Monday, January 21, 2013

Hermana Mercado's 24th Letter from Chile!

This past week has been pretty good. We have picked 3 families from our ward to work with to help us find people to teach. In these past couple of weeks,  we've had a noche de hogar with each of them, taught them the restoration and asked them to think about the blessings they've received in their lives because of the restoration. Then we ask them 10 questions to help them think about family and friends that they can share the gospel with who also deserve those blessings. Then we ask them to pray as a family and pick one of the names/families they wrote down to focus on. We also share a paper with them that the mission put together called "Como Puedo Compartir el Evangelio" to give them ideas about how to get started. They are excited about it, and eager to help. We've actually been invited to a noche de hogar tonight with one of the families. They're inviting one of their friends, a friend who has interest in learning more about the church. 

We also had a great lesson with Olga this past week in which a member from our ward accompanied us. She had already met Olga at a ward activity, so a friendship has already started to form there. And  we had everything set up for the member to pick her up on Sunday to go to church. Olga was going to call her Saturday just to make sure. But the member's cell phone died, and neither of us could get a hold of her to remind her. We'll get her to church this week though. And for our next cita with Olga, her daughter Erica, plans to participate as well! 

And this week, Oscar Nunez came to church! He's an inactive we found knocking doors a couple of weeks back. He's an elderly man, and from what he tells us, he was among the first members in Chile. But he stopped going as a joven. So we've been reteaching him the gospel, helping him to remember, and he promised us he would come to church with us this week. When we went by to pick him up, he was ready and waiting. He's really animado to be coming back to church. We even shared his testimony in Sunday school! I'm so happy for him! 

It's hard to find new people to teach in our sector, especially now that the majority of them are gone on vacation (the streets are literally dead when we go out to work), but we know that the greater miracles will come as we continue to work with the members, help to strengthen their testmionies, and help them to share to gospel. When the members of the church begin to take a more active role in missionary work, that's when the real growth will happen. Missionary work isn't just for missionaries; everyone can participate and share in the blessings! So invite your friends to a church activity, to a family home evening, to listen to the missionaries! Just invite them to come and see. 

Love you all! 

--Hermana Mercado 

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