Hermana Mary DeWitt: Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year! Highlights from this week:

We went over and visited Benjamin on Wednesday! Pablo came with us and it went super well! We talked about the Plan of Salvation and then started talking about baptism! He told us that he prayed about the Book of Mormon and feels like it's true, but that he needs a little more time to feel ready for baptism, because he's been part of a different church his whole life and being baptized would require a lot of life changes! We invited him to pray about a baptismal date and promised him that the Lord will help him pick a day when he'll be ready! We're so excited for him!

We've also been meeting with Fabiola more often to keep strengthening her because Satan is really working hard on her! She's been having nightmares about drowning in the baptismal font, and just feeling completely overwhelmed whenever she thinks about her baptism :(she wants to keep pushing her date back (this time, she said "can we wait until May?") but thankfully, we were able to comfort her and keep her date for January 15th! We'll have to keep helping her move forward and not run away from her baptism, so prayers for Fabiola would be much appreciated!!!

Friday was New Year's Eve! We had dinner with Sister Goetz, who made the CUTEST decorations! We had hats, crowns, and the most beautiful red velvet cupcakes! She's the sweetest lady ever!

Sunday was amazing! Xochitl and her family came to church (yay!), Fabiola came (yay!), and Benjamin came for the first time ever! (YAY!) He really seemed to like the hymns, the testimonies, and the Spanish Sunday School!...which Hermana Shumway and I had to teach, because the teacher didn't show up...

After church, we went and visited Julia, who had some friends over! We met Maria and Ana, who were super interested in learning more! We taught the Restoration and talked about the Witnesses of the Gold Plates, and how they never denied that the Book of Mormon was true because they had received that witness - then, Maria said "but...how do I get that same witness?" We were SO excited to answer her question, oh my goodness! We talked about Moroni's promise and how each of us can receive a witness of the Book of Mormon through prayer, and they were all super excited about it and said that they would do it!

Personal Study Excerpt:

D&C 103:12-13 - "For after much tribulation...cometh the blessing. Behold, this is the blessing which I have promised after your tribulations...your redemption, and the redemption of your brethren, even their restoration to the land of Zion, to be established, no more to be thrown down."

--during our trials, it's really hard to see how they'll be a "small moment" [D&C 121:7] and how the blessings will make it all worth it - but if we try to see with an eternal perspective, the Lord will help us see the blessings in disguise.

Something that I've started doing in my personal prayers is asking the Lord for the ability to see with an eternal perspective - to see the blessings in disguise - the Lord wants us to see our life the way He sees it: full of both good times and bad times that create a beautiful earthly experience of learning, growing, and trusting in the Savior. In your personal prayers, I invite each of you to specifically ask the Lord to bless you with eyes to see the blessings in disguise that are all around you! I promise you'll find joy and peace knowing that God has a beautiful plan for each of you.

Love you all and have a great week!

- Hermana DeWitt