SOOOOOO much to SAY!! Are ya ready?
So....drumroll please.....Daniel, our investigator from Ghana passed his Baptismal Interview yesterday and he will be baptized this Saturday!!!!! We are SOOOOO excited for him!! He is the cutest thing on the earth. I don´t even know how to describe him, he is hilarious. He is this tiny little African man, 29 years old, he has this cute little cackle when he laughs and walks with a little skip in his step. And most important of all, his testimony of the Savior is strong. He loves the Lord and wants to do everything he can to follow the Savior and since we found him (we met him on January 30) every time he just expresses how grateful he is that he found us and that we truly teach according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. He has been PERFECT and the Lord really has prepared him. It is just proof that there really are people who are searching for truth and don´t know where to find it and then when they find it, they have such grateful hearts. The Lord is preparing his children to receive the Gospel! Ahh....I can´t wait for you to meet him. He has so much knowledge of the Bible and comprehends the Book of Mormon and all of the stories from the scriptures so well. Every time he reads, in every lesson, he gives us an entire detailed description of every part of the story in the Book of Mormon that he has read about. He LOVES the Book of Mormon! He just finished all of first Nephi and absolutely loved it. He has such a humble heart and is so eager to learn. It is the sweetest thing to meet with him and he is so excited for his baptism! We gave him an extra Ensign that we had in English and had him read the talk by President Monson, Ponder the Path of thy Feet...he LOVED it. After his baptismal interview yesterday, we met with him and taught him more about the organizations of the church and the importance of service in the church. He told us about how the night before he started reading in Matthew in the Bible about Christ and how the things that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon were supporting exactly what Christ taught. Before anything we taught him and said, he just expressed to us how grateful he was for the Spirit that he has felt and how that has really been a a powerful witness to him of the reality of our message. He is being changed by the Gospel and it is so humbling to be apart of this process of change with him. I love it and I feel soo blessed. We are really happy for him and really excited :)
Also....last week, I didn´t get the chance to tell you much about the Baptism of Madaii and Vivian. Wow, the Lord has blessed them so much and has blessed us so much to be apart of their lives. We have had the opportunity to teach them off and on because the Elders weren´t able to, with her work schedule and trying to get another man to accompany them. It was really tricky, so we have been able to be in their home and teach them and help them understand alot of things....especially from a girl´s perspective....she has had a lot of questions and WE ARE IN LOVE WITH THEM!!!!! They are amazing people. Their baptism was beautiful and I felt the Spirit so strongly. They are wonderful. This last Sunday we all decided to pitch in and buy them a nice set of scriptures and we gave them to her yesterday. I wish you could seen her face and been there. She was so grateful and started to cry. She told us that that was the best gift that she has ever received other than her daughter Vivian. It was the sweetest moment ever and my heart was so full. It is one of the most satisfying and wonderful feelings to feel that another person is truly grateful for something that you have given them. And it wasn´t just the gift of the scriptures that I felt she was grateful for, I felt that she was truly grateful to have all of us in her life now. She said she wants to plan on coming to General Conference some day in Utah and wants to see us all there. We will see if that ever happens, but if it does, I will be there! The Gospel and the Church has truly changed her life and I just can´t wait for you too meet them!!!!!
Ok...other really cool news! Do you remember that Persian guy that we started to teach named Jamshid that we found out didn´t actually live in our area, but that was wonderful?! We taught him twice and he was golden but lived in another area. So....turns out, when the other Elders who were teaching him in his area were preparing him to get baptized, he had the desire to get baptized, but didn´t have residency here officially. And so because of that, he couldn´t get baptized. He then moved to Barrio 6, which is the ward that shares the building with our building and so we see barrio 6 people and missionaries all the time. And last week he found out that he officially obtained residency here!!!!! So, because he didn´t think it was possible for him to get baptized, like ever....he kind of unprepped his mind for baptism, and now that he has residency and can be baptized, the elders are working on preparing him again, but the fact that he got his residency is HUGE! So, to celebrate he invited all the people that have helped him here to eat Persian Food and so we went! It was SO yummy. But, it was really incredible, because we haven´t really gotten a chance to talk with him a ton since the beginning when we taught him, but he just announced his exciting news before we ate, and it was just so evident to me that his countenance has changed tremendously and that the Gospel has changed him too. I know that there are so many people that I talk about all the time that have changed or that I´ve seen a change in, but it is the truth. When a person really starts living according to the principles of the Gospel, it changes them. They are happier and they are more stable. It really is a miracle and it is incredible to just witness it. I LOVE missionary work and being a missionary! It is the greatest blessing I have had in my life. I love Jamshid and I´m so happy for him, and even though we were only a small piece of the puzzle for him in the beginning, that was important, and I feel so privileged to have been apart of this process of growth with him too.
Another really cool thing....we started teaching a Deaf guy named Francisco! And he came to church yesterday! It has been really interesting, he can read lips really well, but we mainly communicate through writing. He is a really good artist and has shown us some things he´s painted. He is really good. It is really interesting to see how when someone isn´t able to use one of the senses to discern what is going on (his hearing) they are VERY in tune with other senses to figure out what is going on. He catches things and tells us things about things that I would have never thought about before, but he´s very quick to catch things, because he´s so dependent on his sight to help him interpret the world around him. It´s super interesting and cool. He is a sweetheart and we are really exciting to teach him, it is just going to be really challening. He wants to learn and wants to understand, but he doesn´t really have an understanding about God, who he is or his relationship with God. Poco a poco...we´ll work with him little by little and we will see. But, it´s just been really neat to get to teach him, and really different. He is great!
Also...one other person that I can´t forget to write about. I think I sent you pictures of that guy that was baptized a while back, Edison. He had long hair and we cut it for him in preparation for his baptism. He has just been the cutest little member of the church ever, ever since. He is another person, evidence, that the Gospel really does change people´s lives. Ever since we cut his hair and he´s been baptized, he is just a changed person. He has expressed to us that he was abused by his father when he was little and his mom was seriously physically abused by him as well. He has had a really hard life. When we first met him, he seriously looked like someone who had just come out of prison. But, wow! He is a changed person! You have to meet him too! He is always so eager to help with la obra misional and just loves the church! He is always making comments in Sunday School and in our Noches de HOgar (family nights) that we have and just loves being involved. He bought a nice suit and wears it all the time and loves it! And the last 2 weeks he´s been blessing the sacrament and wow, I wish you could have seen his face. He was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him too. The Gospel is amazing. It really does change people. I am witnessing it everyday and I love it.
Speaking of Missionary Work, RUDY IS OFFICIALLY A MISSIONARY!!!!! I loved all the pics! That is SOO wonderful! I am so happy for you RUDY! I hope you get to read this, but I hope you know how proud I am of you. You are going to be a wonderful missionary. I am SOO excited that you are in the Provo MTC with all the other missionaries. It is a really neat feeling being there, recognizing that you are literally the army of the Lord preparing to go out in the world to share the message of the Restauration of the Gospel. Ahh :) I loved it. You are going to love it.
Anyway, I love this area and this ward in Spain! There are always interesting things happening, but there really are soooo many miracles and amazing little things happening all the time. It´s a blessing to be here and I know the Lord is blessing me and all of us here.
I´m going to send some pics from Segovia from last week and then pics from Madaii´s baptism. I´ve got alot so get ready :)
¡Ok, espero que tengan una semana buenísima y que El Señor les bendiga siempre!
Con mucho amor,
La Hermana Carroll
Oh and holy cow.....forgot...Feliz dia de San Valentin!!!!!!!!! Les Quiero :)
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