13 Months Down!

Lots to talk about this week! First off, a miracle! We got a text this week from a woman in our ward saying that a boy wanted to be baptized. Of course we got super excited and ran over to the address she gave us with the Bishop. There we met a family. The oldest daughter is 21 and is a less-active member of the Church. Her brother, João Paul, is 11. His mom decided that it was time for him to get baptized, and she dreamt that he was getting baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ. She asked João, of all the churches they had visited, where he wanted to be baptized. He said, "The Church of Jesus Christ!" So now we are going to teach João and get him ready to be baptized and we are also hoping to reactivate the sister and teach his parents too! His mom and dad are baptists, but don´t practice and like the Church a lot. I have lots of hope that this family will soon be eternal! ;)

Wednesday I went on exchanges with my very first companion, Sister Araújo. It was super fun to teach with her again and see how much we have both improved since last December haha. We went to one house to contact a reference. A woman let us in, and we noticed there were a bunch of people so I though we were interrupting dinner. But the man we were there to see came over and said that it was his mom´s 92nd birthday and asked if we could come back another day. We said of course! and then he asked is we wanted to meet his mom on this very special day. We agreed and went to a back room where an old lady was laying in bed sleeping. We didn´t really know what to say because she was asleep, but the few people in the room hugged us and welcomed us and said they were so happy that we were there to share this special day with them. As we were leaving we passed through the kitchen and the sister of the man had cut two huge pieces of chocolate cake and said they were for us. We tried to decline, but she insisted, saying that they had made a huge cake to celebrate with friends. So we ate our cake and then hugged everyone as we left. The man asked us to please pass by another day to talk more with him. It was so funny because we didn´t know anyone there, but everyone treated us like guests of honor and made us eat cake hahaha.

Another funny story: I spoke in the Saturday night Session of Stake Conference this weekend. I was talking about my first convert, Charles, and how he had depression and was super sad and skinny. I said that as we started teaching him his whole countenance changed, he was much happier and he started to gain weight. At this part everybody laughed. The next day the Stake President was speaking and said, "I want to thank all the speakers who spoke yesterday and today. We´ve learned a lot here. We learned from Sister Lopez that the Gospel makes you gain weight!" So now it´s the running joke of the entire stake that food doesn´t make you fat, it´s the Gospel haha. 

It´s not true that the Gospel makes you fat, but it sure does make you happy! I love sharing the Gospel with everyone everyday. The Stake President read some awesome mission experiences from his mission journal and then said, "These miracles and feelings aren´t just for full-time missionaries. They are for everyone who shares the Gospel." I love that! We are all missionaries so we will see miracles in our lives as we open our mouths and share the good news that has blessed our lives so much. I love the Gospel and I love my Savior. I love being a missionary so I don´t intend to ever stop :) Thanks for all the prayers and have an awesome week!

Love,

Sister Lopez