"F" Family, 1 year and the rest of the week

Wow. This has been such an exciting week!

To start off, this 30th of July, I have officially, in every sense of the word; reached 1 Year How crazy is that!?!?!?!?! I literally haven't seen US soil in 1 year!!!! It's so amazing to think that a year has already gone by, although I'm sure Mom will refute it, I feel like I can say it really did just fly by!

And to mark 1 year successfully completed. We had a miracle grace our sector.

Although up until last week the "F" family had been perfect, this past week we came to realize the magnitude of the problems that they had.....as it turns out, their father Juan, is an alcoholic, and that his wife and children are terrified of him.......their home life is not happy at all......and on top of all of that, he wouldn't grant the permission we needed for his two youngest to get baptized.

Everyone was heartbroken.

Elder Ango and I prayed about what we could do, we talked to the bishop, the mission leaders.....I worried about them as if they were my own family!....then after much prayer and reflection, Elder Ango remembered a Mormon message he had seen once about Esther and about bravery. We watched it with them, and invited them to really testify to their Father, then we all knelt in prayer and fasted together.

Yesterday, Danitza told us that after a lot of praying on their part, and with a lot of courage, they asked their father for his permission.....which he gave.

In an e-mail I can't accurately represent the story in its entirety.....but it was truly a miracle. We're now working with Juan towards his own baptism and sealing to his family. And the three sisters will be baptized together this Saturday (for reals this time).

Hahaha other than that, I got a replacement magnet for my plaque (I lost the original magnet like......7 months ago) so that was exciting!!! And the sweater I'm wearing in the picture is new! The Reyes family gave it to me.....along with 2 shirts........and a suit......they're pretty great! We took Sister Reyes (the pensionist) and her family out to dinner the 30th to celebrate her birthday (also my 1 year mark), at a restaurant called "Norkys"......it's pretty nice here......but in all reality it's like KFC, It cost me a grand total of $15, and Ango $15. Not too shabby for a chicken and a half, 3 skewers of cow heart, fries, cake, soda, and salad.

That's about it though!!! Things are going great, but I think Ango will be headed out the 11th, we'll see!!!

Love you guys!!!

-Elder Winn

 

                                     Bottom  2 pictures are of his pensionists kitchen.