Week 72

Por eso te quiero Cuenca

Hola! This week has been pretty crazy. I will start off with transfers. Well we got the transfer call, and elder Kalina who just got here a little over 2 months ago got transfered. I will be staying here in Cuenca. I will complete more than 7 months here in Cuenca. Next transfers will be sometime in March. It is a bitter sweet feeling. It is almost unheard of to be in one place for so long, but I know it is what the Lord wants, and He sees the big picture. However, it is also good, because I really want to work more with Roberto and Alexandra and see them be baptized. They are so awesome. This week we have been doing good with talking to 20 people every day. It is hard and it is really stretching us, but it has brought us some miracles this week.

So Roberto and Alexandra did indeed make it to church on Sunday. Roberto has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and they decided to stop working on Sundays. What a blessing. They are excited about being baptized. This week we talked with them about the family proclamation and a few other things. They are having a hard time putting a marriage date, and I am afraid that if they don´t put one soon that I won´t be here for their baptism. We are trying sooo hard. And before Elder Kalina left he told them to put a date and not to forget what they have learned. Juliana is doing ok. We haven´t had much contact with her. A man named Fernando Morocho came to church yesterday with his daughter. We contacted him trying to bless his home. He didn´t commit himself to read the Book of Mormon, but we were super shocked when he showed up to church. I hope that he can progress. We found 8 new people this week, but I won´t mention all of their names, however there were so many tender mercies. One day we were talking with a drunk guy and he gave us a reference of a woman who is having struggles with her husband. We visited her and she said that her uncle is looking for a church. We were able to go and find him. His name is Manuel Zumba. It is crazy how we found him, and while we were looking for him we knocked a door and a man (who I think was doing drugs) opened the door with a giant kitchen knife in his hand haha. It was actually pretty funny. Quite the experience.

Anyways, one day our appointment fell with Roberto. We left to go visit other people, and an hour later we returned and they were home. Well after we finished teaching them we left the house. We had to get a bus to go home because it was really late, but as we walked in the street we found a little 60 year old lady on the side of the road. She had a gas tank and blanket by her side, and we could tell that she had been crying. She asked us to lift the gas tank up onto the blanket. She intended to carry the gas tank like a backpack with the blanket. We told her that instead we would carry the gas tank to her house. She denied, telling us that her house was far away, but we insisted and so we started carrying it as we walked with her. (Just so you know the gas tanks here are very large and super duper heavy. It would be about 3 or 4 times the size of a normal propane tank in the US.) We walked taking turns carrying the tank because we got tired in the process because it is a big tank. We started to talk with her about who we were and what we do. She kept insisting that we let her carry it because her house was far away. She told us that she had carried it almost a mile when we had found her. She has no husband and her children are young. She has a 13 year old son. She had no way to get the gas to her house to cook, so she carried the gas on her back. It was such a humbling experience. God put us in her path to help her. As we arrived at her house she thanked us as she cried. She told us that God had sent us. We are going to return to visit her tomorrow. I hope that she accepts the gospel, but if not then at least we were able to help her. We found a young married couple blessing homes as well, Marlon and Isabel Briseño. We also found a young single mom who is struggling and who wants us to visit her. Her name is Irene Mendez.

This week a dog almost bit elder Kalina as well. We were walking down a very narrow side street and a dog turned the corner and started running full speed at elder Kalina. He wound up to kick it and the dog got scared and backed down a bit. I can´t remember very many other stories from this week, but it was a week of miracles.

My thought for the week comes from 2 Nephi 4:15 ¨... For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.  

I love this scripture that I read today. We must delight in the scriptures. We must desire to learn from them and to get the strength that comes from them. We must ponder the words of the scriptures to uncover the misteries of God and to be able to receive the personal revelation that the Lord would have us obtain. Later we must write those things upon our hearts. We must apply and act upon that which we learn so that we profit from the scriptures.

I love the scriptures with all of my heart. I know that the Book of Momron is true and I love reading it every day. I know that God lives. He knows the desires of our hearts, and according to His will, he will grant us the righteous desires of our hearts. I love you all tons!!!!

Love, Elder Black