My burden is light

7/4  Yet another marvelous week here in Valencia! Manuel and his family are doing better that ever! We had a wonderful lesson this week about reading, praying, and coming to church. Manuel really took it to heart. He is definitely the strength of the family. Unfortunately his wife seems a little standoffish at the moment. She is opening up little by little, especially when she sees how important it is for Manuel. Manuel has gone through a lot of bad things in his life, so I can tell he recognizes the difference learning about the gospel is making in his life. His progression is slow, but he has come a long way since we first met him.

In church yesterday we were given a huge surprise!  We have been teaching a woman named Mary ever since I got here. She is pretty interested, but she works taking care of elderly people every Saturday and Sunday and can't leave the house the whole weekend. As such she has never been able to come to church. But yesterday, just as the sacrament was finishing, she walked in and sat next to us. It was totally unexpected, and it was so good to see her there!  She really enjoyed it and said she would do what she could to come more often. That was a huge blessing to have her in church. We honestly think that that was the one thing impeding her progression, and now we are excited to continue teaching her and bringing her to church!

Elder Lightfoot and I are having a great time here in Valencia. We have seen a lot of miracles together, and have worked and made progress with a lot of people. Alexia is one of those people. We have worked so hard with her, and we finally got her mom to say yes to baptism. She is still super happy about the 16 of July. We are already getting the program all worked out. This is going to be a very special baptismal service for Valencia. Alexia has been waiting for years for this moment, and we want to make sure it is as special as we can make it for her.

Yesterday in elders quorum, Carlos gave a really good lesson about our hearts. He started out giving a lot of scientific facts about our hearts and how they can receive information (or feelings) and transmit it to the brain. He taught that in order to find God, we have to have a prepared heart. He then explained how we can prepare our heart. He taught that we need to be meek and humble just as little children. We need to forgive others and throw out all the things of the world. We need to study the scriptures and pray. We need to come unto the Savior. One scripture that he used is one of my favorites: Mathew 11:28-30 which reads: 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. I love this scripture because it teaches us that if we humble our hearts and center them on Christ, He will make our burdens light. I know that that is true. He has certainly made my burdens light, and I know He will do the same to all those that come unto Him. I love having the opportunity to help those with heavy burdens find rest in the Lord. It is one of the greatest blessings to see the relief in people's eyes when they receive divine help.

¡Un abrazo querido amigo!