Miracles

¡Hola todos!

We don`t know what happened this week, but it was good. A couple of the houses in the zone got flooded, because it`s just raining a ton everywhere! Rain is really fun, but it`s a little tricky because the people here always just go to sleep when it`s raining, and they don`t answer the door. But we always find miracles with rain. 

This week I met one of the smartest people in the world. One of the members of the church introduced us to a family that lives nearby, and we went to visit. When we entered the house, we couldn`t help but notice that there were books everywhere! I`ve never seen so many books in this country before. We found out that they belonged to the dad of the family, Cesar. He came out to talk to us, and the first thing he asked was where my companion and I were from. When my companion told him, he started telling the history and random facts of the exact state of Mexico that my companion is from. And he did the same for Austin, Texas. He knows more Texas history than I do, and while most people here have never even heard of Austin, he knows the story of the man it was NAMED after. Then, a huge lightning bold blew out the electricity, and it was all dark. So he started teaching us about lightning and why it strikes and the physics behind the static electricity that forms in the clouds from the particles of ice and water circulating around. That`s just a little bit of what he said, because he taught us a TON of stuff about EVERYthing! He was super excited to explain a ton of stuff, kind of like a really good college professor. He asked how long I had been speaking Spanish, guessing that I had been learning since I was little. I told him that I`ve only been in Guatemala for 10 months, and really didn`t learn very much in my studies beforehand. He was really amazed, and said that he had never seen or heard of someone learning a language so well so fast. But we explained to him that it wasn`t me, it was the gift of tongues that God gives to His missionaries. He thought that it was incredible, and almost couldn`t believe it. God`s power is real. And then he started asking questions about the church. You could tell he knew so much because his humility in asking questions and listening, because he asked us a ton and was really interested. He really thought it was great what he heard, and his family is going to come to church with us this Sunday! That was a really cool experience. 

This week, Hermana Blanca got baptized! She has a ton of faith, and it was a really awesome experience. A ton of people from her family came to see, and they are all interested in the church too, which is exciting. That was a huge miracle. We met her in the street just 2 months ago, and she`s literally changed her entire life. God`s power is real. 

We were going to visit her yesterday to see how she was doing, but we felt like we should go back and visit someone closer to home. We called the person and got no answer, but we decided to go anyway. When we got back to Siqui, we got a call from the sister missionaries, because they needed our help. They are teaching a woman who wants to get baptized this weekend, but she has been getting these really bad headaches, and she was really scared and didn`t know what to do. We went to her house and asked if she wanted a blessing. As missionaries, we have the same authority of God that the prophets and apostles had in the bible. And that means that if someone has faith and it`s what God wants, we can give them a blessing of health and they will get better. She said yes, because she believes really strongly that God wants her to get baptized. So we gave her a blessing, and right when we finished, she felt the pain just pull itself out of her head and go away. She was perfectly fine, and so amazed that she started to cry. God`s power is real. But it all depends on if we have enough faith to put our trust in Him. A lot of people struggle with that part, but it`s the most important thing.

I hope everyone can find miracles in their lives this week, because they are everywhere.

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Guatemalan culture is interesting, because people almost don`t ever smile in pictures here. That`s why everyone looks super serious in all the pictures I send :)