And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues;
For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.
But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.
And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.
This week, my testimony was strengthened. I know now, a little bit better than before, that God truly is a God of miracles, and still is today.
Before you get too excited, I didnt see a river parted or a lame man walk. But for 3 months, it feels like we´ve been pushing against immovable obstacles. Invited the same inactive members to church too many times. Invited the same investigators to do the same things without seeing any progress. Knocked too many doors that start to look the same without seeing any lasting change.
Last Thursday, we received a reference that we were able to meet with that same day, which is weird because we´d never received a reference before. Then on Friday, we did exchanges with Asunción Mita. About a month ago, we were on a way to an appointment, when I felt like we needed to take a different street. We did, and my companion and I decided to knock on a door. The man that answered turned out to be very kind and educated. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he texted us the next day saying hed read the introduction, and that he wanted us to come by and answer his questions. For some lame circumstances, that appointment didnt happen until last Friday. During exchanges, he texted us inviting us over to his house. We went, and ended up talking for about 2 hours about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We answered his questions, and taught him Lesson 1. It was one of the better "lesson 1s" of my entire mission. He´s about to take a big exam that will determine whether he´s a certified lawyer or not, so he´s really busy and stressed. If he can make time for the gospel and for us, I honestly believe he can be the next branch president here. And then on Sunday, we were pleasantly surprised to see an inactive member named Jordi in church whom we had invited many times. And then another inactive member we invited on Friday showed up as well. And then, right before the sacrament was blessed, a family who hasnt been to church in a very long time showed up. In total, the average attendance was practically doubled this last Sunday. And for the cherry on top, these last 2 days we started teaching 2 new families that have so much potential. The first requested a visit from us through Facebook. Turns out, he just returned to Catocha after a long time away. He's had a rough past. He was in a terrible accident when he was here, and some people died. He felt very guilty about it, and ran away while pretty young. He got into drugs, and lost his way a little. He said he asked to meet with us because he saw a video about the forgiveness of God, and he just seemed so sincere. Hope we can keep teaching and helping him.
The other is named Jonathan (and his wife Joana) , and it was truly an amazing experience. We saw that the Elders had taught him a long time ago, but had never shared Lesson 1. When we started talking, we found out why. He seemed very closed about the idea of the Book of Mormon as scripture, and that we believed that there's only one true church. He started getting a little argumentative, and I thought to myself, "oh boy, this is going to be a long talk." But we started anyways. We talked about who God was, the reason God uses prophets, and the church of Jesus Christ. And it didn't seem to be going all that well.
And then, we started talking about the apostasy. They seemed to be interested in the idea that the church had been lost, and intrigued by what they had never considered before. And then it was my turn, and I started to explain the Joseph Smith story. When I said the First Vision, the Spirit was powerful. I asked his wife how she felt, and, with some emotion, she said she felt good. We testified that that feeling was the Spirit of God, telling them that what we were telling them was true.
When we started talking about the Book of Mormon again, we were saying the same things, but it felt completely different. They seemed interested, they thanked us for the book and for the opportunity to have more of God's word in their lives. It was a 180 degree turnaround from when we started. What caused that change? The Spirit.
Despite this miraculous week, this adventure of opening up Catocha with Elder Bejaran has come to an end. Yesterday, we were informed that he would be leaving me to be a Zone Leader in Chiquimula. My new companion will be Elder Villegas. Starting tomorrow, I will be in my last transfer (my last 6 weeks) of my mission. But just like Moroni asked -- Has the end come yet?
No. And God is still a God of miracles. I hope that this last transfer can be 6 weeks full of miracles just like this last one. Because its not over yet, theres still a lot to look forward to and a lot of work left to do.
In other news, we´re splitting up from Jutiapa in this next transfer, so today we´re having one last party together. But some old friends are coming to Mita, so Im not too worried about the district being boring. I love you all and Im so grateful for your support and your emails. I hope everything is going great back home. Elder Telford Last pday we went to a waterfall Elder Christensen and I visited some cows during exchanges Our last morning basketball session
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