Our Light in the Wilderness

Familia,

 

Talk about a shock.  My heart aches for Bryce Astle's family.  I can't believe it.  He is so great.  Keep them in your prayers.

 

THE RUNDOWN:

-We got fleas this week.  Oh the joys of clean investigators..........

-We moved into a new house.  A HUGE ONE.  Like, 3 stories huge.  But now the plumbing is having problems and the toilet was having issues.. and we didn't have a plunger.  We tried to get creative with trash bags and duct tape to try to make our own plunger.. yeah let's just say that didn't work out too well.  I think we will be looking for a plunger today

-I never thought I'd be dying of cold in Guatemala

 

Another rollercoaster of a week.  I love being a missionary so much, but man, is it exhausting!

 

We are working a lot with our families with baptismal dates.  As usual, they are having a hard time.  Whenever people make efforts to follow Christ, Satan decides to work a lot harder on them.  It's kind of a buzz kill really.  We did have an interesting lesson with Luvia.  She is living with her boyfriend who treats her horribly.  She used to work in the strip club down the road and she has had a very rough life.  We taught the law of chastity to her, her boyfriend, and her son.  She cried as she told us how badly she wants to change.  With a broken heart she told us that if she had had someone telling her this when she was younger her life would have been very different.  She pleaded with her son to listen to us and live the law of chastity so that he could have a better life than she is living.  It was sad but special to help her know where to turn for forgiveness and hope.

 

Yesterday we were having a rough day.  People are going through hard times and sometimes it is overwhelming to have a whole new set of people in every house tell you about everything that is going wrong, their regrets, and their doubt.  When our investigators are having a hard time, it's hard not to blame myself.  Sometimes I feel like if I could just do a little more, their burdens would be lighter.  We weren't finding people, the familia Ibarra was doubting their decision to be baptized, Luvia wasn't there, and we were frustrated.  We decided to visit a couple who were baptized last year.  They weren't too happy either and were struggling with their own set of trials.  We sang a hymn and I felt a prompting to read Mosiah 24 with them.  We had another lesson planned but I felt like for some reason they needed to hear that instead.  I asked my comp if we could change the plan and defeatedly she said that she didn't care anymore.  So I rolled with it haha.  After we read it they started telling us about what had happened that morning.  They are a very young couple with little boys.  They hadn't received money in a while and weren't expecting a pay check for another week.  They had no food.  The young mother started crying talking about how she had started sobbing in the morning realizing that she had nothing to feed her children before church.  She prayed and felt peace.  When her kids asked "Mama, aren't we going to eat breakfast?" she sadly gave them a drink of water and they headed off to church.  She came home and found some old tortillas, oil and beans and they were able to eat lunch gratefully.  She and her husband were so grateful for the scripture passage we read with them and with tears in their eyes they knew it was an answer to their prayers.  That tomorrow is another day and they would get by.

 

Sometimes God doesn't take our problems away, but He will always guide us, lift us, and lighten our burdens so we can learn, progress, and remember Him.  He tells us not to worry, that He will provide a way.

 

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led." 1 nephi 17:13.

 

Our wilderness could be many things.  A bad day, a broken heart, a loved one lost, lost hope.  Our promised land could be a better day, hope found, repentance, happiness, eternal life.  No matter what our wilderness is, no matter what our struggle is, Christ is our light in the wilderness.  He will lead us to our promised land as we trust in Him and rely on His love.  We will always know that He is the one leading us to something better and more beautiful.

 

NEC

Hermana Yates