July 13, 2014 Week 53

Hey yall!

Wow what a week!! It is always hard to start up an email! But i guess I will start with the Hoffmans!! woooohooo they are getting baptized this week!! they made it to church!  it was awesome!  

We walked out of a meeting and they were all siting on the back row... 15 minutes before church started!!  haha we told the Bishop in ward council to announce that they are going to be baptized!!! 

Right when they announced it Sister Hoffman looked down and said "Jesus" haha she HATEs any form of attention it was great! but they are doing awesome!! Just the parents are going to get baptized this week but the 3 kids are definitely going to follow in the future!! The ward did a good job in welcoming them back to church! So keep them in your prayers so they can endure this week and get baptized!! 

I love this area it is very diverse and very big, there is a ton of work that can be done here!!  Now with the bridge being open we never run out of things to do and especially working with the Spanish people it makes it even crazier!! It is hard because we feel like we don't have enough time to visit everyone!! That is why nightly planning is so important and following the spirit throughout the day!  

We really had this happen yesterday!  We were riding back from an awesome Sunday dinner with the Sexton family and unintentionally passed 2 of the houses that we had planned to visit that night...well we didn't really have the miles to backtrack so we decided to try the Cabrera family (a less active family that goes to the spanish branch)- we had never met them but a few days prior the missionaries from the branch told us if we had time, to go and visit them! so we did.  Well they weren't home so we went and tried a potential in the same area.  Well they didn't answer either so we were on our way out of the neighborhood when a oncoming car stops us and says that they are the Cabrera family!! bueno perfect timing!! so we ask if we can stop by and visit with them and they agreed! They gave us some good ol sandia-- agua melon! it was awesome we had a good visit with them, then hma. Cabrera said that we were and answer to her prayers! she and her husband have been gong through alot in their lives.  I guess her dad who is also a member of the church (not only a member of the church but attends the same branch as her) is kicking her family out of their trailer-- even though she and her husband own half of it!  She said that she is going to obey her father because she doesn't want to lose her father completely!  But they are in a huge financial problem and I guess a few weeks ago hmo Cabrera was going to try and leave to Guatemala.  Hmo Cabrera is a recent convert and doesn't have the priesthood yet.  So they asked if we could give them blessings! WELL we can sure do that! For hma and her daughter we gave them in English but for hmo we gave it in Spanish!  The spirit was very strong in their humble home! After that they said that we were an answer to their prayers!  As I look back to that day I recognize that we were led right to them and we didn't even know!! I truly believe if we can recognize this in our live's we will see the power of the Holy Ghost in a different way!  I think too often we talk of what the Holy Ghost will do, but we ignore or forget what the Holy Ghost HAS done in our lives!

I am studying the New testament chronologically and I am in the final week of the saviors ministry!  It has been amazing my testimony has grown so much in the Savior just by reading the new testament in a different way! One that stood out was the Interaction that Christ had with the rich ruler--MATT 19:16-26... the ruler comes to him with a question that we should all have in our hearts

"Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

Christ then responds to him" Keep the commandments" he then lists off some commandments!

"All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" said the man. 

 Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me"

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

The ruler had the desire for eternal life and would do anything for it, or he thought.  If we have the question,  "What lack I yet?" and respond positively to the answer we will find ourselves constantly improving and on the path to eternal life! because of the apparent difficulty to return to God the disciples asked, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

boom... so we better have a relationship with God!

Well yeah we had a great week There are more stories but not enough time to share! yall have a great week! love ya all!

--ELDER FINLINSON