Where to start:
Alejandra: bad for the moment. We had a RDV with her on Saturday. We were waiting for her by the bus stop and the bus passed and no one got off. So I called her and she answered and said, "I am so sorry, I was reading over again all those scriptures you gave me in the Book of Mormon and I didnt eve'n realize that I missed the stop, im on my way back." So it started off well. Then the RDV started and we had planned to talk about priesthood authority, and the sacrament to prepare her to come to church the next day and to help her understand more why getting baptized in this church is different from any other. So, we started talking, explained priesthood and she said, "yes, I get it. I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and I believe the Book of Mormon is true." Then she explained how she feels so confused because she feels so much joy when she comes to our lessons, but then she goes to her other church and she feels good too and her church has given her so much, etc. She asked if we could just cancel the baptismal date for now because she feels so confused and everything has happened so fast. She says she has been praying so so much and reading everything in the Book of Mormon and she just feels confused. The entire time she was saying this the thought to me was to be quiet and let Soeur Horn talk. So I was quiet. And Soeur Horn answered, "Alejandra, I am going to make you a promise. When you come to church tomorrow and you pray to know if this is the church of God that you need to join, you will receive an answer and you won't be confused anymore." At the end of the lesson we kneeled down the three of us and prayed she would receive an answer by going to church the next day. After the lesson, Soeur Horn and I immediately started fasting because we had just promised something really big and we needed all the help we could get. That night we literally called about ten or fifteen ward members to ask them to welcome her when she came to church the next day. We found spanish translators for every meeting. Never in my entire mission have I made so much effort for someone to come to church. The next mormning we wake up and have a text from Alejandra from 2:30 in the morning. She said how stressed she had felt about everything after the lesson and how she had been praying the entire day to know what to do. She said she felt she had got her answer, she felt peaceful about going to her other church and so she was going to follow her heart because she felt that was an answer to prayer. We were so devastated. Yep, we straight up cried. We sent her a text back and told her we respected her decision but we asked her to remember the promise we had given her the day before that God would answer her prayer by coming to church and she would no longer be confused. We told her that was still a promise. She never answered back and we havent heard from her since. It was so sad because we went to church and so so so many people all came up to meet our investigator that we had brought and we had to tell them she hadnt come. It was so sad. Then I look in the foyer and TJ Barden is walking into the hall. I do a double-take and suddenly the whole Barden Family is walking into the church! I just ran and gave Robin a big big hug. She asked me how I was doing and how our morning had been. ha I just got teary-eyed and told her not good. Anyways, it was a huge blessing to have the Barden's at church yesterday. I was able to talk to Robin for a while after Sacrament Meeting, ha we just cried together, it was so good. Im sure she will call you when she gets home to talk to you mom. :) And, please pray for Alejandra. We are gonig to try calling her tomorrow. It's to a point we have done all we can, and we need a lot of divine intervention because I dont know what else to do!
Maria: good. We saw her one last time before she left for the South of France now until September. We went in and her eight and nine-year-old boy came in to the lesson. The lesson before we had taught Maria the Plan of Salvation. So we pulled out the Plan of Salvation again and with Maria, we taught the Plan of Salvation to her kids. It was the most beautiful thing to watch a mom teach her kids the Plan of Salvation for the first time. At the end we committed the nine-year-old Clyde to baptism and the eight-year-old said he will think about it. We asked Clyde if he would like to start reading the BOM and he said yes. So we gave him Enos and then we asked him if he's ever prayed before. He said no. So we along with his mom taught him how to pray for the first time. It was the sweetest thing. Maria is now gone until September, she said she knows this is what she wants for her family and wants to get baptized when she gets back. We are trying to keep in touch with her every week by phone so we can give her scriptures to read with her kids while she is gone. Because, if I have learned one thing, Satan does not sleep! Ah so much can happen in-between everything.
Last Pday I saw the Crockett's.... dad's old mission president's daughter. The one he dated. haha She was freaking out when she realized I was Dan's daughter. And went on and on about Boppy and Grandma BB and everything and how much she loves mom etc. so funny.
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Soeur Chard
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