Week 32 Arizona

This week was just a crazy week. We had 33 total teaching opportunities! "Monsoon" season has started and so we have had 3 dust storms, and last night, we had a flash flood warning (we were fine).  But, that wasn't even the craziest part. 
          We have this lady we've been teaching, named Maria, and she just did a full on 180 degree turn on us... It was nuts. We started teaching her about two weeks ago and to be 100% honest, I didn't think she was going to progress. She was a referral from someone else we had been teaching. The friend said that she liked what we were teaching but that she doesn't really "want to change," but also told us that she had a friend who has an alcohol problem that could probably use some help. So that's how we met Maria.
            We would go by her house and she would come out and talk to us, but she would talk really quietly, she never made any eye contact, she never smiled, and she never really seemed happy to see us. We were at the point where if she didn't start progressing soon, we were going to have to stop visiting her so that we could focus on those that were progressing. So, in a last ditch effort, we took a super bomb member with us and as per usual, Hermano Gomez delivered. He just gave her a spiritual spanking. She had said that she was waiting for God to help her and when Hermano Gomez heard that... It was just a smack down. He just told her right there that she needs to stop waiting for God to give her a sign and to start paying attention to what He has already given her. He told her that God has already sent her a sign, he sent the missionaries to her door and that even was her sign and that the choice that she makes-to accept or decline the missionaries invitation - is her choice to either accept God's help or to not. BOOM!!! Super powerful.

The next day we went back and not only had she read the Book of Mormon, she read 8 chapters! The day after that, she was at chapter 15. The day after that, she came to church and that night we went to the visitors center. There, we watched the Joseph Smith Movie and she was in tears. While we were sitting in the gardens there, we invited her to be baptized and she and her whole family accepted (80% solid) but  the cool part was that when I was extending the date, I said "on August 2nd..." And before I could finish, Maria said "oh, that's my birthday" and we were stoked. That day came from the heavens. We didn't know Maria was going to progress so fast so that Sunday morning, we had prayed about a day to give her and that was the one that came to us. When we told her all of that... It was a 100% yes. It was so awesome


Love you all,

Sister Raynor