Springtime Winter

Dear Family: 

Good news! Hermana Sandau is letting me take pictures for her using her memory card, so I can send pictures now! We´ll see how long this lasts... haha

So these weeks have been really interesting because we should be in the middle of springtime. We´ve had a couple days where we went out with short sleaves and everything. But the weather is being really crazy, and for the last three days it´s been really cold, cloudy, and rainy. I had to bring my thick winter scarf out and everything. And I keep hearing that it´s going to be off an on like this for the whole rest of the year! Super weird. I was really looking forward to getting my Christmas tan. Que lastima. But I guess we´ll see. 

So besides the wacky weather, things are going great here in Justo Daract! More than anything we´re just having trouble getting second meetings with people. We´ll meet with them on the street or in their house, teach and have a great lesson, and set a time for the next meeting, and then something always happens and it falls through. Oh, I guess I kind of explained that already. Well anyway, it´s still a problem. But we were able to meet with some great investigators for the second time this week! So I´ll tell about them. 

Cristian, Ignacio, and Lucia. Lucia has family who are recent converts, so she already knows a little bit about the chruch. She and Ignacio are living together, and they have three daughters under the age of four, and they are so adorable! And Ignacio is so cute with them. Cristian is their neighbor, and brother of the Elders Quorum President. The first lesson we had with them we talked a little bit about the restauration and invited them to pray. Lucia looks at the pamphlet with the steps of prayer on it and goes, "okay. Let´s see how this goes." And then she just starts praying. After she finishes, Ignacio goes, "Okay Cristian, your turn." And Cristian then offers a heartfelt prayer too. It was very neat. 

Then this next lesson that we had was really great too. Ignacio and Lucia hadn´t prayed or read any of the pamphlet, but Cristian said he had. And he told us that all that week after our first visit went really well for him! It was so great to hear that from him. After the lesson, we invited Ignacio to pray since everyone else had already offered one before. He didn´t want to, but he sat there looking at the steps and thinking how he might say it, and we kept helping him out and encouraging him to do it for like 20 minutes. Cristian and Lucia were also helping him out, and encouraging him to do it. You could see the look on his face, and knew he wanted to do it, but in the end he said he just couldn´t. It was kind of sad that he didn´t feel up to it, but something Cristian said was interesting. "It´s hard the first time, but then it gets easier." And it really made me think about what prayer really is. I guess I had never thought of prayer from their point of view. It´s their first conversation with their father in heaven. After going throughout their lives, maybe they know God is their father, maybe they don´t. Maybe they don´t even know He exists, much less that He loves them. Hearing investigators´ first prayers has always been one of my favorite parts of missionary work, and now I understand a little more why. 

I know that prayer is real. That God does listen, and He does care. And He gives good gifts to His children, especially those who are willing to ask. 

Have a great week everyone! Love you all! 

Hermana Cannon