Make It Rain Miracles...and Opposition

Hola mis queridos!! 

  WOW so many cool things happened this week. Saturday we were nearly jumping for joy so many cool things happened and then on Sunday it felt like dark clouds had gathered and rained opposition on us instead :/ I will attempt to explain. 

  First I just want to talk about my mission and how I am so grateful that we are so focused on our purpose. Our mission president and leaders have been really encouraging us to "internalize our purpose" which means behind every decision we make it is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel". That means the vision to baptize!! My companion Hermana Garbett and I have seen miracles and unity come from this principle. I have learned on my mission that God not only asks his missionaries to obey in order to keep their behavior in line, but to change our very hearts and wills. A changed missionary is one whose will is God's will! The more I give my heart to God, the more I see him shaping me into who he wants me to be. 

  To many things to go into detail about, but a couple favorite stories to share: there were several times I just looked at Hermana Garbett and said, What?? What just happened? That was crazy!! for miracles we saw this week :) God organizes the coincidences of our lives, we found one potential investigator at home during the 30 seconds he was changing cars in between jobs. Like what?? It was a good finding week, one day we just kept catching people at their door right as they were coming home, super weird but we got to talk to them! We've been seeing miracles as we better follow impressions of the Spirit of where to go, and in one instance we went to a less active's and found their mother-in-law at home visiting from Venezuela! We didn't have a lot of time with her the first time but when we prayed with her before we left she cried. And then we had one of my FAVORITE LESSONS EVER on my mission with her a couple days later. 

  So she was fascinated by the idea of us as young people preaching the word of God full time. She was asking all sorts of questions and explained her religious background to us. We found she was really good at recognizing the Holy Ghost. When we started telling her about Joseph Smith and the First Vision she got more excited than anyone I'd ever seen and when we said "And Joseph went to the woods to pray" she said Oh what happens next!!! And my heart was pounding so hard and the spirit was so strong when I recited the first vision for her. 

  Like Joseph Smith, who knew it, and knew that God knew it, and could not deny it, I cannot ever deny the feelings from the Holy Ghost that continually confirm to me the truth of the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is true not because someone told me, but because of what I have felt!

  Don't have more time, but we had a miracle with a lesson at a member's house and their friend accepted the invitation to be baptized on a specific date the FIRST time we asked!! Way way cool.

 SOOO... all these exciting events happened before Sunday, which was the day I decided to add on "...and Opposition" to my email title this week. On Sunday lots of people came to church, but later that day three people fell off baptismal date and another investigator was really worried about her mom in the hospital, and a couple others we thought were really awesome started avoiding us. OPPOSITION. There always is. If there is anything I've learned on my mission it's that there will always be opposition in the work of the Lord. The truer it is, the more opposition there is. As surely as I know there is a God who loves us and wants to save us, I know there is one who is set to destroy us. But we and God are more powerful! We've just been praying really hard for our investigators to be protected. To all my dear friends and family, always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong!

Siga adelante y nunca se den por vencido,

Hermana Alley