Milagros

HOLA FAMILIA!! ¿QUA TAL?  Monday...Sept 9th

Guess what!? My companion and I are seeing MIRACLES! This past week has maybe been the greatest week yet. Heavenly Father is seeing how hard we are working and we are being blessed so much with success. We are seeing SO much success... the work here in Los Cristianos is really starting to explode. The church is true the book is blue!

Also we had Zone Meeting this week in Santa Cruz... SANTA CRUZ is so cool. It is so much prettier than Los Cristianos haha!  But the meeting was awesome. Super uplifting. AND the new sisters are here! They are so great!!! ah I love all of the missionaries that I get to serve with! Hermanas and elders are so powerful.  Funny thing... no one can say my name here.. so at the meeting I had to play the piano and after one of the zone leaders.. who is a native says, "Gracias a la hermana niiiger para tocar el piano." EVERYONE starts bursting out laughing!! Not to mention we were on skype with the other missionaries on the other islands. Not like we didn´t see that one coming. AND a family here started calling me Hermana Mcdonalds because apparently Nydegger sounds like nugget... understand their logic?  Yeah, I don´t either. Haha I have good luck don´t I?

Yesterday was fun. At church I had to give my first talk in SPANISH. For like 10 minutes! Haha, yay for first timers! It went great. I talked about the importance of repentance and baptism. LILY. I talked about you in my talk! I talked about how you are preparing to baptized in a few weeks and how HAPPY I am for your decision and for your example. I actually got kinda emotional in it. I just felt a huge wave of emotion and of the spirit testifying to me that you are making the right choice in your life and that you are about to open the door to the rest of your life! It was a really tender moment. It still is as I am now thinking back to it.  It really is the door and it is the first step. Baptism is one of my favorite things to bear my testimony about. And how IMPORTANT it is. I am so proud of you Lil.  I wish with all of my heart that I could be there with you for this big day.

So speaking of baptism.... guess what...

Starting with ALEX! Alex the Colombiano. Alex is a miracle! He is guy that we found street contacting one day. We were waiting to catch the gua gua (bus) and saw him just standing there. We actually almost didn´t talk to him! We were like an inch from just catching our bus... but last minute we decided.. no LETS TALK TO HIM. So we went up and contacted him. He is from Colombia and is here working! He has seen our church before in Colombia and wanted to meet with us another day! This was all a super fast convo... he had to catch his bus in like 1 minute! But yeah super quick so we asked him for his number and he gave it to us and ran off on his way! Anyways so we have been trying for a long time to get ahold of him and finally on Monday we got a hold of him and set up an appointment to meet with him. Anyways so we met with him and long story short he is GOLDEN. Absolutely golden. It give me chills just thinking about him. He is here in Tenerife working. He has 2 kids and they are in Colombia living there with his wife. He is moving back in November. He really wants to make some big changes in his life and really wants something to keep his family solid. We told him about our church and really just talked a lot about this life. It was a really random lesson... but ohhh my, the spirit was SO STRONG. It was so strong. So when the spirit was at its peak we said, "Alex. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God?" And guess what he said.. cuando. haha “WHEN!”  We were so shocked! He is scheduled to baptized on October 12. We are super excited. He wants to be baptized and then take the gospel back to Colombia to his family. And to think... we almost didn´t talk to him! He. is. a. miracle.

Second. MATEO! Mateo is also from Colombia. He is so cute and is only 9 years old! There is something really special about him. We recently found his mom who was a menos active (less active)... reactivated her and guess what... he will be baptized on September 28th! He can´t wait and neither can we. Mateo and his mom Jacky are so strong. They are so great and are so happy about this change they are making in their lives.

Third. Carolina. Also Colombiana! (I LOVE COLOMBIANS.) One of the chicas from the noche de hogar. We finally got a lesson with just her and her mom (a lady that we recently re-activated). She is SO cute! She is 19 and just moved here to live with her mom that she has been separated from for her entire life. Ahhh I love her! There is something special toooo... Hahaha there is something special about everyone. Anyways we had a SUPER spirit bomb lesson with her also. She is also scheduled to be baptized on September 28th. She is incredible. AND they are making Colombian food for us this Thursday! Yes, we can´t wait.

RAFAEL. Another guy that we almost didn´t talk to! GOLDEN. We haven´t put him on a fecha yet but we are going to tomorrow night.

LUIS AND JESSICA FAMILY- aka my best friends. ahhh they are SO GREAT! Such a miracle. ahh! So we actually found them through our English class flyers and THEY CALLED US. Luis and Jessica are from Venezuela. They have a daughter and a son. (YAY for families... ahh!) They have been coming to English class. They are so FUN and happy and great people. Super social. After the first English class with them, we gave them a tour of the church. They LOVED everything that they saw! They loved the classes for the kids and they loved everything. Seriously, they. are. a. miracle. Haha when we showed them the baptismal font and told them how we baptize they practically tried to climb into the font. They are so funny and just happy. We invite them to everything! Sometimes we wonder if we are being too much or something to them. On Tuesday they came to the baptism of Jayniz and her mom (see the pictures) and they LOVED it. They seriously are perfect. They are REAL too. We had a lesson with them on Saturday night. Our first sit down one! And it was incredible. We felt that with them it would be best to just sit down with them and read 2nd Nephi 31 with them. All about baptism. It was so powerful. I had a really cool experience. As we taught them about baptism, the spirit was so strong. Again Lily, I felt like I should bear my testimony about you and about my family. They were so receptive. It also was like a heaven sent moment. At that moment... I could SEE them in white. I could see them perfectly in white. We invited them to be baptized. And guess what... right after Luis said ‘yes’, the phone rang. He left the room for a couple minutes and then came back with the biggest smile on his face and shouted "I GOT A JOB!" Talk about a miracle and blessing straight from God. Right after he accepted the invitation he got a job. How cool is that?? It was a defining point for me as a missionary. Baptism is so important. It changes lives. And it is just the first step to eternal life with our families. What a cool promise we have. I have such a strong testimony about this. I saw this family in white that night. and I know that they will be baptized one day together. ALSO, after the amazing lesson with Jessica and Luis, we left and I looked up into the sky and saw my first shooting star!  I think it’s a sign! J

Life is good here! I am SO excited for this upcoming transfer and for the miracles that Sister Phillips and I get to be apart of! I have high hopes. I am learning so much and every day is another challenge and another journey. I am loving life as a missionary. Please pray for all of the people that I talk to everyday! Prayers are what can change hearts. There truly is no more important work and there truly is nothing better or more satisfying than knowing that you are being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I love being a full time representative of Christ.

Thank you all for all of the emails and letters and PRAYERS!  Wow I feel such a gratitude for those who are cheering me on. It’s so humbling.

FIND JOY IN THE JOURNEY ALWAYS.

Hermana N