Gran Milagro!

Hey yáll!

Hope everyone is happy and that summer is treating you well!

So this week we had transfers and... I am now in a new area!  Right now I am serving in San Luis in the Salamanca Ward!  San Luis is a zone that used to be in the mission Lima Central, but since July 1st is now a part of our mission.  It´s located really close to La Molina, which is where the mission office and the MTC and the temple are.  It´s cool to be more in central Lima and our area is a lot more city than Alameda was.  But I miss Alameda like crazy!! Everyone says leaving your first area is the worst and I learned that it´s true.  It was also way hard to leave Hermana Aguayo because we really became the best of friends but my new companion, Hermana Pardo is way cool too.  She is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia and is from Misión Lima Central (most of my zone is too). She has a lot of time in the mission but is very humble and is super funny like Hermana Aguayo, so we get along well!  I´ve learned a lot from her already!

Remember my golden investigator Jesus that I told you about before? The one who wants so badly to be baptized and receive the priesthood and one day serve a mission and everything?  So the day before transfers our main objective for the day was to find Jesus´s mom, Edith, (who is an investigator too) and get her permission for him to be baptized.  We met her and Jesus my very first day in Perú and have been teaching her ever since (8 weeks).  

We spent probably a little too much time with them because Edith wasn´t progressing (she never attended church on Sundays) but we did just about everything we could to serve them-- we helped her in her store a lot and talked to her countless times about allowing Jesus to be baptized and nothing came of it.  She didn´t want to allow it because she basically didn´t have confidence that Jesus was ready and worried he would only stick with it (the church) for a little while and not take it seriously... really ironic because I´ve never met anyone who has wanted to be baptized more in my life!   

So yeah, we had planned to read Alma 5 (!) with her and really address her fears about her son´s baptism that day but she never came to her tienda (store) to meet with us. However, I later found out that the day I left, Hermana Aguayo and her new companion visited her and had the same lesson we had prepared and she said YES!  (Looks like I was the problem! ...jk) What a miracle! 

So on Saturday I got permission to go back to Alameda with Hermana Pardo for Jesus´s baptism!!!  It was amazing.  I´m still on cloud nine!  I got to see all of the people I love so much in Alameda and see one of them be baptized.  The Lord´s plan is full of suprises!  I now know what it feels like to really be a part of a person´s conversion and the absolute joy it brings! My first convert! :) He was confirmed yesterday and will pass the sacrament next week! :)

My first day in training with President Ardila he told us to ask the Lord why we were in the area and with the companion we were assigned... now I know that my 8 weeks there were for 12 year old Jesus Paco ("Gian Claude" is his real name hahahaha :)).  I am so so so happpppppyyyyyy!

Moral of the story: Believe in miracles. Trust in the Lord and His timing.  Love the people He puts in your "camino."

Con bastante amor,

Hermana Bledsoe