Hermana Tyler-Ann Mai Darling : “I feel God in this Chili's tonight.”- Pam

We've had some awesome experiences happen this week. We started our week off with a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Estevan. He loved it. He was marking all the scriptures we read from the book of Mormon. We asked him to read Ether 12. A few days later we texted him to see how he was doing and he said he read the chapter 3 times so he could fully understand it. WHAT??? Oh my gosh we screamed we were so happy. This guy is so prepared. He said we can give him anything to read and he'll read it, what a prepared person. He also told us two goals of his. The first is to go to church every Sunday. And the second is to stop drinking and smoking. We haven't even taught him the word of Wisdom yet. So we explained more about it. That was pretty awesome, the spirit was super strong during the lesson too.

I'm so grateful God led us to him.

We had a lesson with this guy named Manuel... At Chili's 🌶️🌶️🌶️

We taught him the whole restoration while eating burgers and Fries. He loved it. He is really wanting to go to a church that God wants him to go to. We told him to pray about it. And ask God every single question you have, that's why we have prayer. We get to communicate with God anytime we want to. That's a pretty awesome gift.

We invited him to come watch a baptism for a friend of ours... Enrique. He said he'll be there. We also invited Estevan to go too. He also said he'd be there.
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God has been answering our prayers! I love being able to teach people that have a desire to learn more. That truly want to grab the hand of our Savior and follow him. Portland is POPPING!

Thursday we had a zone conference with Corpus Christi zone and Robstown zone. It was pretty great. Our president spent a lot of time talking about how we are going to be able to complete our goal as a mission for the year 2020. He set a goal for a certain number of God's children we want to help bring into the fold this year. It's a pretty high number, but it's totally doable. Ahhh we are getting so pumped!!!!!!

Enrique was baptized... Sadly neither of our peeps showed up, but it was still an amazing moment.

We showed up a little early to see if the Elders needed help with anything. Uhhh they did. The font had already been filling for over an hour but still wasn't high enough. So we all started filling pitchers of water and running them over to the font and dumping them in. We got it as high as we could until everyone showed up. When he was baptized he had to squat the whole time in order to go all the way under. But he did it!!!!

He was sooo happy the whole entire time. When the talk on holy ghost was given he got super teary eyed and kept hugging his daughter. Ahhhh, he is one of the most prepared people I've met on my mission. A month ago we literally sat down and called almost every single person we could to ask if they are still interested in the message we have to share. A lot said no. A few said yes. And a ton didn't answer. Enrique called us back three times...during an appt. So we had to call back. He knew who he was calling, he knew he wanted to learn and get closer to his Savior. God knew it too. Everything happened for a reason. I love knowing that God has an individualized plan for all of his children. He puts bumps in it or even mountains. Any obstacles we are given are only to make us stronger, more experienced, and to test our faith. But God knows we can overcome them though his Son, Jesus Christ and his Atonement.

He had every mountain to climb, every chance to give up, every opportunity to tell his Father no. But he didn't. The only begotten of the Father was willing to feel EVERYTHING for us. The drops of blood from his pores are for you and I. He did it because it was necessary. Without the Atonement of Jesus Christ no one would be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. An Infinite Atonement was needed.

I was reading a talk titled The Paths Jesus Walked by Thomas S. Monson back in 1974 a few days ago and this stuck out to me, "We discover he is more than the babe in Bethlehem, more than the carpenter’s son, more than the greatest teacher ever to live. We come to know him as the Son of God. He never fashioned a statue, painted a picture, wrote a poem, or led an army. He never wore a crown or held a scepter or threw around his shoulder a purple robe. His forgiveness was unbounded, his patience inexhaustible, his courage without limit. Jesus changed men. He changed their habits, their opinions, their ambitions. He changed their tempers, their dispositions, their natures. He changed men’s hearts."

Since I have been on my mission I have been able to feel my Saviors love. I have been able to share that love with so many people on a daily basis. It has been able to change the hearts of the people in Texas. And it's my favorite thing to do here.

I know my Savior lives and loves me and all of you.

I'm grateful to be his missionary.

Jesus LOVES you.

Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Darling