week 28 Miracle after Miracle

Just when I thought the miracles surely must slow down, this week I saw some of the most amazing miracles of my entire mission so far!

I'll start out with the story of what happened on Monday. It was 5

o clock so it was almost the end of our Preparation Day. We were sitting in a park eating dinner with Gino Valentine, one of the Young Men in the Branch that will be serving a mission in a few months. We had told Alvaro, our investigator from Honduras, that around 8 that night we were going to come see him in the Pizza place that he worked at, but throughout that day he hadn't replied or answered. As we were sitting there eating, all of a sudden someone comes walking up to us. At first I wasn't sure who would just walk up to the missionaries, but then I realized who it was: Alvaro. Keep in mind, we were probably about 25 miles from where he lives and 15 from where he works. But there he was, making the effort to come up and talk to us. He told us that he had actually just quit his job that day, and that he wants us to come visit him at his new restaurant this upcoming week! It was so cool to have just been sitting in the park and see him. He said he had just decided to drive out here and do some shopping and go for a walk! So this week, we will be visiting him at the restaurant and we will see how it goes!

Another miracle, something I'll probably never forget in my entire life, happened on Friday. All of our plans just seemed to fall through, and we honestly weren't sure what we were going to do. We decided we just needed to go talk to people, and since it was time for lunch, we decided to eat at Costco where we could see a bunch of people. Well, I can tell you that those plans fell through for a reason. The Lord guides his servants where he needs them to be. We came up to the intersection right before Costco, and there seemed to be a lot of traffic. We finally made it through and realized that it was because there was a car just stopped right in the middle of the intersection. We drove past it, parked in the Costco parking lot, then ran back down the hill to help out the driver. We noticed right away that he needed help, so we told him to put it in neutral and that we would push him. This hill was steep to say the least. But I will never in my life forget that moment, in the hot, humid air, pushing his car as cars come flying by the intersection around the broken car. We finally got him into the Costco parking lot, where he thanked us and we talked a little about who we are and what we do as missionaries. He said his name was Luis and that he was 24 and from Mexico. He gave us his number and address, but said he'd call us in a few weeks probably, so we were thinking that he wasn't too interested. As we walked away though, I felt the impression to say something, so I said "Hey, if you need more help, call us." We went into Costco and ate lunch. As were finishing, I looked at the phone and had a call from a random number. I answered it and heard "Hey Missionaries. This is Luis. Umm...are you still here?" He had taken us seriously when we said we could help! So we went back out there, and he needed jumper cables and antifreeze, so we gave him a jump and helped him with the car. We were with him for probably a good hour and a half or so, so we got to know him super well. He talked about how he had smoked and drank, but changed his life around to help his girlfriend with her 3 kids. His girlfriend is 31 and has a 17, 14, and 10 year old, and Luis helps her with all of them. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know him! Well, the miracle continues when that night, he sent us a text. The man that had said maybe in a few weeks, sent us a text saying "Hey guys, thanks for all the help today. I'll be free tomorrow if you want to come over." We were so amazed at the miracle that God had provided for us! So on Saturday, we took Julen Rodriguez, a recently returned missionary, and had an amazing lesson about the Restoration!

Biking with some YM from my Branch. One just returned from his mission, one will be leaving in a few weeks for Mongolia on his mission and the other is waiting for his Mission call to come.

We had an amazing Zone Conference this week, the final Zone Conference for President and Sister Richards. It was truly inspirational, and I'm so grateful for such wonderful Mission Presidents. They have done so well, and you can tell how sad they are that they are having to leave their mission family, but they are amazing and I know that in their future callings they will continue to spread the Gospel and be amazing examples to all!

Zone Conference

I definitely get the opportunity to meet interesting people, people from all over the place! These are conversations that I'll never forget! For example, this week we met a man named Julio Vasquez...who talked about how he uses God in every decision he makes. As he explained this to us, he was yelling and beating on his chest, because God gets him super excited, why else! He looked at us and yelled "You know what I do at the store?? I look at the 2 different types of juices and say: 'God, which should I have?' and the juice that he wants me to have, that's the juice that I choose! For some reason, God sure loves his Mango Juice!" This type of conversation went on for about 15 minutes, and it was something I'm not soon to forget! I love meeting people and having these interesting conversations like this haha :)

Working on a Service Project.

I know that this is God's work and that everything happens for a reason. I'm so grateful for my mission!

I hope that everyone is doing well! I pray every day for all of you and for your safety!

- Elder Leavitt