16 Feb 2015 - More Street and Soccer Contacting

Querida Familia,

So good news, Elder García and I are still comps and we're still bothering people on the streets as missionaries do best.

This week was so rad! So one of the families that we contacted at the soccer game last week we visited and we had a great lesson. It was a little hard at first because Satan kept sending his messengers (the mailman, the phone person, the dogs barking) to interrupt our lesson, but once we started rolling with the lesson the spirit was there and had everyone focused. They felt it as well as us and the four of the family members accepted a baptism date in march! So pumped!

So one of our favorite families in the ward, a young couple with a baby boy, moved this past week and it was sad. The husband's name is Ivan and he's like a short Mexican Tony Stark who takes pictures for a living and its actually pretty cool. On Friday we helped them clean and pack their house and our lunch appointment fell through so we grabbed some Little Caesars with them! Because Elder García and I wouldn't let them pay us for helping out Ivan gave us a photo shoot! It was so cool! I don't have the pictures from his camera but I have a few from my own. Anyways that was rad!

More good news. We have an investigator and she's been back and forth with problems with depression and Elder García and I have prayed for her and have studied for her and it all paid off when she showed up to church this past Sunday. It was a little unexpected because in our last lesson with her we had planned to meet a few blocks from the church at the bus stop and all walk to the chapel together. Church starts at 11 am and we planned to meet at 10:45. Well 10:45 rolls around, then 10:55 and she's still not there so Elder García and I book it to the chapel. We get there and there aren't any priests at the sacrament table so we go up and sit. As we sit back and look into the crowd of members, waving at us is our investigator!! hahaha!! She'd forgotten about our plans I guess and had been waiting for us in the chapel, I said a quick prayer of gratitude because I knew that this was going to be the first to the many steps of faith she'll take. So grateful for the miracles of this work. They build and shape my testimony and little by little i become more converted to this gospel.

Last Pday we watched the first vision in Spanish and I understood most of it. But in my personal studies I've been reading The Book of Mormon and pondering about this language barrier that I have with the people here and I came across a scripture in 2 Nefi 31:3 dice: ''Porque el Señor Dios ilumina el entendimiento; pues él habla a los hombres de acuerdo con el idioma de ellos, para que entiendan.'' ( Google Translate- For the Lord God enlightens the understanding ; for he speaketh unto men according to their language , to understand) And I pondered this and thought about all the languages in the world. And then I thought about the passage in John 10 talking about how the sheep know His voice. I believe that there´s a universal language in this world, and its the language of the the Spirit in our hearts. It's those feelings from the spirit that can't always be explained in the same words but can always be felt from the same source. I may not be fluent in this language but having the Spirit with me as I teach is more powerful than any words I could share. I know that this gospel is true and that everyone can know for themselves when they take that step of faith and ask with sincerity for the truth.

I'm having the time of my life out here and I know this is where my Heavenly Father needs me to be.

I love you guys!

Elder Padilla 

''The wonder of television causes me to believe that Philo T. Farnsworth, back in 1927, must surely have been inspired of the Lord to develop this remarkable medium of communication.'' -M. Russell Ballard (General Conference April 1989)

''Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.'' (Doctrine and Covenants 11:21)