Ok, so we talk with about a billion people everyday, trying to fix appointments and spread the word of God with as many people as we can, and a lot of the time we don’t see many of them again or it ends up that they really aren’t interested, but sometimes we get to see miracles.
The story of Rosa is what I would call a miracle. Some people might say that it was just coincidence, but I know better. God is preparing people to hear this message.
Part of our area is a pueblito (little town) called Monte. It is a really humble town that takes about 30min ride in combi. There are no paved roads and no plumbing and the people are so incredible.
One day we were in the combi going to visit a family that lives in Monte. I was sitting next to a woman that had a bunch of things in a bag. I could see that she had hojas de platana (banana tree leaves) and I had just recently learned that those are what you use to make tamales. I had been thinking a lot about the importance of talking to everyone we come in contact with, and had even made a promise to Dios (God) that if he would help me out, i would try my hardest to speak with everyone. From the moment we climbed in the combi and I saw the hojas, the thought "ask her about the leaves," kept coming to my mind. Because I’m a chicken and apparently have a hard time remembering that God always keeps his end of the bargain if we will keep ours, I didn’t say anything for the longest time. Finally, after about 15 minutes of questioning whether or not I should say anything, I leaned over to her and asked what the leaves were for. I was not prepared for what happened next.
From this simple question I found out that she actually sells tamales everyday. I told her that I had only had tamales once, and immediately she invited us over to her house to eat tamales. She also told me all about her family and where she was from and why she moved to Tehuacan with her family. Remember that my Spanish is still incredibly American and sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with the conversation, so really I did very little talking. She showed us where she lives and SHE made an appointment for us to go back to visit her.
I will admit that at first, Hermana Poot and I both thought that it was really kind of an odd experience. We weren’t really sure if she wanted us to visit because she was interested about our message, or if she just wanted to introduce me to her teenage sons, or if she was just an incredibly nice and friendly woman.
When we went to visit her, we met her husband as well, and while she was busy preparing the tamales we spoke with him about our purpose as missionaries. We also taught him almost all of the first lesson and gave him a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon to read. We explained what the Book of Mormon is and invited him to read it and pray to ask God if it is true or not. It was really a neat experience because he was asking all of these questions that lead right into discussions of the Gospel. When we gave him the Book of Mormon he was really interested and began to read it right away while we ate the tamales (which by the way, I didn’t like my first taste of tamales, but I am basically obsessed now).
IT was quite an amazing experience of how we met Rosa. We are now teaching her and her husband and Hna Poot and I both know that they are very special people. I know that God really does prepare people to hear and accept the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t know exactly who these people are, and most often they don’t either, but He does and if we will listen to His guidance he will lead us to find them.
I know that what I am doing here in Mexico is inspired of God. He loves His children and I have been blessed to see that now more than ever.
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Jones
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