MILAGROS

 *long email but sorry I had to!*

This week was a week of miracles and I am honestly overwhelmed with the love and gratitude for God's hand in my life and the lives of all his children this week! Here's a breakdown of the week with all the miracles but I will say there is opposition haha I have never seen so much opposition and miracles mixed in one but it's all good because God knows what he's doing! 

Mon- we went to a zoo and I got to feed a giraffe for 30 pesos (that's like $1.50)  and why's that a little miracle? Well the zoo here is closed every single Monday (so we can never go) but this week it was "by chance" open and my whole zone got to go and it was rad!

Tues- we had my first rain down pour here in León which was so nice bc it's been a million degrees! It knocked out the power in the church and the other elders were in the middle of a baptism so we held phone flashlights for their baptism and it was a cool experience! We were at their baptism because one of our investigators was going to come see it... well when he was on his way to see this baptism it started pouring and he biffed it on his bike (in the downpour) like full on biffed it and injured himself- so he didn't make it and we were bummed and also worried for him haha so we went to visit him after that happened and we had an awesome lesson with him and his WHOLE family so it all worked out in the end  God works in mysterious ways for sure.

Wed- well I got the 3rd covid vaccine here in good old Mexico (tuesday) which was a miracle in itself that I was able to talk to them to fill out all the forms haha but it made me SUPER sick and I didn't sleep all night, had a fever, achy bones, the worst headache of my life, and yeah it was great. We had a couple lessons planned for in the church but I almost passed out on our way to the church so we went back home and I slept a good chunk of the day trying to heal haha and I was like what the heck heavenly father I'm trying to do your work for you! Why is this happening?? Well God sure showed me that he knows what he's doing with the rest of this week. 

Thurs- I HIT 9 MONTHS!! HALF WAY! 

Thursday was one of the best days of my whole mission. I had an awesome study where I felt the spirit SO strong and then we had a day FULL of lessons that went SUPER GOOD. We set 3 baptismal dates with people! One of the lessons was one of of most spiritual lessons with one of the coolest people of my whole mission so I'm going to share it with you guys:') 

Ok so about a month ago we found a woman named Elena when we were looking for the house of this one member. We knocked to see if she lived there and elena said no, so we asked if she wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ and she said yes and let us in (which 99% of the time doesn't actually happen haha) 

and guys... when I met her a thought came to my mind that part of the reason I'm on a mission is to find her. No joke I had the feeling SO strong, and she has been a testimony to me that God knows his children perfectly.  Anyways so right after we found her she had a big surgery to remove a cancer tumor and couldn't leave or really do anything for a bit so we waited patiently until she could come to church. My comp said that we should drop her because she "wasn't progressing" because she wasn't coming to church and because of some other commandment stuff and yeah anyways I straight up said no I knowww she's ready for the gospel- bc I just felt it! Well after just a couple weeks she told us that the commandment issues were gone and she was feeling up to coming to church health wise. she came to church and loved it and came this week too, and the spirit was so strong both times. Well the best lesson of my mission was this week because I know that Elena needed God exactly in this timing.

 In this lesson she really opened up and just started bawling about some really hard trials she's had in her life- trust me guys I've never heard someone with so many hard things- and it broke my heart in two. She said she prayed to God and she never felt his love and she questioned if she was being condemned for something or why he wasn't there for her. She said one time during the thick of her trials she got a call from missionaries who asked if they could pray with her and she said no because because was mad at God and didn't know if he was really there. Then she said she said after a while she started praying again and asked God if he was really there. She said that day 2 young girls with name tags knocked on her door and testified that God loved and knew her and she knew it was true. It was SO cool in this lesson being able to just cry with her and then testify that through the atonement of Jesus Christ she could find peace and strength through her trials. Its people like her that I really don't understand why such good people pass through such hard things but it really prepared her heart for the gospel! We taught her about baptism and it was honestly the coolest thing ever to help her know that she can be healed through Jesus Christ. She is so amazing and I'll never forget that lesson. She's getting baptized on Saturday and I'm so happy for her 

If you're still reading this far congrats your a real one, but I can't stop because there's more haha.

 This week the family we've been teaching got baptized and it was SO COOL to see a full family get baptized together! This family has a special place in my heart and watching them make this covenant together warmed my heart. What absolutely melted my heard was talking to Paula and ulises (the kids) after the baptism and they said they felt warm and peaceful. Ulises told me that when he entered the water he felt "muy bonito" and knew he was following the example of Jesus christ. That was so cool to hear a 10 year old say that, and a 14 year old say that she knew she had a clean start of her life. Their faith is awesome! After the baptism ulises said he wanted to learn the song we had sung for them (my comp and I sang a child's prayer with my guitar) and so I taught him the words of a child's prayer and he memorized it and kept singing it over and over. Ahhh it was so sweet!!

Our friend who biffed it on the bike in the rain came to this baptism (on his way to this baptism his bike tire blew- Satan really didn't want him to make it to either baptism lol) but he made it and he started crying at the baptism- you could tell he was just overwhelmed with the spirit- and we asked him how he felt and he could barely talk and said he wanted to be baptized and he knew this was true because he couldn't deny his feelings. It was funny bc he's a "gangster" type guy w lots of tattoos and earring and stuff and it just shows me here that you really can't judge someone by what they look like! He's super ready for the gospel and it's cool to see him change!

Guys I am just amazed at the blessings we saw this week. God really does work miracles in our lives, even if they are different than we think they're going to be. That's something I've really thought about this week. Sometimes we pray for a specific miracle with all our faith and if it doesn't happen we think hmm maybe my faith isn't strong enough or we doubt God's power, BUT what I've learned is that sometimes God works miracles in other parts of our lives- not exactly where we asked- but he works miracle after miracle bc he loves us. Pray and expect to see miracles in your life because they're all around you! 

I hope you're all doing good and know God loves you, even in your trials and opposition haha! Have the best week! 

-hna stone