Operation "Luna"

Hi everyone!

I have a big favor to ask of you all :)

We are currently teaching a family called the Luna family. They are so precious to me and I love them with all my heart.

I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind please keeping them in your prayers and keeping us in your prayers so we will know how to teach and how to help them.

I am so sure that prayers from each of you will make a tremendous difference, and that this family will be eternally blessed because of your faith and prayers for both them and us.

 
I love you all so much. Gracias por todo lo que hacen uds para mí y por siempre ayudarme. Los quiero y les agradezco por sus ejemplos y por la fe que tienen todos.

❤️ Hermana Abram

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The Lord's Timing

Buenas tardes!

Esta semana tuvimos la oportunidad de asistir al templo (This week we had the opportunity to attend the temple). It was a wonderful experience.

The whole time we were at the temple, I felt so much peace. I had missed being able to go so frequently to the temple and I remembered why i love that place so much! We won't go again until December, so I have 6 months to make and achieve some goals so I can have an even better experience.

We have a family investigating the church, and the mom is very close to my heart. She has a rough past with the church, and We haven't really been able to understand how to help her. We didn't see her for two weeks because she had many doctors appointments. Finally, she called us Sunday morning and asked if the Elders could come give her a blessing because she was having serious back pain and wasn't able to move. We stopped by that night to check on her. When we did, she invited us upstairs to visit with her in her room. We began talking and then her daughter came upstairs to tell us that there was smoke all downstairs because one of the daughters forgot to put water in her ramen, thus burning the ramen and the bowl, which nearly exploded in the microwave. Sister Martinez ran downstairs to help the girls get the smoke out of the house, when she felt that she should make them dinner. Meanwhile, I stayed with this Hermana and she began to tell me everything about her past. She explained her pains and the reason she feels the need to wait to be baptized. She wants to have a united family in the gospel, not simply personal salvation. As I listened to her, I felt the Spirit confirm that her decision was correct, and that the Lord knows her individually as well as her heart. I held her hand and told her that I want to come to her baptism one day when she is ready.

A very cool part of the story is what sister Martinez and I each did.  I am terrible at cooking, and I never could have made a decent meal for that family, but I do enjoy listening and conversing. Sister Martinez, on the other hand, felt that she didn't know how to help by talking, but she could show love by caring for their temporal needs.

I know that everything is in the Lords timing. It is His work, after all. I have so much hope for these families we are teaching. I see them with the eyes of the Savior, not just my own eyes.

¡Yo sé que este es el evangelio y la iglesia de Jesucristo! Tengo un testimonio fuerte de José Smith y sus sacrificios innumerables para la salvación de todos los demás. Yo sé que él fue un profeta de Dios y que el Libro de Mormón es otro testamento de jesucristo. Estoy tan agradecida por esta oportunidad de servir en una forma que nunca voy a poder hacer después.

¡Les quiero mucho! Disfruten su semana!

Hermana Abram

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A Broken Heart & a Contrite Spirit

This week, we had a few investigators fall out of thin air. One is the boyfriend of one of our less active members named. For the first time ever, she let us in her house. We weren't sure what we were going to teach, but we felt the spirit tell us to be there. He sat down and he asked us, "what do I have to do to be baptized in your church?" That's an MTC story for sure :)

After quite a few trials and grief, some grief more recent than other grief, I can say that I truly love this area and this work. I struggled for a while to put my heart into this, and now that I have, I'm shocked at the capacity I have to love. I feel the spirit so strongly as we teach and as we work. I feel like the Lord has helped me see the importance of missionary work, and I feel privileged to be a part of it. As I focused these last few weeks on loving instead of mastering the language, I found my ability to speak and understand heightened. I connect so much more with these people than I initially

did and I love them from the moment I meet them. I feel the Lord has given me his eyes for a moment so I can see His children the way He does.

With recent events, I have had a broken heart. Sister Martinez, who is preparing this as her topic for a talk for Sunday, pointed out to me that the Lord asks that we come to him with a "broken heart and a

contrite spirit." Sometimes that heart will be more broken than other times. But without that brokenness, we would never feel the capacity to love nor would we ever know of the joyful, purifying power of the Jesus Christ's Atonement.

When you are hurting and your heart is broken, that's the way the Lord wants it to be! But it is only truly beneficial if you have a contrite spirit and come to Him, trusting that he will "encircle you about

eternally in the arms of His love."

We had a grief counselor come to the mission last week, and one thing he pointed out was this: "I have never met anyone who said they would trade the years of love in order to escape the grief."

Do your best today, even if your best isn't anywhere near where it was yesterday.

Les quiero mucho!

Sister Abram

P.s. We have iPads now, so we can receive emails throughout the week, we just can't reply to them until Monday.

Sent from my iPad

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"Thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people."

There aren't too many words to say this week. 

As many of you know, Sister Barnard and Sister Beckstrom from this mission were in a very bad car wreck on Friday evening. Sister Barnard passed away and Sister Beckstrom remains in critical care in the hospital.

Sister Beckstrom and I were good friends from the MTC, and we both came out together. Sister Barnard trained one of my other good friends that I came out here with. 

When we heard the news, we were at a missionary activity where we watched "Meet the Mormons" with a few investigators and many branch members. Even during times of extreme heartache, the work must go on. I will forever be grateful for the tender mercy the Lord showed us next. 

One of our investigators was at the activity. We have been praying very hard for her to receive confirmation regarding the truth of the restored gospel. When we went back in the room, she began crying and told us that she feels this is where she belongs, and she felt something tell her this is true. 

This experienced reminded me of a story in the Book of Mormon, where the Lamanites are converted to the knowledge of the truth and begin to call themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They bury their weapons and covenant/promise to never shed blood again. Then, their enemies the Lamanites (those who did not convert) come to kill them out of anger. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies bow down in prayer, and trust in the Lord, regardless of the outcome. Many of them are killed by the Lamanites, and offer no resistance. Yet some of the Lamanites see their example of trust in the Lord and their hearts are touched and they join the Anti-Nephi-Lehies in prayer. 

Then the Book of Mormon offers this comforting message: 

"And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved. And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people."

Sister Barnard and Sister Beckstrom are some of the best people I have met. I have no doubt that the Lord will smile upon them with joy as they finish their missions here in this life. I also saw how the Lord blessed another child of His with the confirmation of the Spirit. That is how I know this is the Lord's work. 

I love you all. So much. Please be safe, and please, always trust in the Lord. 

Love, 

Sister Abram 

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