Word of the week: Golpear Puertas (to knock doors)

This week started out AMAZING!!!! One of the coolest experiences of my mission…well, I’ve had lots of cool experiences, but this was an Ensign worthy experience. So, here it is: Hna. Cuello and I were leaving our apartment at the end of P-day to do some street contacts before going to contact some references from the elders. We live in the “downtown” of San Luis, so doing street contacts doesn’t take too long, because the street s are crowded with people window shopping and buying things from the many street vendors selling all sorts of things from socks to copied music to cool rocks. We also live just a couple of blocks from the Catholic cathedral, which always makes street contacting a little more interesting as we have to keep our distance so we aren’t proselyting right in front of the cathedral. So, as we were approaching the cathedral, we crossed the street so we could contact some people in the plaza while they were walking a little more slowly or were sitting down. That’s a great thing about South America and plazas…the people are always outside! For this purpose, I always try and carry a copy of the Book of Mormon in my hand. The people here recognize the elders for the way they dress, but they don’t recognize us very often for the name of the church. We are known as “mormones” here and the people often remind us that that’s what Mendocinos call us. So, I carry my Book of Mormon around and nobody gets too confused. Monday night, we saw a HUGE miracle just from holding a copy of the Book of Mormon in my hand. As we were walking through the plaza, ironically directly across the street from the doors to the Catholic cathedral, someone started calling after us. Now, this is nothing new, we get cat calls all day, so I just kept walking. My companion kept walking right alongside me, she having gotten used to being with “gringas” and the cat calls we get every few minutes. This time though, the guy kept following us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a teenaged guy hurrying towards us and waving us down. So, we turned around and he stopped, looking and pointing at the Book of Mormon in my hand, asked what the difference between the Book of Mormon and the New Testament in the Bible. I was completely caught off guard and was bumbling for words. I explained the basic differences and how they compliment each other and then he proceeded to ask more questions, all the while we were standing in front of the Catholic cathedral, surrounded by swarms of people in the plaza, talking about the Book of Mormon and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Maximiliano, this kid we were talking to, told us about his beliefs and his search for the true church of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible. He knew it wasn’t the Catholic church when he saw them worshipping imagines. He now attends an Evangelical church, but is really interested in hearing about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He told us how he has always wanted to read the Book of Mormon and talk to missionaries, but has never had the opportunity to, until he saw us walking through the plaza and came over to talk to us. He asked where he could get a copy of the Book of Mormon, to which we anxiously gave him the same copy that had caught his eye. We stood in the plaza, right in front of the cathedral and taught this young man the gospel, while swarms of people passed all around us. Hna. Cuello and I just walked away after 20 minutes of teaching him with our heads in the clouds…things like this don’t happen every day or even over the course of an entire mission. We both commented about how quiet it was as we were teaching him, almost as if we weren’t standing in the middle of a busy plaza. Another amazing aspect of this “lesson” with Maximiliano in the plaza was his questions about the manifestations of the spirit. Evangelicals are always talking about the gifts of the spirit and he wanted to know if we believed in the gift of tongues, or of talking in unrecognizable languages. We explained to him how to gifts of the spirit are always used to build up and edify the church of Christ, not to be seen of men. Why would the spirit inspire is to say things that no one could understand…? He didn’t seem all too impressed with our responses being that he claimed to have the gift of tongues. I was able to testify to him of what the gift of tongues truly means, as I was greatly blessed with that gift in being able to translate for one of the Lord’s chosen servants—Elder Sybrowsky—in my first transfer, when I hardly knew anything of Spanish. The Lord blessed me with the ability to translate his words so he could bless the church of Jesus Christ and the people, but as soon as he left, I went back to the books to learn and be able to express myself in Spanish. He understood….it was amazing and I felt so strengthened in my testimony in regards to the gifts of the spirit in testifying to him of this particular experience from my mission. I haven’t shared that experience with hardly anyone, but it instantly came to my mind with such force that I couldn’t deny the spirit and not share it. We committed him to be baptized when he prays and knows the Book of Mormon is true. The Book of Mormon truly is the most powerful teaching tool we have in sharing the gospel, even if it is just seen from a distance. Needless to say, it was an amazing experience and I was wishing I could just capture it all on video and engrain it in my mind, it was such an experience from a dream. Never again will I leave the apartment without my Book of Mormon in my hand. My companion started doing the same after that experience with Maximiliano. We also taught the niece of a member and set a baptismal date with her. When we talked with her aunt and uncle in church on Sunday, they told us that she is reading in the Book of Mormon and had been planning to come to church with them until she had a problem with her ear. Anyway, she seems pretty golden, especially since her mother is less active and on board with her daughter being baptized. Maximiliano was by far the highlight of the week!!! It was like a dream! Transfers happen on Wednesday, and I will be staying here in San Luis with Hna. Cuello, though a new hermana will be coming since one hermana recently went home. This should be a nice week, without too much stress of changing and having to get to know someone new….woohoo! Love to you all! Hna. Pelton