El vive! Y esta con nosotros. (He lives! and is with us.)

Wooohooo!! I love you so much!! EMails are one of my favorite times of the week...I really do feel the Spirit as I read your testimonies and as I send you mine. The Lord is so great! If he allows us to love and help each other this much even though we can't see each other, can you image the love and help He (The Almighty!) can give to us? =)

What a great week we had!

Monday!! Miracles!! There was a lady in our area book that I have been trying to contact for a long time. Her name is R and she is from El Salvador. We have taught her once or twice. This Monday we caught her on her way to do laundry (miracle!!) and she ushered us into her home. This is pretty much how it played out. We read 3 Ne 11:20-34. She says that "Oh, I really want to get baptized, I really want to follow Christ's footsteps". Yes, you can count on the Holy Spirit to testify of truth. Then she said "I have to tell you all something. All of my friends are Mormon. I am moving in with a Mormon family. You Mormons are visiting me. I am reading the Book of Mormon. I know God is telling me something." She wants to get baptized next month! She prayed for help to come to church and know that the Book of Mormon is true.

The best part...we have kept seeing her! A part of me wants to go teach her and her friends at work during her lunch break-they are just so busy-but they work all the way in Hurricane. We are so excited for her!

And! We are teaching her best friends! K and M (also from El Salvador) who also want to be baptized! They love us! The Lord definitely helped us to find fellowshippers for them, to teach them, and now he is putting our three best investigators all in the same place. He really does want to gather and seal all of his children.

It’s been amazing here. Two of our three new investigators this week were also from El Salvador. Maybe I need to go down there after this mission. (Their papusas are so good.)

The spiritual highlight of my week came on Thursday. We walked a lot on Thursday.  It was our last day without a car. Not many doors opened, but all day I was just determined and fixed on serving the Lord and inviting everyone to come unto him. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing success.  Baptisms are the best and new investigators fill my soul with joy, but the peace of the Spirit when I know I am doing the best I can is unbeatable. The Lord blesses us for our sacrifices, and I know he blesses my investigators as I sacrifice everything I have to serve him.

Another reason that Thursday was the best was because we saw D S, a recent convert. He and I really have a strong connection, I feel like he is my brother. We reactivated him a few months ago and now he is coming to church with his kids (whom I really want to teach and baptize!) and preparing for the priesthood and the temple. He has recently had some really spiritual experiences in his life, and his eyes are just clear and bright whenever I talk with him. One thing he said to us was "nunca se olviden de que hay un Senor. El vive! Y esta con nosotros" (never forget that there is a Lord. He lives! And he is with us!) That just hit me really hard. The simplest truth of our doctrine is that Christ is the living son of God, and that through faith he can help us. D put his arm right next to mine and said "esta asi de cercana, y cuando uds salen, su espiritu los rodea" (He is like this close to you, and when you all go out, his spirit surrounds you). I do have a testimony that Christ is the son of God, that he came to redeem me, that he died and was resurrected, and that he lives and guides me every day. Thanks, D, for deepening my testimony of those simple truths.

Los quiero muchisimo! Gracias por apoyarme y por sus oraciones. La bendicion mas grande de mi mision hasta ahora ha sido la ayuda que he podido dar a estos hijos preciosos de nuestro Padre Celestial. Mi alma llena de gozo al pensar en las bendiciones del templo y los promesas de la vida eterna que tenemos...no puedo negar la veracidad de esta obra que estoy haciendo. La iglesia es verdadera, y es guiada por Cristo actualmente.

(I love you very much! Thank you for your support and prayers. The best blessing of my mission so far has been the help I could give to these precious children of our Heavenly Father. My soul is filled with joy at the thought of temple blessings and the promise of eternal life that we have… I cannot deny the truth of this work I am doing. The church is true and is led everyday by Christ.)

Se cuidan! Share the Gospel with friends and family! Always pray and read the scriptures together!

Con amorcito,
Elder Michael George Stewart