This week Hermana Martinez and I passed with a little bit of cough, stuffy nose, plugged ears and fever. Whoo!! Finally!! I have been blessed with good health the majority of my mission. It was about time. 'Im just happy that we are both feeling better. There is no kind of sorrow like when you enter someone's house to teach them about the gospel and you are sneezing and coughing the entire time. We are here to share messages, not germs!
This past Tuesday we had our Zone Conference in the Mission Office. Honestly, it was such an inspiring experience. We were taught by our leaders and by Hermana and President Hayes. Hermana Martinez and I even had the opportunity to teach! We prayed a lot about our topic and we decided to teach about humility (yes I'm obsessed haha!) and unity within our companionships. When it was time to get up and teach preside'nt said "Hermanas please teach us and everyone is going to listen...even if you are sick." Haha we had to laugh! Im grateful for the chance that we had to teach about these topics and that this time, I taught with my companion. She is SO great! We were able to share many experiences from our own companionship because we wanted the zone to know that are testimonies are based off of our experiences. We hope that we were able to help the missionaries here in Cartago.
Now more than ever, I am determined to be even more obedient and consecrated to the work. President Hayes has been teaching us in these past few months about the blessings that we can receive if we are worthy and I know that he wants every missionary in the mission to receive these blessing. He made that point in the Zone Conference. At the end of the Zone Conference he looked at all of us and one by one called out a few of us telling us to stand up. He called my name and I was caught off guard. He told us that this was our LAST zone conference that we were ever going to have! Then as he looked us each in the eyes and challenged each of us to work as hard as we possibly can until our very last day. As I stood there, I felt a little bit everything. Desire to cry, throw up and the Spìrit that told me that that is exactly what I need to do with my last 6 weeks in the mission. Work as hard as I possibly can. I want to feel that my Heavenly Father is pleased with me and I know that if I give everything that I've got up until the end, I will.
I have been feeling extremely blessed in these past few weeks. My companion and I have been seeing miracles. Every week we have been having investigators in church with us and they truly are progressing to baptism. This past week we had another lesson with Antonio. We taught about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the Restoration of the Priesthood. After listening to us he said "Everything that you have shared with me has truth to it. I have been studying the Bible deeper since you have been teaching me, looking for answers and I have seen connections. The Priesthood is like in the times of Aaron and Melkezidik. This church is doing everything right. It seems to me like it is the true church." I can't tell you the sense of peace and true joy that a missionary feels when they hear their investigator testifying with them. This man knows so incredibly much about the scriptures. He's studied them for years. He looked at the Book of Mormon, read 2 verses in Chapter 12 of 3 Nephi and accepted it. He's going to read it. I've had a good number of people reject the Book of Mormon during my mission. Who refuse to read it saying that it doesn't talk about Christ or that it contradicts the Bible. To them I say, you can't know that if you don't read it and if you read it you'll know that what you are saying isn't true! Miracles are happening everywhere in Paraiso!! I'm very happy!
Oh and I never explained this photo!
So, I was studying in Preach My Gospel last week about how to find new investigators. One of the ideas is to go about doing good!! This means service! So, what happened is that we were coming back from a part of our area that is about an hour away by bus. We had had an amazing family home evening with members, they invited their friends and everything. We came back to Paraiso and got off the bus, 2 seconds later in front of our eyes we saw a huge accident! A tank truck went scraping a car at a stop sign as it went driving down the street. Basically, the car went out a little too far to see if someone was coming so that he could pass and this truck came strolling down. It was a loud sound as the truck tried to avoid the car, unsuccessfully, and metal went flying everywhere! It was an awful sight! When the truck stopped and everyone got out ok, we saw that the accident had caused a huge problem. The cars at this street could not see oncoming cars from the other side. The space on the street was incredibly small and we predicted more accidents as cars tried to pass. That's when I thought "This is my chance to serve" For a good 30 minutes I stood there directing traffic. Telling cars to wait as others passed and trying to make everything ok until the police showed up. Cars drove by screaming "gracias" and calling me the traffic director. It was fun and actually quite rewarding. I was scared to leave for safety of the other people but in the end everything was alright. I felt like I made my Dad proud, haha, and I mean how often do you see a Mormon Missionary directing traffic at the site of an accident? haha:)
I love you all so much and pray for you every day! Lets have another good and healthy week!!
♥Hermana Zerilli
Cartago Zone Conference...
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