Hermana Childs: God's Hand Is In Everything We Do

I love missionary work. Can I just say that? I could say that a million times over, mean it every time, and not get tired of saying it. I LOVE missionary work. I love being a missionary.

God's hand is in everything that we do. He will micromanage the details of our life if we let him.

He has surely been in the details of our missionary work this week.

We are working with a family from Mexico, the DeAquinos, who's dad is a member of the church, but married a lady who wasn't a member. His dad was a bishop in Mexico, but hasn't been to church since he got married. It's been about 16 years. We've been working really closely with them, and for the first time in many years, Hermano DeAquino came to church yesterday!! I was SO happy. He came with one of his sons who is 6 years old. We then visited them later that night and had a great lesson about the plan of salvation. His wife doesn't want to listen to us, but we have seen miracles with the rest of their family.

The Sanchez family are so incredible. I just love them to death! Lorena and Denise are seeming more and more interested to be part of the church, but they can tell it's going to be difficult to give up a few things (i.e. shopping on Sundays, coffee....). They seem intrigued about the feeling that they have when we come over. I can see it on their faces. They love the feeling and they want to have it with them. They know the only way to have it is by living the gospel, but they can see that they are going to have to give up a few habits. They know it will be worth it though. I'm not worried about them. They are incredible. They have kept all of their commitments thus far, so that's a good sign!

We are seeing a ton of progress with another less active that we are working with. Her name is Mileidy. She's from Cuba and has 2 sons who aren't baptized. She and her husband were baptized 14 years ago, but have been less active for the majority of that time as well because of work. We first started to visit her when I came into the area and have been seeing her about once a week since then. She has expressed that she wants her kids to be baptized, but they all lack the motivation to wake up for church on Sundays. We've talked about solutions on getting her there, but she's pretty stubborn. I'm sure that we'll see them at church shortly. I have a ton of faith in them. Also, for the first time yesterday, her sons joined us in the lesson. We taught them The Restoration (kid style) and had a blast. I think they really enjoyed it and we gained all of their trust.

Hermana Grande was another miracle find this week. She happened to be sitting behind me in Relief Society last Sunday (her first Sunday back in years). We talked briefly, but I didn't bother to ask her name or where she lived. Later, I found out that Hermana Stevens had set an appointment with someone named, Hermana Grande. I was excited, but wasn't sure who we were going to go visit. Thursday night, we showed up to her house and as she opened the door, I immediately recognized who it was. Instant love. I found out she was Mexican. Even better :) We taught there family a great spiritual lesson. She has great desires to return to church. We are going to help her and her family get there, and also help her husband get baptized! She is incredible. We have an appointment with her this Tuesday.

Danny and family are having a hard time. Jenny, his wife, found out she has cancer and has been trying to get a surgery, but it's very hard because someone needs to watch their kids because Danny works all day. For this reason, it has been very difficult to see them. Danny has canceled every single one of our appointment for the past 3 weeks (since he got baptized). We had an appointment with them on Sunday, but when we texted them in the afternoon to confirm he cancelled. Again. I was heart broken. I love them so very deeply, and it hurt me that we couldn't see them. We texted them saying pretty much just that. We told them how much we loved them and that we missed seeing them. We told them that we desired their progress in the gospel and their success in life, but because of Danny's recently acquired job it has been a blessing and a hinderment to their progression. Danny's response then was...."Ok, hermanas, vengan a las 6. No sabiamos." Meanining, "Ok, sisters, come at 6 tonight. We didn't know." We went. The lesson was awesome. My, how I have missed them. We worked something out so that we could see them at a time that won't interrupt their crazy schedule.

Miracles.

We have seen so many miracles. Miracles with the members. Miracles with specific investigators. Miracles on exchanges.

Can you see why I love missionary work?

I know it's not only because I'm on a mission that there are so many miracles, but rather because my eyes are being opened to all of the miracles because I am acting in faith and through obedience.

I LOVE missionary work.

Hermana Childs