Miracles :)

Hey fam!

This has probably been one of the most special weeks so far of my mission. 

Me and hermana Gil have been extremely privileged to participate in the lives and progress of these people here in Ñuñoa.... en serio. Story time. 

Our investigator Paula, has committed herself to be baptized Feb. 28th, and another, Jorge Vilches, has committed for Feb. 14th. 

Jorge is about 80 years old. Very humble. Very willing to learn and to change (rare to find in people of his age and with so much experience). We taught him the law of chastity last week which brought him to tears because of past sins. But we then asked him if he believed that God could wash away his sins when he is baptized. He said yes, I believe, with tears filling his eyes. It brought me to tears as well and we got to share a really special, soul to soul moment. 

Paula is about 50 years old. Was Evangelica but now already considers herself a Latter-day Saint after only 2 lessons and 2 times attending church. She stayed after church to socialize with members for about 45 minutes after the meetings were over to shed tears and tell her story of how we found her. She said she had been praying to find the truth and then we showed up at her door. While we taught her about priesthood authority during the second lesson, she said, "oh, so that means I need to be baptized over again doesn't it?" and that day she committed to stop smoking marijuana and follow her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding His authority. She has become great friends with her neighbors who are members who brought her to church last week and invited her to a family home evening that we will be having tonight! They also invited another friend, Christian, who we're gonna start teaching this week. :) 

This is the most progress I have seen so far on my mission and I pray that God's will is to keep me here with Hermana Gil but if it's not so, of course I'm only here to serve Him and I'll go where He wants me to go. (I say that because transfers are coming up this week......and I've been here almost six months)

We've also had a lot of really interesting contacting experiences this week. We contacted 2 guys named Fabricio and Miguel and ended up teaching them all of lesson 1, right there in the street for like 45 minutes!! haha. It was really cool. Miguel identified as atheist and Fabricio as agnostic. We all had a really great time because we well are willing to listen to one another. Fabricio accepted a Book of Mormon and we made an appointment to come back for this Tuesday.

During companionship study we've been focusing a lot on how to recognize the spirit and follow it... and not rely on our own opinions or anything.... just the spirit. So we'll see how that goes this week! Expecting some awesome spiritual experiences to come our way haha since we'll actually be paying attention. And I like it better that way anyway ´cause what do I know?? I'd much rather rely on someone else than myself. 

We were also focusing a lot on just teaching right away without waiting to set up an appointment haha. The conversation we had with Fabricio and Miguel was born from that goal. And it has turned out to make life much more interesting! Because even if all our appointments fall through, we can almost always find someone on the street willing to hear us out. Especially if we're praying constantly to find those people. It takes a lot more energy but it has made me a lot happier. :)

Also learned an AWESOME life lesson with my companion during inventory haha. Again... love is born from communication. I LOVE HER. She told me that when she was 15, she made the commitment that whoever she loved, so would never let anything they said or did give her an excuse to stop loving them. And that commitment has help our relationship a ton and I know it will help her for the rest of her life, and for my life too because I'm trying to apply it now too! It's the secret to life. Love before anything. Love for God, then absolutely unconditional love for others. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. I find myself singing that phrase in my head like constantly, especially with Hermana Gil as my constant example. I am literally so blessed to have her as my companion. I might be training her in the mission but she is training me for life. 

Love you all so so so much. :) 

Hermana Cannon II