The subject line is a quote from
Manuela, she is preaching the Gospel to her whole family and when they
cite family as an obstacle she tells them this, ha. She is so great.
Manuela is my topic this week. I have come to love
her and her family so much, I just can't explain it. She has signed up to
feed us 4 times in the past 2 weeks. Really, she doesnt have the
resources to do so, we had a wonderfully humble meal of soup and cheese
quesadillas, but there is so much love and I just loved every minute of
it.
Manuela taught me something so important this week.
The value of self sufficiency. Here in Mexico, the Church emphasizes
this a lot becuase there are a ton of people who have nothing, but don't
want to do anything to improve their situation. Manuela doesn't have
much, but she is willing to work her tail off. So this past week a
Sister in the ward fronted the cost of the supplies, and Manuela made
Gorditas to sell for the Comida on Saturday and we went to help her out.
I witnessed miracles.
First of all, Manuela woke up at 6 in the morning to
get everything ready, so when we arrived to help it was already done
and she made us eat, ha. She called all of her family and told them that
she was making gorditas and she had several orders. We left for a
couple of citas, and we came back for Comida and the house was crazy.
Miracle number one, her Sister came to help her. Seriously, that is a
miracle, for a long time they were not talking. Miracle number two, we
had great success. We actually ran out of supplies and had to run to the
store to get more. Miracle three, Manuela....She was so nervous to do
everything right, but she was so happy. She was singing hymns at the top
of her lungs, even though she couldn't remember all of the words, we
were all helping and we are laughing hysterically because Manuela felt
like she had to do everything and was all over the place. And finally we
sat down to eat together and it was just like family. Manuela has
confidence and she has faith and she recognizes the value of work. This
opportunity brought her family closer together and helped her provide
for their needs. And Manuela paid her tithing and knows that she will be
blessed for that. It was awesome. Oh, another miracle, while we were
cooking and eating I didn't see one cockroach, ha.
But I also realized that the importance of self
sufficiency is not just in physical terms. It is more important
spiritually speaking. Manuela has her own experiences, her own faith,
her own testimony. She has a personal desire to go to church and doesn't
rely on us. And that is my goal for the mission, I don't want people to
be converted to the missionaries, I want them to be converted to the
Gospel and be Spiritually Self Sufficient.
Amo a mi mision y les amo todos.
Hermana Dudley
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