Dream BIG!

Last week in weekly planning my companion and I set high goals for this past week. We wanted to teach 60 lessons. I was so confident that we could do it! We prayed hard. Tuesday started out so good! Then that same night we had a meeting with the Relief Society and they cut all of the fruit off of my Spanish tree. :(  My tree was producing fantastic fruit up until that point, and then I kind of gave up.  Don't worry, I already repented.

The Relief Society said some things about my Spanish and it hurt me. The rest of the week we were kind of lazy. They said some things to my companion about her training also, and we both kind of gave up on the week. During companionship inventory we talked about it and realized that we both had a bad week but we still wanted to meet our goals! That meant we had to work extra hard the next two days and we did!

The Lord truly blesses us when we work hard! We had another goal to get 4 investigators to church on Sunday and we EXCEEDED that! We had 6!!! The smiles on our faces got bigger and bigger each time another investigator walked in! QUE BENDICIÓN! Seriously, it was the best feeling in the world. We didn't quite meet the 60 lessons but we got 53 which in my book is pretty dang good!

This week after we decided to work hard we watched miracles happen! We have been teaching the most wonderful family and we decided to commit them to baptism this week. When we went into the lesson we were worried because we knew they wanted to wait for their dad (who isn't taking the lessons) to take the lessons and then decide. But, we had faith.

We went for it, and originally they said that they weren't sure because of their dad. I felt so strong to open my mouth and share some experiences I have had with my dad. I told them that I knew that they know the church is true, and that they needed to be the example to him and be baptized. I bore my testimony and then we asked again and the 9 year old little girl said that she wanted to be baptized. The mom and the brother weren't so sure, but I know that she will be a great example to her family!

That also meant that we needed to talk to her dad and get his permission, the same dad I talked about last week that kept asking us millions of questions that scared me. I prayed so hard on the doorstep that my companion would know what to say because I knew I wouldn't.

The spirit was so STRONG in that meeting. He was fighting us the whole way, I was worried to say anything because I knew that meant he could possibly use my words against me, but I did. I bore my testimony and I felt so good. But he feels that she is too young to make the decision for herself. He doesn't think she is ready. But we agreed on a date FEBRUARY 1ST!!! We have to teach her two more lessons and then he will let us know if it is okay to baptize her.

She is so strong! Today we got to hang out with them, and their mom told me that after we left she told her dad that she wanted her kids to be Mormon too. That this is what she wanted! She was so firm with her dad and letting him know her desires. I am so proud of her and pray that her father will let her be baptized! 

I am so grateful for the Lord and how he knows what we all need, he is aware of us all! I love you all and am so grateful for your examples to me!

Hermana Riedelbach