God´s Truth Shines Through Any Cloud

This week was awesome! It feels almost like it was two weeks.

This picture about summarizes the week... Lots of rain, cold, and happiness!

I have been focusing on teaching the people we find according to their needs rather than according to the lesson plans. My companion and I split wit the zone leaders for Tuesday and Wednesday and I got to go with Elder Perez. He´s from Columbia and has only a few weeks left of his mission. He taught me so much! He and I contacted a small house made out of wood boards. A lady came out and as we started talking, she told us she didn´t believe in God. That surprised me because most people here believe in God. She told us that one of her children had died when he was only four days old. Her face was sad and cold. Elder Perez told her that we could tell her where he had gone and she let us pass and sit down. That also surprised me. As we taught her about God´s plan for us, she began to change and she began to smile. She even laughed a few times. I felt that I had been prepared to teach her as I told her my family´s story that something very similar had happened to us. We kept our faith, though at times things didn´t make sense, but we continued to believe in God. Then the miracle happened that is my youngest sister, Anatolia, who we adopted her from Ukraine. She is a miracle! It was amazing to feel the spirit so powerfully testify to her that God lives and loves us! Since that lesson, every time we pass by, she smiles at us. We are going to teach her more tonight!

A kilo of Ice cream each!

 My companion is progressing fast, though it feels slow at times. He teaches more during the lessons. I like when he talks, because I tend to teach very seriously, while when he teaches, we all chuckle with him as he works through the Spanish. It makes the lessons more relaxed. He doesn´t mind, though he wishes he could understand the people.

Our Zone.

God is blessing us to find many more families to teach. Thank you for all of your prayers! One day, it was super cold and we wanted to teach someone and get out of the wind and rain. We clapped a house, but no one answered. As we were about to leave, a three year old boy opened the door wide. We saw into the house and his dad rushed to the door. They may not have intended to answer us. We asked the man if we could come in and share something, just as a big gust of wind picked up. He let us in and we warmed up a bit. They reminded me a lot of my family. Their ten year old boy was playing Minecraft and there was Gravity Falls on the TV. The father looked very much like my dad. They didn´t accept the message as well as we hoped, but they did listen and said another day we could come back. We had several more experiences like this, as well as many witnesses that God has been preparing His children here to receive us. I love Him. He is very real to me. I am happy that I´m still not even half way done, that there is still so much time to work as hard as I can to invite people to come closer to Him. Time is going fast!

These are the deals at our favorite fruit stand, "Mega Frutas." Crazy!

God lives. He loves us. He sent His son to die for us. Through Jesus Christ and His teachings, we can repent and find joy. We can live with our families forever. He sends us prophets to guide us to Him. What a glorious plan!

Have a happy week!

Elder Cloward

It was 54 degrees in the pension this morning. We are going to buy an electric heater.