Make It To Heaven

We went back. That sweet little family with the cool life story, the dad from Morocco. It all started with a question about the tree tattoo. He told us it represented his family. My eyes probably got so wide right in that moment. Wanted to explain family history but decided I would wait. We somehow got brought to the topic of life after death. It is cool to hear the difference of beliefs he has. In his religion, they believe that in the next life, we go alone, without our families. I got so sad, but decided that was our chance to talk about eternal families. I showed him my family tree, talked about my grandpa from Germany & they were so fascinated. Both of them got their phones out & downloaded the app. It was so special & they are so special. I hope they can see the happiness that this gospel brings.

You may remember Bruno. Well since the last & only lesson that we had had, we couldn't have another. He works a lot & isn't the fastest at responding. We had decided one last try, plan a day, & if he doesn't come, we'll stop teaching him & others will find him one day. Well, yesterday we showed up at the church for the lesson & he was already there waiting for us. He had been reading the Book of Mormon & praying each time. He had a few questions & then we started the lesson. Decided to teach him the doctrine of Christ. As we asked him a few questions, his answers were beautiful. Such a faithful guy. We taught him of baptism & extended an invitation to be baptized. He explained that he had already been baptized & so we explained the authority. He said to us, "so what you're telling me is that my baptism wasn't valid?" & we said, "exactly." He told us he would pray about it. He took it calmly & maturely saying that he just wants to see a little bit more before he gets baptized.

We went to Tres Arroyos the other day for exchanges. It is the cutest little town. I was with Hermana Everett. She is light. She is such a special missionary. Happy as can be & always smiling at these people. As we went house to house, we saw an inactive member sitting outside. We stopped to talk to him & spoke about the Book of Mormon, he told us that after the missionaries had given him the book, he started to read it. He told us he got to 1 Nephi 6, then explained all the things that happened in those chapters. His friend showed up & we had a really good conversation. Yesterday, they told me that after 14 years, he went to church. Happy as can be.

This week was full of ups & downs. Some days just felt like Satan was trying to tear us down. Saw the guy who ran after us again, went into a house & for the first time, out of fear & knowing the spirit is telling me to leave, tapped my companions leg to get out of there, so many dogs just barking at us for minutes as we wait to knock a door, so many lessons canceled, rain almost everyday, people making fun of us. The list could go on but the sweet little miracles we saw are more important. Belén crying in a lesson, Cristian praying, Guadalupe reading out loud in the lesson with her friend, Gabriel coming to church & participating, Pablo blessing the sacrament for the first time so reverently, a family home evening full of the spirit, Maria de Los Angeles starting to feel the push to go to church, Mauro & Lucia listening in the lesson, getting a text from a member who helped us find a sweet girl & talked to her about baptism & invited her to read the Book of Mormon. & the list also could go on. The light always overcomes the darkness.

As I studied this week, I focused on prayer. When we pray, we borrow strength, love, & light at the very door of eternity. Sometimes we fall into the habit of saying, "I said my prayers." Prayer was never meant to be ordinary. True prayer is heartfelt. Heartfelt prayers come from the depths of our soul. Our mind & heart are directed to God with full & complete intention. We are seeking the draw nearer to our Father in Heaven, to commune with Him in a personal & intimate manner. Commune with God by listening to the still, small voice of the spirit. You must come to know God. We tell Him of our challenges, our feelings of inadequacy & weakness, etc. Now, God knows our innermost thoughts & feelings even better than we do, but as we learn to share them with Him, we make it possible for His spirit to enter our souls & to teach us more about our own selves & about the nature of God. The first order of prayer should be to learn the will of God & be given strength to accept it.

I am working on this. It is so important. I sometimes get frustrated because I want to be able to say a perfect prayer, but my mind gets distracted or I feel like the words just don't come out. But I know that God knows my heart. I am trying & that's all that matters. I know I will never have a perfect prayer, I don't even know if that exists, but I know that my prayers are heard, no matter the length or quantity of words, he listens. He'll listen to yours too. He does. So keep on praying even if you feel like it doesn't make it to heaven. I promise it does.

Oh how much I love all of you. I sure pray for you.

With all my heart,

Hermana Morley <3