She asked, "So what exactly happens when someone gets baptized?" Aka... what will happen when I GET BAPTIZED?! :) At least that's what I heard :) She is SO ready. She just needs to take a leap of faith. My compa uses a quote all the time that I love... it goes something like this, "God can't guide our foot steps if we aren't moving our feet." Now ain't that the truth. Thursday was incredible. My compa hit her 1
YEAR MARK!!! To celebrate we went to the temple. We get to go 1 every 6 months. When we got to go as a zone it didn't count against 1 of the 3 times because it was to celebrate reaching a baptismal goal. It was time for both of us to use one of our turns so we headed out :) It was so incredible. I had a really special experience. One of the temple workers stopped me and was talking to me for a second. She said, "You are going to do incredible things." It hit me so strong the love that Heavenly Father has for each one of us. That had been an answer to my prayers that day and the fact that He sent someone to let me know of His love just showed me once again that He truly is in the detail of our lives. Friday we had a lesson with this guy we had met outside. His brother ended up coming out too. They sat on the stairs while we taught them. They were both completely covered in tattoos and a little rough on the edges. But that didn't matter a bit :) They were such nice people. It turns out one of them is on probation or something like that? But he is looking for something better in life. They were really open and willing to listen to us. It just shows... you never know who are the elect and who God is preparing. Saturday was so awesome. We had just taught the Chequer familia and we decided to go to 1 more place because we had about 10 min. 'til 9. We stopped by Xiomara. She has had a super rough life and was baptized when she was pretty young. I believe she has been in-active for pretty much her whole life. Anyhow, she had been avoiding us for quite a while now but she opened the door up and said come in! We got in there and she said she was actually planning on texting us! She had work a little bit later the next day and so she wanted to come to church!! We had just changed schedules with the new year so she ended up coming in English (she speaks both and so do her girls) but her boyfriend doesn't. He was a trooper and came to church anyways! :) La familia Chequer ended up coming as well so we had 5 investigators in church!!! I think that is the most I have ever had :) Xiomara had to go to work. So we ended up going to primary with Lizzy. It was a BLAST! I love primary! I still can't believe that yesterday marks five years that Michael has been gone. My companion and I were talking a bit about it. Before we know it... we will all see him again :) I can only imagine what he is up to! I think God knew it was a hard day so he blessed us with so many miracles. Before church started we went to a referral that we had gotten from a member. (P.S. those are the best kind. GIVE ONE!!! Your missionaries will LOVE YOU!!!) It is a family that has an autistic little girl. She is about 13. I guess the mom is really trying to find peace in it all still. We connected with them super fast and they invited us back :) I am excited to see where it heads! That night we also had another miracle. We went back to a guy's house we met a few days ago. He was washing his car and said he'd probably be home around that time. Well, he wasn't. BUT his mama was! It was hilarious because she was trying to hold back their pit bull and talk to us at the door so she kept opening and shutting it and yelling "I'm sorry!" Too funny :) Anyhow, we ended up getting in and had an incredible lesson. Turns out her husband ended up leaving her after about 25 years. She had a REALLY HARD time with it all and a bunch of other things happened. She and I were both crying. The Spirit was so strong. I am SO excited to go back and continue to share the message of peace we have with her. I love this Gospel. It is the TRUTH! Just a few thoughts and quotes that I have been thinking about for the week. "Come what may and LOVE IT." Trials will always come. We live in an un-perfect world. How are you going to react? :) Then... I had an experience come to my mind this week. Once I was talking to Debbie my YW leader. We were talking about how busy and crazy life is. She said something I will never forget. "A loaded train doesn't fall off the tracks." Think about it :) It has helped me so much.
 
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! The mission is incredible :) I learn so much every day. Jesus Christ lives. He loves YOU! He knows you by name. Feed His sheep.
 
Love you and miss you, Hermana Hadlock
 
p.s. Ann gave me an idea to start letting people know who they could pray for in specific :)
 
Irene y Omar Rodriguez- that they will understand there is only 1 true church and let the Spirit change and guide their hearts. That they will come to church.
 
Maria Sanchez- she will have the courage and faith to go ahead as an example for her family.
 
Xiomara- will realize what the Gospel can do for her girls and lead by example. Choose the right.
 
Chequer- Come to church. Read the Book of Mormon. THAT THEY CAN GET AN ANSWER that these things are true and have a true confirmation!
 
LOVE Y'ALL!! :D



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