Milagros!

HOOOOOOLA A TODOS!!!!!
Another week here in Chimbote! It was actually pretty cold this week! Well cold as in a nice cool breeze in the afternoons and lots of clouds to block the sun. But my poor Peruvian companion was freezing all week! She's pretty convinced that I'm immune to the cold :) It was pretty funny!

In other news, things are just moving along here in our little area. Still working and praying hard to find new people to teach, but I know the Lord has a plan and purpose for everything. So we're just moving forward with conficende that He'll put people in our path or guide us to those who need the gospel! Something that I know'll help is a HUUUUGE ward activity that we're planing for Friday night! It's a big game night that we're inviting the whole ward and telling them to bring all their friends! It's gonna be SWEET. We're pretty excited for it. We have a bunch of young men who want to go on missions (Luiggi, our recent convert is one of them!!) who just got called as ward missionaries, and they're pretty excited too.

As for David and Freddie, they are so excited for their baptisms!! We're finishing up their lessons and interviews and everything this week with them, so it'll be BUSY BUSY! We also have a big FHE with the JAS (or YSA) in our ward to help them really integrate into their group.

A little cool story this week. We were knocking on doors one day and encountered a young woman (she's 20) who's been inactive for about 5 years, named Dayana. We've been teaching her for a bit, but has been to scared to come to church because she feels a lot of shame and is worried what everyone will say. But we had a great lesson about the Sacrament and she promised that she would come to church. And she DID!! She was a bit nervous and timid, but the Youth in the ward just jumped right in to help her feel better. It was AMAZING!! And now she's more willing than ever to listen and come back to church.

This week, I've been studying a WHOLE lot about Faith. There is a fantastic chapter in the Bible, Hebrews 11, that gives examples of the faith of the prophets and how the Lord was able to bless them through their faith. It was VERY interesting and taught me that faith really is ACTING on something that we can't see, but having a 'perfect hope' that blessings WILL come. That if I work only through my own stength and knowledge, I won't acomplish much. But if I push the natural man aside, and put my confidence in the Lord (trusting that he knows me best and knows what I can do) He'll be able to bless me!

I know that this church is true and that when we study the scriptures, we really can find answers to our questions! And that the Lord will be able to teach us and instruct us on what we need to do!
Have an AWESOME week everyone!

Hermana Stephenson