Lessons in Patience

Where to begin...
Let's start with last Monday. A week from today, on the last P-day during our zone and district classes, one of the Zone Leaders made an interesting statement. He had known that we had all had a very difficult week, and had talked to the mission president about it. President Wilhelm said that he was aware of our situation. He told the Zone Leaders of three things that are necessary to have success in the mission: Desire, The will of the Lord, and Work. Pres. Wilhelm said that he knew that the missionaries in our zone have the desire to work; for that is why he put us here. And of course it's in the will of the Lord for us to have success in the mission. The only thing left is Work. Now, we have been workin our lil' fannies off this last month, and haven't been having a ton of success. Pres. Wilhelm told the Zone leader that we had met the requirements for success, and the following week (last week) we would have success... we would begin to see the fruits of our labor, and everyone in the zone would have a family to teach. With that being said, we separated into districts, and we gave each other a blessing of strength/comfort.
This week we certainly were blessed... We found one family that truly were sufficiently humbled to receive the Gospel. We had an awesome lesson with him. His name is Luis. He lives with his partner Ingrid (not married, but has plans to!), child Javiera, and various other family members. He had participated in church activities in the past, such as weekly soccer games, but had never attended church. He has a very strong faith in God, and prays every day. He is going through some difficulties in his life (we didn't ask what) and was praying for the strength and support to carry on. That's when we knocked the door. He let us in right away, and we taught a very spiritual lesson on the Plan of Salvation. When we finished, we knelt down, and had him offer the closing prayer. When he ended his prayer, he began to weep a little bit. That is not to say that the spirit induced such a reaction, as President Kimball taught, but it was definitely felt in their house. Only he and his wife participated, but the mother of Ingrid and various other family members quietly listened in the background. We will teach them again later on in the week.
Lesson Learned: Kneeling to pray truly invites the spirit to work unrestrained. I recall a lesson we had when we invited someone to pray on their knees (arrodillarse? Oracion de Rodillas) and they turned us down saying that they don't need to take a position to humble themselves. A very contradictory statement, in my opinion. Failing to show humility, but claiming to have it in your heart. Needless to say, that person did not receive their answer, and we did not bother to pass by their house again.

E'Horspool