How the Lord softens hearts

My new (last!) mission companion, Elder Colindres from Guatemala. He's a missionary convert from 5 years ago and hes like 23, and he came with Elder Guirola and he's a good worker and a great teacher!

This week for me has been a testimony about how the Lord softens the hearts of people.

As missionaries, we really do a small part in the whole process of helping people get baptized. The Lord does the rest. The idea is that through our obedience and faith, we permit that the Lord does his part of the process.

This week we went and taught a less active, and her 10 year old grandson about the plan of salvation. We talked about Adam and Eve and the importance of agency, to show them that he really needs to prepare to be baptized! She opened up and told her grandson how she wants him to make the decision for himself and really be prepared to take it. She had always said that he couldn't get baptized until he was 12. But she said that he could get baptized next month! So while he doesn't have a baptismal date yet, it looks like the Lord really is softening her heart to let him be baptized in June. She also looked at me and said "He really wants to baptize you before he goes. Right?" Heck yeah that's right! We're gonna throw everyone into the water this change!

Haha, but seriously, in Guacimo I feel like I've come to love our investigators a lot more than normal. There's a guy who always walks around selling coconut cajeta (frozen dessert) and I always buy from him, because it's super delicious, and long story short is that we started teaching them! After our second appointment with them, they were way happy. They accepted baptismal date, were planning on going to church, everything! And when we came for the 3rd appointment,  the wife was really sad. She started to explain to us that her husband is a drunk, and sometimes he just disappears for days or weeks on a drinking spur. When he's like that he just walks around dirty, unbathed, sleeping in the street, drunk. Then he gets better, comes home for a while, and always ends up drinking again. And when he goes to drink, their only source of income, the cajeta sales, stops.

I just can't explain the love I feel for people. It truly is a gift from God and an answer to my prayers that He puts a love in my heart for these people that I couldn't have by my own account. I love this couple so much and was so, so happy when he was back home yesterday when we passed by. We talked to them about how we were going to help him to get this addiction out of his life permanently. I just love them. So much.

And I love their cajeta :)

 

Ruma and Ruth are doing great down in Neily, he will receive the Melchizidek Priesthood very soon. It is pretty special for me that because I have seen the changes in Ruma and Ruth, I already know that this can work for  Estela and Jose too. :) 

I hope you all have a great week! Those were the highlights from my week.

-Elder Henry

Epic, right? I dunno why ticos love burning trash and grass so much

 A really rainy day trashed my shoe :(

Apparently that flower is really tasty, they do whatever it takes to get it haha