"I Know It Was The Holy Spirit That I Felt"

Hey folks!

Elder Johnson and I had a great last week together. We went on divisions this week with Elder Ferre, Elder Lopez, Elder Ross, and Elder Ceron to help them out in the work and give them a little extra boost of success and we had some really neat spiritual experiences with them! When I was with Elder Ferre we passed by a family who he had met the day before from being inspired by the Spirit to knock their door. We went over and talked with the mom, Sandra, and her daughter, Karla. We started talking about their lives and getting to know them a little bit and we got talking about trials and challenges of life and why we are called to pass through such difficult situations. We started to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how through having faith, we have a hope of a better future and that how through repentance we free ourselves from the guilt and shame we experience from falling into sin. The Spirit testified with force of the truthfulness of our message and we identified the Spirit with her and continued to explain that through baptism we are renewed and cleansed. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted with surety and joy.

Elder Johnson had a neat experience with Elder Ceron with a guy named Maximino who had contacted us in the morning right before the divisions. They went over and entered into his house and he came out with the Bible and another book from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Apparantly he confused us in the morning for being TJ's but in the end all he wanted was for someone to help guide him to have more faith in Jesus Christ and learn more about Him. They started to teach about the Godhead and when the Spirit was present they explained baptism and invited Maximino to be baptized and he accepted! He went to church with us this past week and got to sit in the front row at Stake Conference and is preparing to be baptized this week.

Also, when I was with Elder Ross on divisions we were heading up the hill to go see some inactive members when we ran into a kid named Farith who was on his way back from the store to his house. When we saw him he smiled at us and said "HI Elders!" so we asked if his family were members and he said that his mom was. Taking advantage of the situation, we asked if we could go to his house with him and share a message. He said we could so we went with him to his house and met his mom who had recently been inactive. We found out that Farith was not yet baptized and that he loved going to church when they went about a year and a half ago. We taught about the importance of following Christ through baptism and when we felt the Spirit we asked Farith how he felt and he said he felt a lot of peace. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted and will be baptized this week.

Elder Johnson and I had the opportunity to baptize a girl named Jaqueline this past week. She is the sister of a recent convert and had expressed desires to learn more about God thanks to her sister being a member missionary. We invited her to the baptismal service we had last week for Judith and afterwards told us that she wanted to be baptized. We passed by with her all this past week and taught her everything she needed to know and helping her identify what the Spirit was. Her baptism was great and when sharing her testimony after she came back in the room she said, "I know this is true and I am so happy for having had the chance today to make this promise with God. When I was baptized, I felt something in there that I think was.... no, I know it was the Holy Spirit that I felt." Hearing her testimony was one of the best experiences I have had here in the mission. 

President Tervort called me the other day and asked me to move over to the zone right next to us called Arbolillo and to be the zone leader there. So now I have a new companion who I know from when I was in Centenario named Elder Avery who is from Panaca, Nevada so it's all good in the hood. Anyway! Elder Avery and I are ready to make miracles happen here in Arbolillo! Have a great week!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,

Elder San Diego

Jaqueline's baptism!

Jaqueline's Family