Week 40... Miracles have not ceased to exist!!!

 I don’t have much time this week. I want to start off by apologizing. On Monday it was a Holiday here in Chile, so all the cybers were closed. We were not able to email, so we got permission to write today, but we have a really busy day ahead of us, so I will not be able to write for very much time. I want to share a couple of experiences I had these last couple weeks that has really helped grow my testimony that our Savior Jesus Christ lives, and that miracles have not yet ceased to exist. 

  Experience  #1:  So about a few weeks ago I went on a intercambio with an Elder from California named Elder Kirk. I was with him working in his sector in Angol. He is actually from the same group as me, so it was a really fun intercambio. While we were walking around in the street looking for people to teach, we got a call from the Bishop of his ward. The Bishop said that there was a member who was in the hospital and was about to go into surgery and that he needed a blessing. He told us that he was out of town and that they were asking for the missionaries to come and give him a blessing. He told us to hurry and run over there. So we ran over there and when we got to the hospital we were greeted by 20 people all in a huddle crying. One of them came up to us and explained to us the situation. This Brother is around 75 years old and he was been struggling a lot with pain in his stomach. So they took him to the hospital and the doctors told them the results. The Doctors came out and told them that if they didn’t do surgery right now he was going to die, and if they did surgery he was going to die in a couple of days. So the family was all in distress not knowing what they should do. They knew that their dad, grandpa, husband, was going to pass away and they were all so upset. They all looked at us with water filled eyes and asked us if we could give him a blessing. We said of course we would love to give him a blessing. We asked them who they wanted to give the blessing. I was expecting since this wasn’t my sector that they would choose Elder Kirk. But the wife pointed to me. I have never been so nervous in my life. I began to pray harder than I have ever prayed before. I was asking for guidance to help me in this blessing. I needed to know what to say in the blessing. I was literally shaking before we went into the room. The doctors only let Elder Kirk and I enter into the room. We went in there and there a ton of sick patients. We both look at each other and say "Here we go." Elder Kirk does the first part. The whole time I was thinking of what I was going to say. Finally it became time for me to give the blessing. I prayed so hard right before I gave the blessing. When I gave the blessing I felt this warm feeling run through my body. I gave this blessing and I will tell you that I do not remember one word I said. I felt the power of the spirit running through me. When we finished we walked out and we were greeted by the whole family asking how it went. We talked to them for a minute and then we made our way to the next appointment. I never knew what happened to that guy but yesterday I went on another intercambio with Elder Kirk and I asked him what happened to this brother. And he was like Elder, The most amazing thing happened; the Sunday after we had given the blessing, the daughter came to church and ran up to him with tear filled eyes and thanked him for everything that he had done. That her father had the surgery and that he had made a full recovery. He is still in the house and can’t do much, but he lived and he feels really well. Elder Kirk told me this story and I began to feel the Love that The Savior has for us. I can tell you that Miracles have not ceased to exist. That through our Faith God brings forth Miracles.

   Experience #2: This happened yesterday. So yesterday I was on the intercambio with Elder Kirk, haha, I guess Elder Kirk and I need to be comps, because we have some awesome stories. Yesterday we went and taught their investigator who has been planning to be baptized for a while now. She finally said that she wanted to be baptized last week but she wanted her boyfriend to baptize her. Come to find out that her boyfriend could not baptize her because he was not yet worthy. He had been working to get worthy but still had to wait some time. He would not be done with his process until the 21st of July and this causes a huge problem because she is looking to go into the police academy and if she gets accepted she will leave on the 18th. So Elder Kirk and I went in there not knowing what we were going to say, all we knew is that we needed to follow the spirit and hopefully help her understand that she needs to get baptized this weekend. We went into the lesson with a really great member, returned missionary. We went in there and began to talk to this girl and her boyfriend about deciding when she was to get baptized. We spent about a good 30 minutes and it had only led to arguments and wasn’t really getting anywhere. Then all of a sudden I felt this prompting that we should all kneel and pray. So that is exactly what we did. We all knelt down and asked God when she should get baptized. When we all got up none of us knew what to say. I was like oh no, what are we going to do. I began to flip through my scriptures hoping to find a scripture that says something like she needs to be baptized this day... but of course I didn’t find a scripture that said it exactly. But as I was flipping through I did fall upon a scripture that caught my attention. It was Joseph Smith History. It was the verse right before Joseph sees God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. Before this spiritual experience happened, Joseph was attacked by Satan. This scripture testified with power that She was to be baptized as soon as possible. Even if she wasn’t going to be baptized by her boyfriend. She needed to be baptized now, because the longer she waited the more time Satan would have to attack her and bring her down to destruction. When we began to share this scripture you could feel the atmosphere change. The spirit began to fill the room, the answer was clear that she needed to be baptized this week. She began to feel the spirit. She looked at her boyfriend with tear filled eyes and said that she was really feeling that she should, but that she was confused. She told us that she was going to think about it. I know without a doubt in my mind she will accept. The spirit was there and testified to us and to her that this was what God wanted and that she needed to do it. I know that by the promptings of the Spirit we can be guided to choose the right things. Even though waiting a few weeks is not that bad of thing, we knew that she needed to be baptized this day. 

Sorry I don’t have much time, but I thought I would just share with you guys these few stories that have really helped grow my Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and His love that He has for us. I testify to you that Miracles have not ceased to exist. I know this to be true I know our Savior lives, and works miracles every day. I share these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen