What is This Joy?!
Hola mis queridos amigos!!
Another great week here in Pamplona and I have just been reminded of the true joy that comes from following Christ this week! That doesn't mean that life is always easy and everything just works out, but when we follow Christ, our joy is magnified in the good times and we are lifted up above our circumstances in the hard times! Every week has its ups and downs for sure, but the joy that comes from being a disciple of Christ never fades if we keep turning to Him!
Highlights/ Fun facts:
- The title of this email comes from a song from the sacred music app and it just makes me so happy! I totally recommend going and giving it a listen! I had a moment during one of my personal studies where I just listened to this song and looked at my picture of Christ and reflected on all the joy I feel as I serve Him and all of the gratitude I feel for everything He has done for me and I just smiled 😀 (and maybe shed a couple tears)
- We had a couple rainy days at the start of the week and one of these days we had planned to go out and work on a bench before our lesson, so we ended up doing it at a cute little café and I got a yummy hot chocolate which is called colacao here! Then afterwards our lesson canceled and we had planned to do street contacts as a back up so even though it was pouring we decided to walk around the covered part and talk to people! None of the people we talked to were super interested, but it was so fun to be out doing the Lord's work rain or shine haha
- On the bus home from the church the other day we were super tired after having quite a few lessons that day but we sat by this lady named Janine and my amazing comp started talking to her. She answered back in half Spanish and half English so I said, "wait, do you speak English?" And she said yes!! I'm from England! We were both so happy to have a little rest from Spanish and chat with her in English and she was actually interested in coming to church with us so we got her number and it was awesome!
- We had interviews with President and Sister Eastland this week and they were great as always! I love them! Also I made it through interviews with out any crazy new emergency transfers so I called that a win!
- We were riding home on the bus last night and we were super tired after a longgg day, but I saw this lady sitting with a grumpy face and I got the prompting I should talk to her. I stood there for a bit not wanting to follow it and for a minute Satan tried to talk me out of it saying she didn't look like she wanted to talk and I wouldn't know what to say, but I decided I could at least compliment her hair. As soon as I said that, she looked up at me with the biggest smile and scooted over on her seat and asked me to sit by her! We ended up having a great conversation about faith and the Book of Mormon and she said she already had one from the missionaries in Peru!! We were getting off the bus soon, so I got her number and she said, "I don't believe in coincidences, God put you here to find me for a reason!" It was so cool!
Miracle:
We had some amazing lessons with our friend Alejandro this week and he never ceases to amaze me!! In one of our lessons we were teaching about the word of wisdom, and he ended up telling us that not to long before he met with us, he decided to quit smoking and he hadn't smoked since!! He also was so faithful when he heard about coffee and he said that it would be hard because coffee is such a big part of his culture, but he knew God would help him! We also had one of the coolest recent converts named Esperanza and she is also from Columbia, so she was able to testify of God's help as she made the decision to give up coffee and the blessings that have come into her life because of it! The spirit was so strong and I am just so honored to be here witnessing the faith of these beautiful people 😄 We also asked him how not drinking coffee was going and he said, "I've been drinking a lot of colacao" 😂
Spiritual Thought:
I was reading the talk by Elder Hirst called, "God's favorite" and what he said truly struck me as it us something that I have truly come to learn here on my mission! He said that we should all feel like God's favorite because Jesus Christ is our personal Savior! I know that He suffered for me individually and because of that I know that He is my Jesus and my Savior! Just like Nephi said, "I glory in MY Jesus"!! I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died and rose again for each of us individually and I am so grateful for Him!!
I love you all so much and please feel free to reach out any time!
Hermana Hardy 💛
Pictures:
- brittany y perla 💗💗
- alejandro y Esperanza 💛
- Vivian's fam 😍
- Eva 💛
- rubyyy 💗
- martha y Valerio 💓
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