Go to Church

Hey what's good yall? Happy 4th of July!! Had a pretty lit 4th. We went over to Marcelos house and ate some gas food. He told us he would cook us monkey, but he didn't have any so we had pig feet instead. The one good part about having 6 missionaries in our ward is that we got to watch the hermanas faces drop as they saw the food. I think they really thought he was kidding when we talked about the food. He also made us a trade, he drove of us home but we had to take care of one of the member's dogs. Seeing as we were 1 and half hours away from home in bus and only 30 minutes in car, I said yes and we had a pet dog for a little bit. Named pitufa. Walked her over to her real home. It's a less active family that hopefully will come back soon, but do to work right now they can't be there on Sundays. They are praying to find a different job. Paloma is the members name if yall could pray for her and her family.

Went over to Manuel's house, Manuel is a spaniard through and through. Sevillano as one would say. It is amazing to see how he has changed. When I got here to the ward he just started coming because he wanted to go to a church. He told me he would never be baptized and that he didn't want to change. He was breaking about every commandment you could think of except for killing someone. Well one month past by and he went to church every Sunday but nothing changed. 2 months went by, nothing. 3 and he decided he would meet with us to learn a little more but said he still wouldn't be baptized. We taught him the commandments and how much of a blessing they are in our lives. He said he could never drop smoking. But he would try to be better in the law of chastity. He had a wife but they had been fighting a lot. Welp now on month 4 and he stops talking to us and misses 1 Sunday too. in the 5 month he shows up to a Sunday with his wife and his mother-in-law. He told us he wanted to grow and change to be a better man. He started working towards baptism. In my 6 month here, we were able to help him strengthen his connection with Jesus Christ and he was able to be baptized. Only missed 2 Sundays all those 6 months. We showed up to his house the day after to teach him and his wife and mother in law who are also interested now, and he said to us, hey I'm going to smoke a cigarette if that's alright. My heart dropped a little but then he smiled, picked up a bag of gum and said “here are my cigarettes. The spirit has helped me and now I have finally done it.” The importance of going to church every Sunday is more than we could ever believe and I know it will not only bless our lives but the lives of those we love also.

I love yall!! Jesus Christ loves you. If you have questions, go to him, he will guide you!

- Elder Larkins