Singing at the door

I love the little lessons that I learn daily in my mission. For example, last week we were teaching Feliciana before her baptism and I said, "Hey, we should find a favorite hymn for you...." And she said, "I already have one. It's 157...´Count Your Blessings¨." It's beautiful to see the hope and optimism people receive in the gospel. Her baptism was literally perfect and she was so prepared...in only 2 weeks, she completely changed her life and was able to find out who she really was; a daughter of God with a future as bright as her faith.

Another small miracle was a family that we found while waiting for some missionaries to get to our area to start divisions. They were a door contact and we just taught a simple scripture about God's love. We invited them to church and they accepted but we weren't really too impressed with their enthusiasm until a conference we had on Saturday afternoon. A member pulled us aside and told us how we had taught one of her friends...she said, "She came to my house and asked if I was a Mormon. She said the message touched her and that all the grandkids bathed on Saturday and will be ready for church tomorrow." We picked them up on Sunday morning and the two grandparents attended. Unfortunately, the grandkids weren't able to come but they had the desire. We passed by later on Sunday and they were locked in their house because the mom had left for some errands. We decided to slip our little hymn books under the door and sing "I am a Child of God" with them. We sang and then we were about to leave again and then they asked us to sing another hymn, we slip the hymnbooks under the door again and one of their little voices said, "I want to sing ´I Am a Child of God´ again...it's on page 196!" We taught them "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" but after we sang it, they all said, "We want ´I Am a Child of God´ again!" It was something so little but it amazed me how strongly the children here want to learn of Christ here. There is a little girl who was baptized about a year and a half ago in our ward...she has 10 years and lives with her grandma, who isn't a member. She lives across a highway and about 15 minutes from the chapel but she walks every single week, alone, to the church. She always sits by us because she is shy and doesn't really have many friends. It's amazing to see the desire she has in her actions. I always like the scriptures that refer to becoming children again...children have the desire and are humble enough to look unto Him. I hope I can be more like the children here in Guatemala!

Also, funnnny story. We came back from church on Sunday to make lunch and there was a little baby rat right by our front door. The member who we live with asked us why we paused and I said, "Well...there's a baby rat...and if there is one baby rat..." And she quietly responded, "There is a mom...and more baby rats." She yelled for her husband and then disappeared for a minute and then came back with a broom. She asked, "Is it dead?" We said no and then she came up with the broom and said, "Well now it's about to die...on the sabbath day!" It was really funny watching this wife of the stake president´s first counselor kill this baby rat in her high heels and her broom. I love Guatemala. Until next week!