Miracles

Dear All,

This has been quite a week. The biggest events happened in the last couple of days.

On Sunday, for the first time the entire Yuman family came to church! They're a family of 8, with only one who's too young to be baptized. This was the first time for the mom, the rest had come at least once to church to see what it's all about. That means that we have officially set a date with all of them to be baptized on the 17th of February!

On Monday, we had a Family Home Evening with them in the home of Hno. Ramos, our ward mission leader. He's amazing, and their families get along really well. The lesson was really cool. We watched a video about the conversion of Wilford Woodruff, which is in the Doctrine and Covenants videos. It's really good, and you should all watch it. It's called "The Great Apostasy." The spirit was really strong. Hno. Ramos gave his testimony, and it was really powerful. Hno. Yuman told us that he'd started looking for a church to take his family to about 3 months before the Elders knocked on his door, and nobody from any other church had visited him. It was really cool.

Then, yesterday morning, Hno. Ramos called us. He told us that Fernando, one of the Yumans' children, had suffered an accident early that morning. The tire of a bus passed over his foot, and broke bones in his heel and his shin. Apparently, the family trusted Hno. Ramos enough to call him and tell him about what had happened, even before they called us. He told us to call them and to get some members to go and visit them. We called the Luna family, and they gave the young man a priesthood blessing and spent most of the afternoon with the family, laying aside their personal affairs.

We arrived to the Yumans' house about 5:30pm, and we had the most spiritual lesson I've had on my entire mission. We talked about being strong in our trials, and that the Lord strengthens us, and gives us trials to purify us. Talking about this, we usually use the analogy of Gold. To become beautiful, gold has to pass through a fiery furnace, and be hammered and polished with abrasive tools. The father of the family said "You mentioned that trials are what polish us and purify us like gold. Well, if we're going to be like Gold, we want to be 24-karat!" He cried during the lesson, out of joy. He also cried giving the closing prayer, which is rare for him. He's a very positive person, and he's already talking about the things the Lord wanted him to learn from this experience. He said it was so his wife could see the unity and love in the Church, because she had only attended once. I am so amazed by the faith, humility and love of this family. They are so united as a family, and it's fantastic. They are amazed with the love and unity in the ward, and I am sure that they will be a fantastic family, and do much good in the church. Their oldest child is 15, so they can all still serve missions. They are really what you call a tender mercy of the Lord. The thing that amazed me the most was what Fernando asked them while he was in the hospital. He asked 2 questions: "Oh no, how am I going to get to church this Sunday?" and "Will I still be able to be baptized?" My jaw almost hit the floor. It's the first thing that the family asked us when we entered their home yesterday. I love this family so much, and I admire them, that they are so strong and firm in the faith, even before becoming members of the Church! And, I know they have the faith to be able to receive miracles. I'll be talking to President Brough tomorrow to see if Fernando will still be able to be baptized with his cast on.

Aside from the miracle, it's been a pretty good week. Nothing much to report, really. We discovered a new neighborhood yesterday where we can go and contact today, and get the work moving along even more. This is such a fantastic area!
I love you all. Never forget the Lord. He never forgets you!

Sincerely,
Elder Banks