Miracles Changing Lives!

Evander, baptized February 24, 2013
with Hermanas Clayton and Houghton

February 26, 2013

Dear everyone,

Sorry for the lack of detail last week. I'm still working out what you want to hear, and I also had a low blood sugar during the whole hour of email...

I saw lots of miracles this week. One started when, last Sunday, our Ward Mission Leader Saul told us he'd seen a previous investigator, from before I arrived, at the store looking sober. So on Monday night we just happened to be in his area and dropped by. Evander met the sisters in December and was completely drunk the entire time. He came to church wasted, and didn't understand the lessons very well because every appointment he'd been drinking. He was very enthusiastic about being baptized, but wasn't giving up drinking so Sister Clayton and Sister Daines had to stop teaching him. When we showed up on Monday Evander was sober and had been for almost two months. We taught him all week, bringing members to every lesson to bear their testimonies. He was baptized on Sunday! It was completely amazing. Oh, and some background info on him:  He is from Mexico, late 30's, can't read or hear very well, and is very humble and sweet. He has a wife and three sons in Mexico, and has a brother and a brother-in-law who are already LDS. His whole family was thrilled to hear that he had taken the steps to change his life and be baptized. We just love him to pieces.  

So, something else happened that was really wonderful during that whole experience. On Saturday night we'd stopped by to talk to our investigator Ruben, whom we'd dropped for a while because he wasn't progressing. We had a great talk with him in which he dumped out his beer and promised to come to church on Sunday. He stayed for the baptism with his ride, and I was standing next to him, explaining things, testifying, etc. Right after Evander came up out of the water I was just grinning like crazy. Ruben turned to me and asked me if it really made me that happy, and why. I was able to explain to him how important and wonderful baptism is, and how much value each of our investigators have to us and to God. We're gunning for this Sunday for him.  

Okay, one more brief spiritual experience. We talked to our recent convert Daniel last night. He told us about how he'd been talking to a friend about joining the Church. He'd borne his testimony of the Book of Mormon to his friend and now his friend wants to meet the missionaries! It was so exciting to see him sharing, and see him feeling the missionary spirit! Daniel also came to one of our lessons with Evander this week and had an awesome analogy, sharing his testimony that the gift of the Holy Ghost is better than any drug :)

One of my constant refrains this week has been that I want a button camera. We're not allowed to take pictures while we're proselyting, because we don't want to look like tourists, but there are so many fun things that I want to get pictures of. Things like the strange mixed breeds of dogs, and the cool flowers, the mailboxes (many have dolphins, elephants, or houses on the stand or as the box), the innovative construction (like some people who'd welded an oven rack onto their fence to keep their little dog in, instead of attaching a board or doing anything boring like that), the many ice cream trucks, the stairs... I don't know, maybe there's this much diversity and innovation in other places, but I've never noticed it.

Okay, out of time again. Keep sending me mail, and I love you all bunches!! Missionary work is amazing and the Lord is in every aspect of it. 

<3

Hermana Houghton