On Sunday last week, we passed a man sitting on the balcony of his house alone at about 7 at night. One tradition that I have is that I always like to contact males when they are sitting alone. It is usually the most spiritual part of their day and they are usually pondering or meditating or thinking about something so I always like to just ask them how they are what they are thinking and if they are sad and need someone to cheer them up. The two elders I was with and I passed the house and I thought, "naw, leave him alone. no talk to him. naw leave him alone. no come on talk to him." Never sure if they are my thoughts or the spirit, I sighed and, like I do 93% of the time, turned around and walked back to ask this guy what he was thinking. Always better to err on the side of the spirit. He chuckled and said he was fine, just tired. Surprisingly, he responded by asking me where I lived. I told him Tocoa. Long story short, turns out he lives in this wealthy house RIGHT in front of our apartment. I had tried to contact that house several times but it was surrounded by massive walls and no one ever came out. So here I am 50 miles away from my area and find my neighbor! I asked him when he was going back to Tocoa, and put an appointment with him.
The next day, we went in the night to go visit him. He is about 25 years old, let us in and told us that he has made a lot of mistakes in his life and wants to change. We challenged him to be baptized, he accepted.
This Sunday he came to church with us. Coincidence? No. God finds ways to get inside even the highest walls.
Made quacamole for an investigador family that we are teaching for family night. Nobody died. SUCCESS!
On Thursday we were in Saba, and our 2 citas cancelled, so when a kid tried to talk to me in English (they usually do and then run away laughing), I called him over and asked where he lived. He pointed to the distance and we asked him if we could visit his family. He said, sure, and started to guide us to his house. We passed by a school on the way there, and all these 6-8 year olds were at recess and when they saw us pass by. One of them asked us for a pamphlet, and then literally the whole entire 1st and 2nd grade came running and threw themselves against the fence asking and begging for pamphlets. It was pretty hilarious because it was like they had never seen missionaries before, which is probably true, but I only gave out 2 pamphlets, one to the boys and one to the girls, because I only had so many. I half expected them to rip each others arms off trying to read it but they all ran over to the shade and started reading. Awww.
Anyways, we got to the house of this kid who is 12 yrs old and turns out his mom went to the church before when she was young and is the neice of the only active and endowed member in all of Saba! What's more, turns out the dad (they are not married of course -- welcome to Honduras) is actually a member of the church. He was baptized as a youth but now has problems with smoking and is abusive and stuff. You have to believe that God guided us there because we are talking about finding her in a city of 20,000 people with no church members.
Another miracle. On Friday, we went to Sonaguera to do divisions with the district leader there, Elder Dickson from Utah. We went to visit someone, no one was there, so we contacted a house and out came a 12 year old that had gone to the church once and was a friend of the recent convert we had gone to find. He let us in to teach him, and we asked him if he wanted to be baptized. He responded, yes, but in 13 years. Why so long? we asked and we explained what baptism is and why it is important. What if Christ comes before 13 years are finished? He understood perfectly, but was still unconvinced. So we asked him is he would pray and ask if he needed to be baptized in the church. He nodded with the faith of a 12 year old kid and prayed simply to know if he needed to be baptized in the church and thanked God for sending the missionaries. He paused, and then said the same thing over again, and finished the prayer. We looked up and tears were streaming down his face, and when we asked him how he felt, he said, Tranquility. Peace. He said firmly, I want to be baptized.
The fruits of the spirit of God are peace, love, joy. It is an enlightening influence that opens the mind and fills it with light and understanding. It touches the soul and makes the heart burn. It is real, true, precious, and beautiful, and to be sought and prayed for diligently. Strong spiritual experiences are few and far between, but they cannot be denied. I wish to be able to teach more with the spirit, because the lessons in which the spirit is present are so much different than lessons that we are only teaching with our own understanding and knowledge. When the spirit is not there, everyone is bored. When the spirit is there, there is hunger to learn and understand. I love the spirit. I like the scripture in Heleman 5:30 about the influence of the spirit.
All those who sincerely and humbly pray to know if the church is true will feel that same influence. The same thing for those who pray about the Book of Mormon or to know if Joseph Smith really was a profet or a fraud, and everything else. God doesn't use visions and dreams when he can just whisper to our heart. If you don't feel an immediate answer to your prayer, keep looking and keep asking. It will come.
Other than that, had many other cool things happen, we had a baptism this week that was a complete miracle, but I will tell you all about that later. Love you all and please pray for the missionaries here in Honduras.
And don't forget that I am in the murder capitol of the world.
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Moffitt
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| Our Tocoa District |
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| Our Zone. Yep, I coordinated the shirts. It's a thing we do here. |
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| Just keeping us safe here in the jungle. |
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