españa

We had two miracles this week! One was an awesome lesson with a less active family—there were tears involved—and they came to church for the first time in years! The other was a baptism! But first, this week we had a few other highlights. One day we were contacting when we heard a guy advertising donuts (he was wheeling them down the street) for a peso, so we got some. They tasted more like fried dough but they were still tasty. Another day we saw a woman sitting down on a bucket so we contacted her and for some reason she couldn't stop laughing while she was talking with us. We explained who we were and that we had a message we wanted to share. Ignoring that part, she asked where we were from and we asked her to guess. She said Spain and immediately started laughing. She apologized but couldn't stop and kept cracking up while we again offered to visit her. All she said was "I'm Catholic" and pretty much told us to leave. So we walked away listening to her laughing behind us.

Katherine and her current companion.

But our actually crazy lesson was with a less active. I had seen her around before and we always said hi and set up a lesson but it always fell through. We finally just stopped by one day and she was there so we got to talk with her. She was a Relief Society president for a dozen years and a strong member until she got offended by someone at Church and now doesn't feel worthy to go. We tried to help her understand it was better to go than not but then she went on about how she works and doesn't have time. But the weirdest part was this: she claims to be a witch who practices "good magic." She had all these stories about how she wanted to go places or do things and then they would "magically" happen. We finally just had to leave but it was just so strange and we don't know how we can help her.

     Yesterday we had a baptism and it was the longest day ever. We had a baptism all set up and we had to pick up another investigator so her neighbor went by for her. We got to church and realized Liliana, the 14-year-old girl who was supposed to get baptized, wasn't there. So we talked to her neighbor who said she was really sick and couldn't leave the house, plus her dad had gone into work. During the second hour of church we went to talk to her but she wouldn't come out and we had to talk to her mom (who is a little bit anti). Her mom was annoyed and said not to come back until Tuesday, that Liliana would be better by then. We went back to Church and after it finished, we called our district leader who said he was coming over to talk with her. So we went back a second time, but guess who answered the door? Yup, Liliana was up and walking around. The Elders asked if her dad was home and he came out to talk with us. The Elders offered to give her a blessing and so we went next door (they wouldn't let us in their house) and the Elders proceeded to talk with her and figure out what changed between Saturday and Sunday. Basically she was scared and her dad commented that baptism wasn't really necessary to which the Elders pulled out some scriptures to help him understand. And once he was on board, Liliana changed her mind and agreed to get baptized right then. Unfortunately our ward mission leader had cancelled everything so we took everyone to the next closest chapel, about twenty minutes away. They were still setting up so my companion and I took her and her family around on a tour of the chapel. We explained every single room, the sign outside, we talked about family history, temples and the pictures in the church. When we went back we found out the Elders hadn't come back yet with the baptismal clothes! Luckily another set of sisters were there and they each got up and bore a lengthy testimony during which time the Elders returned. Then we took pictures and had the baptism!! Such a long day but completely worth it.

At Liliana's baptism.

My quick spiritual note is this: we have been teaching a lot about repentance this week and the fact that there are two types of sin: sins of omission and commission. When we actively are breaking the commandments or doing something wrong, it is obviously a sin. But good to remember is that when we neglect to do that which is right, such as reading the Book of Mormon or attending church, we are also sinning. So please keep that in mind and do what is right!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

Bonus: All the sisters in the Mexico City Southeast Mission.