I'm going to just warn you right off the bat this email might not be as long as the rest because I just realized that the little messages my family sent me on an SD card are not only sounds (as they played on our little dvd player) but they are videos! So I have been watching those for a little bit and I absolutely love them! Thank you so much everyone! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to you too! (a little late but I've heard that so much in the last 10 minutes that I felt like saying it too) This holiday season could not have been more amazing. Thank you to everyone for making it so special for me despite how far away I am. I'm getting around to the thank you notes but please be patient with me. Anyway, about the week:
We have been working with a man named Alberto who is from Barcelona and was baptized last year but went inactive around September. He is amazing. He has gone through so much and made so many sacrifices to be a member of this church and I am so amazed. When he was baptized his family said that he was disgracing the family and that if he joined the church they would no longer consider him a member of the family. As he was telling us this sad story he just said "I knew I was doing what is right and I told them that I wasn't trying to hurt them but that this church is true and I couldn't deny it." He always tells us that the trials he has gone through since his baptism has just proved more and more that this church is true otherwise Satan wouldn't have tried so hard to lead him astray. He hasn't been able to come to church because he couldn't afford a metro pass so we helped him come to church and I wish you could have seen his face when we told him that we would help him and then when we visited Saturday evening he told us that he already had his white shirt ironed and ready to go. He was so excited. One day when he was having a hard time this week, we felt prompted to share with him Helaman 5:12 and he was really touched, he stared at it for a little bit and just said "this scripture was written for me." It just affirmed to me how in any moment of hardship the scriptures really can speak to us. They were written for that very purpose. If we don't use them to get advice and to grow then they are a waste, they have no purpose.
Another cool experience this week was when a metro contact actually called us and asked if we could meet then when we went to visit her on a bench she told us that she invited her friend. We ended up teaching them both and they were both GREAT. Oh and funny story the friend ended up being one of our investigator/really good friend's aunt. Which we didn't find out until Juan Carlos (investigator) invited us over to eat and asked his aunt if she could come to because he knows that we need a third woman. Small world.
Hermana Swenson went to a restaurant called Creps de Barcelona for lunch one day this week. It was delicious! I got a smoked salmon with cream cheese crepe. Ya I'm living the life. It didn't help much with the diet we started last week but...meh it's worth it ;)
Oh that reminds me, Hermana Swenson and I started this diet thing where we get points if we do certain things like drink a certain amount of water, eat a certain amount of fruits and veggies, exercise no soda, no treats, etc. and you keep track of the points each day and we are doing a little competition it's super funny.
The familia lopes have a baptismal date for this week. We are teaching them the word of wisdom tomorrow, they already know about it and they are not super accepting but if we can help them understand why it is important than I know they will be ready this week otherwise we will have to push it back but either way please keep them in your prayers. Thank you (Vando "Vandoo", Zuleide "Zoo-lay-gee", Maria Laura, and Pedro (Lorena is 7 but you can pray for her too)
Thank you for all of your love and support. This email turned out longer than expected as always. Sorry, but your sweet for reading/skimming it :)
Lots of love,
Germana Tuttle (I think that's how you spell it in Catalá not 100% sure)
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