Week 81: "...I Will Give Away All My Sins To Know Thee...."

We continue teaching our miracle investigator, Ilvanis. Satan is puting a lot of oposition in the way. She is seperating from a boyfriend that ended up hitting her this week, and leaving black and blue marks on her arms and around her collar bone. It was crazy, but maybe it was the push that she needed to seperate from him. He asked forgiveness, but she is firm and wants to leave the house. The ward has been and is a big help to us in helping her with the things she needs. She continues so firm despite the overwhelming circumstances. 

We were walking in the street one day to an apointment that wasn´t that, well, "fijo?" (I forgot how you say it.) While we were walking, my companion and I were speaking in English, and he noticed that some people noticed and were talking about us. I was going to keep going, but he stopped to ask me if we should contact them. I agreed, and we did. Ten minutes later, we were in an apartment complex kind of a thing, with 8 Venezuelans listening to our every word. The next day, Alan, one of the 8, told me that he had had a dream about us coming. He said he was brought to meet God, and he pleaded for Venezuela. Then, the Lord, whose face he did not see, told him to change, and then two "generals" stepped out. The Lord then said, "They are coming to visit you, and you should listen to them." He then started to vomit, a black liquid, that turned yellow and then clear. He woke up and immediately. 

As I listened to him tell me of the dream, I felt deeply the spirit. I felt humbled to be on the Lord´s side. I love Him, and I´m very excited to teach Alan and all the others in their house. I´m also very grateful for my companion who was in tune with the spirit to be able to see someone the way the Savior does. I recognize that His dream meant that we are to teach him how he can become pure and clean through Jesus Christ. He recognizes that iniquity has brought his country to where it is, and this creates a place for us to bring light into his life. It´s a great responsablity. Please pray for him (Alan).

I was very impacted by this frase from conference. Elder Lynn G. Robbins said, "Success is not the abscence of failure; Sucess is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. Failure is a tutor, not a tragedy." Does that not sum up our existence here on the earth? I believe so. Thanks to Jesus Christ, Failure is not tragedy, but a teacher. The atonement makes our sins temporary and surface. Let´s all use his atonement so that one day, all of our mistakes and errors will be "gone." I´ve come to know this in a special way, and still have much to learn.

Con fuego en los Huesos,
Elder J. Lewis