Updates from Hermana Goudie: Miracles Happen!!!!!!

Buenos tardes! Como estan? Esta semana fue muy bien!

Probably one of the best weeks of my mission. We have had the coolest experiences and I have learned so much about trusting in the Lord to change plans and trusting in the Spirit during lessons because when you do it really does guide the lesson perfectly to what the investigator needs to hear.

This week we were on bikes and it was beautiful weather! it started off quite eventful with a mattress flying off the back of a car right in front of us as we were driving down the busy street John Borrow. We jumped off our bikes, looked for cars of course, and ran out and grabbed it out of the street. We roughly have been biking about 10-15 miles a day so thats awesome! And lots of hills means lots of fun :) there are so many hills here... We met SO many new people this week and I think because this week was so nice everyone was out enjoying the weather and we were on bikes and so the Lord put a lot of people in our paths this week. My companion and I have been praying for that and for the ability to find more people to teach and God answers prayers!

So coolest story ever! We were planning to go contact a referral that Elder Ludwig gave us. We were on bikes and we plugged the address into the GPS and wrote out the directions very clearly so we wouldnt get lost and went over them like 5 different times. We start biking there and get to a street where you either have to turn right or left and we didnt know which way. We called Elder Ludwig and he said to go right and 2 other people that were walking on the street told us to go left. So sister peterson decided that we were going to go left. We get to this first street and realize that we had gone too far so we decided to turn right onto another street. we then were heading up that way and I felt like we should turn right again. We drive... haha I mean bike... past this house and in my head I knew that house but I had never been there before. We kept biking and then I just said we have to turn around. We have to go see that house. I know that house. I think they are Spanish. as we were locking our bikes up I realized they werent spanish and that I had never been close to his house before but still knew that we had to go see them. This is really weird for me because my whole mission I have never felt like I knew exactly what house to go to talk to when we are spiritual harvesting (tracting). But I definately knew it this time. We knock and the door answers and they were definately not hispanic. They were African American. We prayed with them and starting talking to them about what we as missionaries do and suddenly I started talking about baptism and before I even know what I was saying I had asked them to be baptized. They all 3 said YES and were SO excited for it! They asked "when can we get baptized?" we set a date for the 15th with them and they cannot wait! they are all in their 20's and are the coolest people I have ever met! I love them :) I am so glad that I am learning how to recognize the Holy Ghost in my life and that through that God makes miracles happen. If we wouldnt have gotten lost, we wouldnt have found them. If I wouldnt have turned around, we wouldnt have met these people that are more than ready and willing to accept the gospel. After we were done teaching them we also were able to find exactly where we needed to go to get to our original plans. Sometimes our plans arent what God wants us to be doing at that time and I realized I need to remember that this is His work and I need to do it His way and when I do, miracles happen! We call these people the miracle 3! We went and saw them again last night and they told us they are still planning for the 15th and want us to come over everyday to teach them!

This week was just full of miracles. We were biking and all of our appointments fell through and we didnt know what to do so we decided just to lock our bikes up and start walking somewhere. 2 African American girls pulled up and asked if we were girl scouts... that was funny! But then a member from the English ward pulled up and introduced himself and told us that he said there are no hispanics around there. We decided just to keep walking and went to turn down this street and there was a scary dog (yes ever since I almost got attacked I am deathly afraid of big barking dogs) so we turned around and I was praying to know what we shoudl do... and this hispanic lady out of nowhere comes walking straight towards us! we were able to talk with her about to Book of Mormon and she was really cool! She also had 2 star gold grills on her front teeth.

We went to a baptism in Jacksonville this week (a 12 year old boy who was being taught my English Elders whose mom is hispanic) and met his cousin there, Mario, who is hispanic and is really cool and we are going to meet with him this week and I am really excited about it. I feel like this last week we were really able to find legit people who are ready to accept the gospel.

The Robles family, whose dad is the 1st counselor in the Branch, have a son that has a girlfriend named Madelyn who has been coming to church on and off for the past 2 years with him and has been reading the Book of Mormon diligently and been taught by missionaries before. We decided to go and meet with her last night and were able to talk with her about her situation and baptism. Her parents have told her before that they dont want her to get baptized but also that they would support her. We were able to teach a really great lesson and she decided to set a date for the 15th as well! She just has to clear it with her parents. So pray for her! She is so close!!!

Well... if you havent gotten anything out of this email just know that I know that this Gospel is true and that it can change lives! I know it and I pray for all of you everyday to keep going forward and staying strong in the gospel. I love you and you all mean so much to me!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Hermana Goudie