Wow I had such a sweet experience this week!
Well, so our week started out super bad! But because of that I think I was able to learn such a great lesson this week here in the mission (everything I am about to tell you is ALL tied in). Well, just about every appointment we had fell through! On Friday morning I remember asking in my prayers, "what do you want us to learn, what can I do better as a missionary" and the thought just came directly to my mind, "Learn to trust more in me" so we went out to work on Friday and I left the room with that thought in my mind.
SO we went to the Church to start out the day to visit a Lady that looked super interested, we waited outside the church and while we were waiting for a good 20 mins, we see a truck pass by the church and fall into a giant hole in the street. First I said to my comp, why is there a hole in the street...and then we ran over to help this guy lift his truck out of the hole ( he never got out of the car, was just putting it in reverse) so we didnt even get to talk to the guy in the truck because he drove off but looked really thankful and waved. Anyways, we waited for this lady in the church and she never came, so we started off our day like that and it was about 2 pm. We went to the next appointment, and the next, and the next, and the next, and every single one of our plans failed us (we walked from one part of our area to the other going to almost every person we knew and everything failed, so we ended up in a huge part of our area called Tupac Amaro, that probably has like 1000 houses) at this time it was about 4 pm. I said to my companion as we were standing in this huge part of my area, "there has to be someone in this neighborhood that is ready to listen to us" so we took off and started knocking every door in this giant maze of a neighborhood, for the next 2 hours it was just straight Rejection, doors getting slammed in our faces and people that just wanted NOTHING. So after about 2 hours of contacting we finally contacted this woman that almost let us in, but then changed her mind and shut the door. After this lady, i remember I was almost tearing up just so frustrated and disappointed, and I remember saying a prayer asking God again, "what do you want us to do, why is everything failing us" and the moment I said that prayer I had the thought come to my mind "Remember I want you to trust more in me" and then the scripture Doctrine and Covenants 121:7 "My son, peace be unto thy soul, thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment" and right when the thought and that scripture came to my mind, I looked up from the ground, and SAW the guy we helped out in the morning with his truck standing on the second floor of his house with a giant smile on his face, and he recognized us as the "guys" that helped his get out of the hole. I never have felt so much peace in my entire mission, because I knew it that exact moment that GOD was guiding us to a man that was super prepared to hear our message. With giant smiles on our faces we asked him, "Can we come in and share a message with you" and he said OF COURSE and let us in! It was such a sweet lesson, turns out he has been married for 14 years with his wife and have 3 beautiful children, and this whole family is just awesome!
So what I learned this week is first, be humble enough to ask God "what can I do to get better" or "what do you want me to learn in this moment" and I know without a doubt GOD will answer. I know God guided us for 4 hours and allowed us to be completely rejected for hours, allowed us to help this man lift his truck out (if we wouldnt have helped him, he prob wouldnt have let us in). He allowed us to walk miles, and knock a ton of doors, in order to be in the rIght place at the right time, in order to find a family that was being prepared to Hear this Gospel, and personally for me, I was able to learn to TRUST MORE IN HIM, and thats exactly what he wanted me to learn like I asked Him that morning before leaving the room.
Well, I wanted to share this experience with you because I know without a doubt that God lives and loves us, and is aware of our needs. I know without a doubt this work that I am doing is true, and I know despite all the adversity we may face in this life, God will never leave us , and it "shall only be for a brief moment". Well I love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Baca
