Monday, January 30, 2012

Hey family!

Another good week here in Juarez! Not really anything super exciting happened this week. It did get a little chilly a couple of nights but nothing too bad. They say that the weather is going to start changing soon and it's going to be really cold again but who knows.

Magdalena and Griselda both went to church yesterday which was really good! Griselda's baptism is this week which I am very excited about! She is excited too! I don't know if I have already told you this, but she is a member’s wife, they have only been married for like three months or so. She has two little boys. And she is pregnant right now. She has had a really cool conversion. When she was younger she had listened to the missionaries when she lived in the US. But she didn't get baptized. Then after she got married we started teaching her. She came to church a couple of times but then stopped coming. We felt after a while that she didn't really want to progress or go to church and we decided to "drop" her (Or to stop teaching her). But after a couple weeks she asked us to come by again. During the time that we had stopped visiting her she told her mother- in- law that she felt a difference when we would go with her and that she felt a lot of peace and calmness. She kept reading the Book of Mormon by herself and kind of in secret, and was reading some of the Liahonas that were in the house. And she had the desire to get baptized. But she felt embarrassed to ask us to come back because she hadn't gone to church. But one day she asked us to come back and teach her and told us that she wanted to prepare to be baptized. It was kind of shocking but I was very excited for her. So we went back to visit her and she really had a change of heart. She had received answers to her prayers and knew everything was true. She still had some questions but they were quickly resolved. So I'm really excited for her. And she and her husband want to be able to be married in the temple as well after the year they have to wait after the baptism.

My testimony grew a lot this week about faith and prayers being answered. This week I got an email from President saying that he had sent in the solicit (endorsement) for BYU. I was trying to get ahold of him for an interview since last Monday morning when he told me to call him. And all week I didn't get my interview. But I know that mom was praying a lot so that everything would work out ok and she had the faith that it would be. So when I was worried about writing home today saying that I hadn’t had my interview and now it was too late I was really bummed because I know that mom put a lot of hard work into the applications. But to my surprise President had sent it without even an interview. So I know that if we have faith, that the Lord will answer any prayer.

Congrats Ashley, that’s a really big baby and Happy Birthday Jordan too! and for the new callings...congrats too! Sounds like things at home have changed a lot! I want to see some pictures of my house when someone gets a chance!!

Love Elder Jake Hatch