Week 75

January 16, 2017

Hey everyone!

Wow weeks keep going by faster and faster... I can't believe it!  This week was full of miracles.  I feel like I say that every week, but it's really true.

I got news from Hermana Laura that Noemi and Richard are receiving the new missionaries in Moyobamba and have a goal of getting married at the end of January! I'm so happy for them! I wish I knew more, but my communication is kinda limited.

Eloy and Nelida came to church again! We called them an hour before church started to remind them and Eloy told us they weren´t going to go because a family member was coming to visit them. We were quite sad, but then when we got to church they were already there waiting for us! Nelida heard her husband tell us that they weren't going and she told us that she told him “How are we not going to go? We have to go!“   Anyways, they really enjoyed church and are reading their Book of Mormon!

For service this week, we helped Orito.  She is super cute.  She gets sick alot
and has two little kids.  So we helped her wash clothes, helped her cook, and washed her dishes.
It was so cool!

There is a family in the ward that sells fish.  They had a bin full of these snails ...
snails that live in the ocean??  They were so cool that I took a picture!

The biggest miracle of all has to do with our new investigator this week.. his name is Wilder.  We actually had met him when we first got to the area because his entire family are active members.  His niece is a returned missionary and his mom has been a member for over 30 years. He has never been baptized because he has a big problem with alcohol. He basically drinks everyday. When we were talking to his mom a few weeks ago, we asked who else lived in her house, she said, "her two daughters, her niece and „el borracho“, which in English means "the drunk".  That's how bad his addiction is.  Saturday morning we decided to go visit the mom (her name is Nelly) because we wanted to get to know her family a little bit better. We get there and Nelly tells us her son Wilder is sober and she wants us to talk to him, so we did.  She accompanied us and we taught Wilder. We talked a lot about how he needs to stop drinking and we really felt the spirit.  We were super direct and told him about the consequences and blessings he would get from living or not this commandment. He told us he would try to stop drinking and would come to church with us tomorrow. We kinda didn't believe him because so many elders have tried to teach him, but he has never changed. So when sacrament meeting ended yesterday and his mom came up to us to tell us that Wilder was dressed and waiting for us that morning, we were shocked! Apparently,  he thought we were going to pass by his house to walk with him and his family to church, so when his family all left at 7:45 AM he stood there waiting for us. We felt bad because we didn't know he would be waiting for us, we had told him we would wait in the chapel! So we called him and told him we would wait outside the doors of the church building for him. He said he would come! And he came! He hadn't drunk the night before and came to church! What a miracle! We're planning on calling him today to remind him of his goal not to drink and we have an appointment tomorrow! What a miracle! His family is in shock... as are we!

This is the Quiroz Family.... they are amazing!!  They were very strong Catholics until the met
the missionaries and the whole family was baptized.  They are super strong in the church.
They have only been members for three years but it doesn't feel that way!

This is Katy Quiroz.  She has a goal to go on a mission so she's been
accompanying us a lot these past few weeks!

Funny story... we were walking to our pensionista´s house and there was a man crossing the street with his Bijau leaves.. the leaves they use to make juanes. They're giant leaves. Anyways, we were going to go help him carry his leaves when he kneeled down and was like worshipping us? I don't even know.  We were so confused.  We just said “buenos dias“ and kept on walking we had no idea what to do! Hahaha.

So yeah, it was a great week! Excited for another one!

Love you all,

Hermana Gurney