No, that's not for our ward. But 100% of our investigators came to church! We had an AWESOME lesson with the Sanchez family this week about the 2000 Stripling Warriors and how the example of the covenants that the fathers made to bury their weapons in the earth affected the faith and success of their children. I was studying the morning before this lesson and I had NO idea what to do. We were planning on dropping them if they didn't commit to come to church and I just had no idea how to help them have the desire to come. But I opened up the Book of Mormon right to Alma 24 that talks about the Anti-Nephi-Lehites. My prayers aren't usually answered that way, but it was a miracle that I needed. Hugo understood the entire story and committed to bring the kids to church even though Lizeth had to work in the morning. He showed up, went to all the classes, and then Lizeth got off work in time to make it to Relief Society at the end of the three-hour block! And she changed into a skirt!
I didn't even talk about last week's church miracle. The Ramirez family all came to church again because their parents didn't have to work. We saw them the night before and started a fast with them so they could know if they needed to be baptized and to resolve some of their individual questions. After church, we walked around the temple terrace and invited them to be baptized. This time they said yes, without any hesitation, and we set the date for January 26th! This is their third date, and they're going to make it! Antonio totally received his answer to his doubts about living prophets during his Sunday School class and is super stoked to get baptized.
They came again yesterday, and walked in by themselves because they were a little late and Sister Ayala and I were up on the stand translating. During Sunday School, Brother Ramirez had a interview with the Bishop and Bishop said that he'll be able to baptize his kids on the 26th! It's such a miracle and we're just so so so excited for them. We also found out that Sister Ramirez IS a member. She's been praying to remember her baptism and it's slowly starting to come back to her!
We dropped the Romero family this week. They were doing so awesome, and we had a GREAT lesson with them about eternal marriage and how the gospel will help them fix their marriage last Saturday night. They said they were going to be at church, and they didn't show up. We gave them one more chance to meet us at the VC this week but they stopped responding to our calls and texts. Sometimes, you do all you can as a missionary and it's not enough because it's still not the time. But they'll be ready the next time missionaries knock on their door :)
We have a lot of potential investigators that we met the past couple of weeks, and we're excited to have time to see them this week! We met Guadalupe and Jose at a bus stop - we were on our way to contact in the area of our investigators and we saw them and almost immediately pulled over. Then in order to not look super creepy, we walked past them and around the block to get back to our car, and we found Jose and Miguel standing out on their apartment balcony. We had taught someone else in that apartment complex earlier and we knew that everyone spoke Spanish but the gate is ALWAYS locked. We had an awkward conversation with Jose as he stood up on the balcony, and Miguel came down to talk to us. No one in this apartment complex has a religion and they're ALL related to each other in some way. We're going to baptism the entire complex. We're super excited. We also met Juana - and that was a miracle too. She lives in an apartment complex of latinos in Berkeley that's been picked over probably more than a dozen times by other missionaries. We knocked on a lot of doors with people who really weren't interested, but we found her. She said that she's never home and the gate is never opened so she knows that this didn't just happen by coincidence. She works a lot, but she's ready to learn and change!
As for our awesome English contact this week, her name is Grace. We just started talking to her because she was wearing cool elephant earrings and then she needed directions. She just moved here from Wyoming and is looking for a place to stay right now, but she's just awesome. She grew up going to church and she wants to find a church again to find more guidance and direction in her life. We testified of the restoration and how she'll feel at home as she attends our church. The Berkeley Singles sisters are going to teach her. It's going to be awesome!
And a couple cool VC experiences: We had two awesome families come to the VC on New Year's Day. Jacqueline brought her husband and two daughters. They had a big fight that morning, but they watched God's Plan and they want to have more peace in their family through the gospel! Also, Cesar and Marta brought their good friends Patricia and Javier who were visiting from Mexico. They all had AWESOME questions and totally understand the restoration! And one of the first questions they asked was if we believed that God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were three separate people. They've always been confused by that and they believe that they are separate beings! After trying to say goodbye to them five or six times, they finally left saying that if they didn't leave at that moment, they'd be there all night asking questions. They're totally going to be baptized!
And followup from Christmas miracles: Kathryn who came to the VC and saw God's Plan while two months pregnant has a baptism date! For January 26th too! She came to the VC with the missionaries who are teaching her - I wasn't there, but Sister Sia was and they recognized each other! I've been trying to call her but she's never answered - it's so good to know that she's actually progressing! And another woman that Sister Ayala met outside, Xochitl, is being taught by the San Leandro sisters who work in the VC and she has a baptism date for February 8th with her whole family! We're working on contacting all of these people because I'm sure even more have baptism dates! It's so amazing to see the fruits of our labors throughout the mission and the world!
Last thing - less active miracle. We had a meeting with our Relief Society President and she asked us to visit Hna Lares. We tried the phone number we had and it didn't work, and she was in a dangerous area so we needed to have a set appointment. Then as we were planning, we found some papers with a different number for her and she answered and we set an appointment for thirty minutes later. So we rushed over there and had a lesson with her, where she told us that she had been praying just a few days ago for direction from God and our call and subsequent visit was the answer to her prayer. She also said she never has her phone on her, but she had it and picked it up immediately when we called. Her 11-year-old daughter Lupita has been wanting to go to a church and the elders have already set a baptism date with her! They didn't make it to church this week, but we're really excited to see where it goes! Once again, divine guidance from ward leaders and the Spirit brought us to the door to answer one of His children's prayers.
So.....now I'm all caught up on the miracles. I think. And we have another transfer of even more miracles coming right up!!!
Have a great week! Pray for and look for those missionary opportunities! They just bring so much joy and happiness :)
Hermana Hunsaker
