Hna. Dunn is so awesome. Love this girl. Life is good. The mission is amazing. Im just soaking the last of it up while I can. Thursday we had a conference in San Fernando with President Gulbrandsen. It was one of the most spiritual experiences of all of my mission i think. I was asked by Pres. to go up and do a practice with him in front of the zone for one of our investigators that had doubts about the Book Of Mormon. So we sat facing eachother and he looked at my eyes while he prayed in his heart to know what I needed in that moment and then he asked me inspired questions.
"(name) do you believe that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ?"
" umm... good question... im not really sure... my mom says so but im personally not sure if he did or not."
Then we read the invitation in the introduction of the book to READ, PONDER, and PRAY about it.
" so what is the promise there that you can know about Joseph Smith?"
"That he was a Prophet of God."
" Have you prayed specifically to know this?"
"Yeah by myself, but I just feel normal, I dont get an answer."
(then President tells me aside of the practice... by the way, she DOES have a testimony that its true.)
He just knew it as if God had directly told him that she does. It was so inspired.
then he said, "(name) what did Joseph Smith do to know the truth?"
"he read in the bible, went to a place to kneel and pray and ask?"
"exactly. So what must you do to know?"
"the same that he did."
(then handing me the Book Of Mormon again, he said)
"(name) the Book Of Mormon contains all of the answers we need, no matter what it is. You can know for yourself. Open the Book to any place and wherever it falls open I invite you to started reading aloud the very first verse you find."
I paused for a second wondering if he was sure that I could open it anywhere and then I did.
I had faith that I could find an answer and therefore I proceeded to do so. Miraculously the pages fell open to Alma 32 (perfect chapter for this circumstance) and Then I looked at him feeling that the savior was standing by me. Then he invited me to read aloud the very first scripture I found in front of me. I just began reading in the middle of the page and I couldnt believe the spirit that I felt so powerfully. The words I read are found in Alma 32: 35-36. If you guys want to know what it says.. its a good scripture study that you can do personally :) I could only say the first sentance.... which reads:
In castellano: "Luego, no es esto verdadero? .... os digo que SI!"
and in english: "O then, is not this real?..... I say unto you YEA because it is LIGHT. And whatsoever is light... is good..."
after only reading that sentance I paused for a long while because I was filled with emotion. tears swelled my eyes. This was an answer to not only our investigator but to MY personal prayers! It was inspired because of the moment and the way that I felt when I read it. It hit my heart and testified to me... that God hears me. That He hears all of his children and he speaks through the scriptures and through feelings in our hearts. President began to kneel. He invited me to pray to my Father and ask if the Book of Mormon is really true. As I knelt and prayed.... I was filled with emotion of peace. I was filled with the sure answer of "OFCOURSE it is.... my dear daughter you know very well.... THAT IT IS the truth and the light!" I felt with all of my heart that the room was completely filled with giant protecting angels. Guarding the missionaries and the sacred records of the scriptures that they held in their hands. I felt as if the very humble presence of Joseph Smith himself was standing near me with in his humble way of testifying of truth without even having to speak any words at all. I opened my eyes and Presidents eyes were filled with tears. I felt as if President could feel the same in the room. Presidents spirit connected with my spirit WITH the Doctrine of Christ... and when we make ourselves instruments to connect with someones spirit WITH the DOCTRINE... that person becomes moved, enlightened, filled with peace and with the desire to align their lives with Christs teachings. I learned so much in that pracitice with our humble President that Ill never forget the way I felt or the answer I recieved and it will be something I teach all of my children to search and find for themselves.
Friday - was a bit rough. Didnt go how we planned but it was still miraculous. Zuni and her family cooked us the most tasty asado Ive ever had in my mission and I really dont like meat usually but this was fancy stuff! Ill never forget it because it was amazing! We have had to drop a few investigators that we have been working with forever because they just hit a brick wall and we cant get past it. They flat out told us that they know this is the right way to go but they dont want to live righteously yet. They told us that they dont want to talk to God and do what he wants them to do (even though his will is always better for us then our will) so that was way hard for us but we moved on to those ready to progress. We have a lot of back up plans when things fall through so we decided to go to a less active incomplete familys house and we found the kids playing outside. One named jasmin so we were like "JASMIN Hiiiiiiiiiiii" (Nijeli... its just a joke from the district movies we always have to watch) anyway we went inside and found out that the grandma is the only member and we asked all of the family if they wanted to be baptized if they recieved an answer from God that its true. We put 4 fechas with the older kids and the parents are planning to talk about marriage and baptism after! So we have 9 baptisms planned for March 24th.... At home I used to LOVE march madness but right now... im LOVING so much more that we are going to be having a very white March! Please pray for all of them to come to church each Sunday and be baptized on this day! Pray for Emiliano, Jessi, Family Ponce, Family Dominguez, and Luciana!!!!!!!!!
This last Sunday a member thats been helping us walked in with one of our toughest investigators and let me tell you it was a miracle because he is pretty gothic and told me he would never even be caught dead in a white shirt... but lo and behold there he was long ponytail and all with his nice pants and white shirt!!!! He participated in all of the classes and it was a miracle!!! Jessi´s dad was also able to give a blessing which means... hes able to baptize her now I think.. but we will have to ask the bishop. And Emiliano who is usually later came bright and early to be there with a smile! it was awesome! I love seeing my investigators happy and prepared! All in all we are working our heads off and praying like crazy to follow the spirit. We are being exactly obedient and bringing out the best in eachother and in our companionship and its been so good for the work we are doing. My companion is great at teaching so its good to have the both of us on the same page and with the same fire to help these people. We are super focused on our investigators that we talk about Them all day and how we can help them. This is the BEST LAST transfer I could ever ask for!
Now we are going to play volleyball and futból with our ward and our district so I gotta go but I love you guys!
QUE LOCO...Ill see you in 5 weeks... crazy crazy... pray for us ... love you all chao!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxox besos
love hermana ashley gillum
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