Hermana Owen ~ Paraguay Asuncion North: Until He Comes

This week was seriously one of the most wildest weeks of the mish. We prayed for a new house and found a new one! We´re moving! Again. :)

Angels are literally protecting us. It was as if I felt their protection this week. Nights are cold, silent, and dark in our area and so we are switching to the new schedule of working in the morning instead of at night.

I had an incredible contact this week in the colectivo (bus). My comp and I hopped on and headed to Luque for divisiones. The bus was full but I spotted one seat open by the window. I asked if I could take the seat. The older lady that sat on the outside gladly let me pass, although I was hoping she would just scoot over but whatever, couldn´t reject at this point. The thought rolled through my mind, ¨This is gonna be a long contact.¨ I usually like to stand up and go sit by a new person...we contact a lot of people in the colectivo because they can´t go anywhere and it´s an easy way to get a lot of contacts and often really good ones. Anyway, I figured I wouldn´t be moving because I had my bags for divisions and was now cornered at the window. So I started to talk. Made a relation with the gospel about not sure what and gave her an invitation to come to church. Something nudged me to say more. There is something more to her I´m sure. ¨What´s her story,¨ I wondered. So I brought up something again about the Plan of Salvation and suddenly she started to open up saying she had just come from chemo therapy. She has cancer. Not only that, but a year or two ago her brother passed away, leaving behind only a daughter who now suffers emotionally because of her father´s death. I sat there in awe at what had just happened, almost with tears in my eyes. Then suddenly she asked, ¨What advice of comfort or council could I give my niece?¨ ...she had just asked ME, a young 20 year old missionary from the U.S. who´s second language is spanish, for advice!

I was absolutely honored and grabbed an extra Book of Mormon from my backpack. Flipped open to Alma 40, and other verses I love, marked them, and gave her the copy to share with her niece. She was overwhelmed with excitement, wonder, and gratitude. It was one of those moments you sit and ask yourself, ¨what if I hadn´t opened my mouth?¨ ¨what if I hadn´t said something more?¨ ¨what if I hadn´t asked for the seat by the window?¨ The Lord has a plan for us. On that bus ride, I wasn´t supposed to contact 5 people, just her. His plan is perfect, perfectly planned. He loves us and desires so much for all to have this gospel. I read an incredible verse this week from Doctrine and Covenants 27:18... ¨Be faithful until I come and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also.¨

Taught and heard an atheist pray. He is an 18 year old young man who told hermana Gutierrez a few months back he didn´t believe if God, or at least doesn´t want to. We arrived and instead of jumping into doctrine, we started the lesson on Geneology. That actually sparked an interest and that´s when we introduced the Book of Mormon and taught of how it is a Geneology from the ancient Americas. He was impressed and surprisingly took interest. You could tell the young man has faith and part of him, si o si, believes in God. To finish the lesson, we usually write the steps of prayer in the back of their books of Mormon and let the investigator pray. We showed him the steps and he got all nervous, looking up at Hermana Gutierrez like, ¨You didn´t tell your companion that I DON´T believe in God !?!¨ She had a little smirk on her face but folded her arms and said, “ya like my companion said, now we´ll fold our arms and listen to you.” She then folded her arms, shut her eyes, and bowed her head, haha, so I did the same. There was a few seconds of awkward silence. You could tell he was still sitting their like, ¨I am not going to pray...¨ BUT... little do ya know he began saying, ¨Dear Heavenly Father...¨ and went on to give such a sincere and real prayer. He knew he was talking to God. He asked as well for things, showing faith. Afterward we thanked him and quietly left him and his family. I am not kidding, hearts were changed that night. I felt like we left someone different than who we began giving the lesson to. Prayer is such a small but powerful tool in our lives that really brings us closer to our Father in Heaven.

Let us all be faithful, even with the little things, until He comes. xoxo

Con Cariño,

Hermana Owen

the photo is with the one and only Hermana Coronel... my hero! :) I just adore her! She had us over for caldo and mbeyu again! :)