I usually wish I had an extra 2-3 hours to write this letter--there are so many incredible things that have happened and miracles we've seen. The biggest news though is that I got a new companion! Elder Trujillo was transferred out and I'm staying in Seagoville with Elder Nebeker from Idaho Falls, Idaho. And yes, I'm training him. Haha every time I train it makes me see my faults a little larger, but I also love the opportunity to teach a new missionary and watch him learn and grow. We've had some amazing things happen in the last few weeks, it's hard to know where to start!
Miracle #1: Maria Socorro (the woman I wrote about a few weeks ago and sent a picture of) is getting baptizd this month!! We invited her to be baptized 2 or 3 times, and every time she said that she felt good about everything we were sharing, but that she was catholic, needed to be sure, and might be ready in A FEW YEARS. On Elder Trujillo's last Monday night before being transferred, we had a lesson with her and asked if she had prayed about being baptized. She told us that it was funny we should ask, because the day at church she was sitting in sacrament meeting and this strong, wonderful feeling came over her and she new she needed to be baptized. She accepted a date for February 22!! She comes to church every week, and is helping us get appointments to teach her family as well.
Miracle #2: About a month ago, a family in the ward called us up to come give a blessing to their niece visiting from Mexico. She was about 4 years old and was very sick, and her mother being a less-active member though a blessing might help. We went over the same day, gave the blessing, and didn't hear anything about it until Elder Trujillo's last day. We were on the phone with the family so that Elder Trujillo could say goodbye, when they told us that the little girl got better almost instantly after the blessing, and if I remember right her mother came to church the next Sunday.
Miracle #3: Late last night, we got a call from a member, Sis. Oliva, asking us if we could come give a family friend a blessing. She told us that their daughter was literally on the verge of death--she had battled cancer for months, and now was having an extremely serious problem with her lungs. The situation became worse last week, and Sis. Oliva asked the family if they would be open to having the missionaries from her church give her a blessing, and they said yes. We went to the hospital this morning, and to make a long story short, the little girl was doing incredible. For lack of time I'll finish the story next week.
I've been thinking about a scripture a lot recently, 1 Timothy 4:12--"Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in purity." In the church, things tend to happen a very young age--we get baptize at 8, young men receive the priesthood at 12, we send out missionaries at 18 and 19 years old, and we usually get sealed for time and all eternity in our early 20's. This is the Lord's pattern because our Heavenly Father trusts us, and uses the weak and simple things and people to confound the wise and learned. As children of God we have more potential to be excellent than we often think or expect, if we include the Lord.
I'm so grateful to be a full-time missionary and be in this work! Love you all!
Elder Gaughan
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