Great to hear from you again. We are seeing more miracles like crazy here
in Minga Guazú. This past week we had some challenges but we worked hard and the
Lord blessed us a lot.
One really great miracle is the progress of Nestor. This past week we gave
him a Book of Mormon and marked 3 Nefi 11 for him to read. A few days later we
went back to verify how his reading was going. Wow! He had read all of the
chapter we left and then began to read the introduction, the testimony of Joesph
Smith, and started reading in 1 Nephi. He explained everything that he had read
perfectly and loved it. He is really prepared and continues to progress. By the
middle of the week it started getting tough to find Nestor because he started
working again. This weekend we weren´t able to visit him and he couldn´t make to
to church on Sunday because they were having a fund raiser for his sister with
mental disabilities. I was kind of bummed that he didn´t make it to church but
we will keep working with him. I think that the plan is to bump his baptismal
date up to the 4th of August. We have to pass by today to see how his progress
is going.
Another great miracle from this week is with the González family. It is a
part-member family. The dad, Jorge, has been a member for a while but has been
inactive for about a year. Jorge was married before with another woman and they
were sealed in the temple. His wife died almost 3 years ago and I think that is
what contributed a little bit to his inactivity. Now Jorge is living with
another woman named Valentina and they aren´t married. They have a little
daughter who is about 5 months old. We had been working with them for a while
and Valentina had attended two times in church already. But then a couple of
weeks ago Jorge had an accident downtown when he was working late at night. He
and a few of his friends were stabbed really bad and Jorge was in intensive care
for about a week. After he got home we started visiting them again. After he had
been home for about a week Jorge decided to attend church. The entire family
attended yesterday. For Jorge, it was the first time in a long time that he has
been to church. It was good to see him mingle with some of the older members
that were really good friends with him while he was active. I could tell that he
felt really good being in church again. Jorge says that it wasn´t because of his
accident that he decided to go to church. I just kind of play dumb and go along
with what he is saying but in reality I think that the experience humbled him a
little bit and helped him feel the need to go back to church. It´s not a bad
thing. Alma says in Alma 32 that those who are compelled to be humble are
blessed as well.
Yesterday in church we were expecting a lot of investigators in church but
in the end only Valentina attended. The Lesme family didn´t make it yesterday. We will
visit them this week and excite them to make it to church.
Another great thing that is happening here is that the branch is
progressing like crazy. About a year ago the attendance was around 25. Now we
are averaging 75. It has a lot to do with the new Branch President. He is a stud
and things are getting done. It´s great to work in a branch with members who
want to have success and have a vision to improve. The other missionaries in
Minga were talking with the 1st counselor in the Stake Presidency this week and
the great news is that if Minga continues to do well in attendance then they
will build a chapel here. That would be so great. The Church reviews attendance
on a trimestral system and this trimester ends in September. So basically if the
attendance is good in September, they will begin on the chapel.
It was great to hear about the focus on missionary work in the ward. In an
interview with President Callan one time I asked him what we can do to really
help the unit that we are working in. He talked a lot about the importance of
the unit (ward or branch) having an focus on missionary work. With a focus on
missionary work, the meetings on Sunday will be better, the youth preparing for
the mission will be strenthened, there will be more excitement about the gospel.
I know that preparing for the mission is what really changed my life.
Anywho, I love you all very much. Thanks for the support and for
everything. I appreciate your letters every week. You strengthen me a lot. I
hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Snow
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