So this weak was pretty disappointing. We found some super cool people! For example, we were going to visit an investigator one last time to see if she would answer the door for us before we dropped her, and on the elevator ride back down we met Liset. She told us that God has been calling her and she's been feeling strong desires to come to church and get her family involved in the Gospel of Christ. She said "I know it's no coincidence I ran into you boys! Where's your church and what time does it start?" So we exchanged information and told us to come by the next day! We were super excited.
We also met another lady knocking doors. She was in a huge hurry and didn't want to pray with us, but promised it would only take 2 minutes. After we prayed, she asked what time our church started. We told her 11, and she said "Oh, I was praying to God this morning, that if he showed me a church that started at 11 in Spanish I would go to it." We were like WHAT that's crazy, you're gonna come right?! And she said "Of Course!" We set up a return appointment and again we were stoked.
Then we met Raniel, from Cuba. We prayed with him, and he was super humble and appreciative. He shared of his testimony about Jesus Christ, and he definitely had an amazingly strong relationship with Savior. We asked if he'd been baptized, and said no. We invited him and he immediately accepted! But he wanted to make sure we studied from the Bible. We explained we did, and then told him about the Book of Mormon. His face immediately got really serious and surprised, and my thoughts immediately went to "oh know, we're about to get Bible Bashed so hard." (which happened to us at Chik-Fil-A by a man who calls himself "the Voice of Christ.") but to my surprise, it was the opposite. He said he needed to see this Book, which we gave him one. He had us write the date, and our testimonies of the Book on the title page. Without us even suggesting it, he told us he was going to read and pray about the Book, but that he had always felt there was more Words from God in the world.
Now the disappointing part... all of this people testified to us that they knew God sent us to them. I always ask people that question, they also said yes, and testified for the reasons I mentioned. They all committed to come to Church, to meet with us again, and to read and pray. However, Liset wouldn't answer the door for us, screened all of our calls, and didn't come to church. The second lady was "out of town" but when we were at her Complex visiting someone else there was a huge party going on in her apartment, and when we knocked on the door she yelled "I'm busy!" and slammed the door in our face. Raniel, we're not sure what happened yet.. we only met him a few days ago and haven't been able to get in contact, but he didn't come to church.
My point is this.. how much do our words truly mean to us? Especially those promises that we make to God? Each of these people said they knew we were sent to them from God, even direct answers to prayers, yet known of these people acted on the answers they received from God. I've been so confused about this all week, and it made me pretty bummed. Then it caused me to reflect on myself, and ask the question, "How many times have I received answers or help from God and simply disregarded it?" or even made direct promises to him, such as the covenant made through baptism, and not lived up to my end of the deal even after he continually blesses me, because God always keeps his promises and is bound to the things he says.
These experiences have definitely humbled and strengthened me, and have caused me to resolve that whether it be with God or my fellow man, my word should reflect my vision for my character. Actions speak louder than words, but I want my words and my actions to reflect each other. We can have great plans, dreams, visions, and goals, but they mean nothing if wed don't follow through. Hand-in-hand with that, God is waiting to give us what we need, all we have to do is our part. Yes, Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer, but we have to do our part. Can we work our way to Salvation? If I "work harder" than my fellow man, will I work my way to a higher place in God's kingdom? Of course not. But I also can't, as one man actually said to us this week knocking, "sit in my house and sleep until God shows himself to me."
Regardless, the work is good! Felix is awesome. He's now attending the English ward too, because he wants to enhance his vocabularly. He always jokes about how he really wants a Mormon Wife, and says its a joke but I"m pretty sure he's 100% serious hahaha. He really wants to know English as well as he can articulate in Spanish, because he says it makes him feel like a second-class citizen. It's hard in Miami, though, because everyone here Speaks Spanish. His business isn't doing as well any more, and he says he wants to live in Utah because it's cheaper and open a restaurant (Nicaraguans make BOMB food). That'd be sweet because then I could visit him!
That's pretty much it, hope everyone has a great week!
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