Alma 32

It's cooled down to the 90s! :p we've also been getting nice rain and
pretty sunsets. Life is good in Copa.

The work continues to be a little slow. Brother Montas obviously
doesn't want missionaries involved, unfortunately. He just wants to
come to church on his own, without any help, and quietly get his sons
baptized. So we're going to back off a little for now. He wants it, I
think, he just doesn't understand our role as missionaries. I think he
sees us as people who solve religion down his throat, or that were
just for people struggling spiritually and he feels just fine.
However, by a miracle, his brother who lives across the street, who is
also less active and also has a wife who isn't a member who flip flops
back and forth, has suddenly decided he wants to meet with us More and
his family needs God. He straight up said, "I want you guys to come
and share sermons, can you do that?" :p I guess all our prayers went
to the other Brother Monta, haha.

Peter is impossible to get a hold of! But he's still doing really
good. He and his wife are still reading the BoM every day and they ask
God as a couple of this is right for them! We still have hope!

This area has so much potential. I can really feel it. We have one
month left, I really believe we could get a baptism. It's easy to get
discouraged because the work is slow and there's a ton of less active
work, but I think it could be done. I remember as a greenie all the
miracles that happened, the people that simply fell out of the sky. I
didn't remember them as well until I was with Sister Eggleston again.
I've been watching the area slowly come back to life, and I can see
someone being baptized this month.

We had a super super spiritual lesson with Danny last night. Danny is
17, his parents are both active converts. His parents brought their
kids to church until they were 14, and then let them decide for
themselves if they were going to come. All of them stopped going at 14
and they've all left the church. Danny hasn't been to church in three
years, and his mom decided she wanted him to have the same experience
she had—she invited the missionaries over to go through the lessons.

We've been meeting with him for a while, but it's been tough. Partly
because every time I've been there I've had a different companion,
with transfers and emergency transfers and then exchanges. And the new
missionary focuses in getting to know him. Also partly because they're
a really talkative family, and the dad sometimes got super contentious
with his son, and we could see him just close off. The Spirit would
not be there, and without the Spirit, we can't teach and he can't
learn.

So we started going over the Plan of Salvation last night. His dad
wasn't there, and we were using pictures we drew....we drew him in the
plan of Salvation, with his spirit and his body. :p but we didn't even
get past explaining pre mortal life before he just felt the Spirit
soooo strong. And he was so open, and he could recognize God talking
to him. God told him it was true, that there was a plan and life isn't
pointless. I don't know if he believed God, but he felt Him tell him.

Missionary work is the BEST.

Running out of time, but I love you all! <3 I miss you! Read Alma 32
today....loooove that chapter. If you're not there, you should skip
ahead and read it today. It's ine of my favorites. Also, alma 36. So
excited to read that this week!

See you in 63-32 days! :p I don't do take math. Miss you all!

Sister Stratford