Do you Believe in Miracles?

Hey Family!

Haha! I’m still dying of laughter from that story, Dad. [Story is printed below.] I can totally just picture all of that unwinding...Ava still seems to make the family laugh. That´s hilarious. Also, that´s crazy that Spencer got kicked out of the match, and a little bit ridiculous. Man, everyone is getting married too! Tell Taylor and Lauren that I said congrats when you get a chance. By the way, who is Taylor marrying? Is it anyone that I know?

Do you guys believe in miracles? I do. Mom, like you said, being a missionary is so amazing because you get to see how Christ continues to do miracles in the lives of the people. First miracle...Magali, this super awesome lady that we have been teaching, and the sister of the family that is getting baptized today, was planning on getting baptized and married. She brought us some bad news on Saturday night. She said that her husband (who we are not teaching YET because he is a little more hard-hearted) came home drunk, they fought, and he packed all of his things and left. In tears she explained that she would never forgive him for what he did, that he had done the unthinkable: the wedding dress was bought, the invitations handed out, the date set, and he just left. Elder Santana and I didn’t really know what to say at first, but somehow the words came out. We talked about forgiveness and the importance of keeping the commandments even if there are trials. Well, halfway through the week, he came back and long story short, they got married last night along with Carlos and Delvia and the three will be baptized today. I love this family SO much and it’s so amazing to see how the Lord changes families.

Carlos, Delvia, and Magali's Baptism

Miracle #2. We had been looking for another solid family to teach and had been praying hard that the Lord would help us find one with the limited time that we have. 7:30pm, Saturday night, all of our appointments had fell, and we didn’t have a family to bring to church. We remembered that we had contacted a 19-year-old girl that was living with a member and her telling us that her family wanted us to visit them. We found their house and the wife came out and quickly let us in. The husband, Henry, greeted us with a huge smile and said, "We´ve been waiting for you guys." That’s when their 8 kids (who are all at least 8 yrs old) started coming out, along with a friend that lives there with them. Henry explained that he had a friend from a past job that was a missionary and had explained a lot about the church to him. He explained that he loves our church, that they´ve never liked any of the other churches. He said, "We are SO glad that you´ve come, we never thought that we´d have the chance to talk to two missionaries from your church, but God has finally sent you here." Elder Santana and I are still blown away. They went to church on Sunday, and when we invited them to be baptized this week they said, "Well, we need a little more time." (like everyone says). He said that he wanted to go to church like two more times before they got baptized. I´ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, there are people that are waiting for the truth and happiness that the gospel brings.

I love being a missionary. I love these people. I love the Savior. And to be honest, it hurts to realize that I’m coming up on the home stretch. I will just continue to serve with all I´ve got for these last months. I love you guys so much and that’s nuts that we´ll talk soon! I forgot about that!

Love,

Elder Ward

(Here is the story that Mike told Trevor about Ava) So, at Chik Fil-A last night, we arrived and told Mom our orders and then Ava and I went outside and sat at a table. (We wanted to enjoy the nice weather before it gets too scorching hot.) There was another family at a nearby table doing the same thing. They had a couple of boys probably a little older than Ava but they seemed kind of quiet and shy. Anyway, we sat down and someone had left behind a couple of Chik Fil-A ketchup packets. These are not the usual, tiny little packets. They’re big packets for dipping.

So, we sit down and I start playing with the ketchup packets. I turn one and aim it at Ava and then pretend like I’m going to smash it with my fist. She giggles, and, of course, I don’t really smash it. Then, I stack both of them on top of each other and pretend to do it again. Ava then reaches out, aims them toward me, and WHAM! She smashes them with her fist before I can react. Instantaneously, one of the little boys at the next table jerks backward and then goes down as if he’d been shot reaching for his face. NO!!! No no! Oh man! Totally nailed him! From eight feet away! He had been watching us for the 30 seconds since we had sat down. I don’t even know what happened exactly but no ketchup shot at me—only right at him. I immediately apologized and asked Ava to apologize. She was too mortified to speak or move. The boy’s mom wiped him off and he clung near her throughout the rest of the meal.

Ahhhh!

The Wedding

Carlos and Delvia's Wedding

Magili's Wedding

The Field is White....