Like I said last week, I'm back in my baby area which has been the biggest blessing ever!!!😍 The highlights of being back in the area:
1. I get to see and teach Julio again. 😭 Julio was a man we taught last year, and he ended up being baptized after a lot of trials and opposition. The day of his baptism was the best day of my mission, and it honestly changed my whole mindset. Seeing the progress he made, seeing him work so hard to be baptized, and really just seeing how much he relied on Christ and on the gospel was something incredible to see. Now a year later, he's dealing with some of the same problems again. 👎 We had a lesson with him on Thursday, and I have literally never felt God's love for someone as strongly as I did right then. The lesson ended with him and me both in tears and a commitment that we're going to help him get to the temple so that he can have that peace that he needs so badly!!! Pray for Julio and that he can get the help he needs and go to the temple soon!
2. Julio's cousins, Delfina and Oscar!! Delfina and Oscar came to church last year when Julio got baptized and we taught them once before I left the area. They have pretty much been taught since then, but they haven't gotten baptized because they didn't want to get married (or so we thought). TURNS OUT, they got married 4 months ago and just didn't tell the missionaries at the time. 😀 So... THEY'RE GETTING BAPTIZED ON OCTOBER 11TH🥳🥳🥳 If y'all knew them and the whole process it's been, you would understand just how crazy this is. Pretty much all of the Spanish missionaries are freaking out because they're both so ready and it's finally happening!! It's been crazy to see, that a year later, they're finally ready. 🙌
3. The 3rd miracle is literally just the work. The work in this area is absolutely insane, and I never really realized it when I was here the first time, because I didn't know any different. Now that I'm back and have served in other areas, I am so happy to be here!! There are so many friends who are progressing, the ward is stronger than ever, there are some people who are preparing for baptism—it's been so much fun!!
Context for today's thought:
Julio was supposed to go to the temple a few weeks ago, but it ended up being cancelled because of some struggles he was having. A few days later, I was reading in Alma 26 when I saw that I'd written Julio's name next to verse 30 (probably about a year ago). The verse reads, "And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some." If there's one thing I've learned on my mission, it is how much God loves each of His children and how He never stops working to bring us back to Him. Julio has had to fight to get to where he is today, and he's still got a fight ahead of him, but one of the coolest experiences of my mission has been to see him change. To see him move forward, sometimes fall back a little bit, but then keep pushing forward. He hasn't given up on God, and he told us on Thursday that the thing that keeps him going every day is knowing that he's a child of God and knowing that God loves him. I can honestly say I'd never had this joy in my life before the mission. Seeing people come to the realization that God loves and is aware of them, and then clinging to it, is the best thing ever and nothing can ever compare.
Love y'all so much, and please pray for Julio that he can get to the temple soon!!
🤍 Hna. Pursglove
Photographs Below :)
1. Angel got baptized!!🌊 (main photograph above)
2. Moises brought us arepas🥲🫶
3. My people✊️
4. Lovely sunset like always
5. Dia de la Hispanidad Pt. 2🥳
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