New Area and New Companion

​This is my new companion hermana Itzi Ramirez! :) shes 19, and has only 3 months in the mission! im senor companion this transfer :)

Hey Everyone! :)

My new area is Juarez! And it is HUGE! Literally everything is bigger—the streets, houses, everything. It's so different from my other area haha, but I love it. I'm super happy and excited to be here. Hermana Ramirez is so sweet and fun and I already love the members and the area. This week we have seen some pretty amazing things. My faith and spiritual strength and confidence is building so much.

This past Monday before I came into the area with Hermana Ramirez she and her old companion, Hermana Zertuche, were in "Soriana" and a young man named Abner helped them with printing out pictures. He had some questions for them so they contacted him. He didn't trust them enough yet to give them his address and he didn't know how his family would react to having them over, but he said he would meet them at the Church building so they could teach him. The first day I came into the area was Tuesday and the appointment was set for 4:00 P.M. Hermana Ramirez and I went and waited and waited and thought he wasn't going to come... but then we saw him. He came, and he had a lot of questions! We began by giving him a tour of the church (just before Hermana Ramirez showed me around too) :) and taught him a bit about the organization of the Church.

This was the first lesson that Hermana Ramirez and I taught together, and the Spirit was so strong! We spoke about Jesus Christ and his baptism and His Gospel as we presented to Abner the baptismal font. He accepted right then and there to be baptized on the 8th of February.

 

Throughout this lesson with Abner he expressed to us his desire to be closer to God, his desire to follow Him and be forgiven of his sins, and his desire to be happy and live a  life filled with purpose. We couldn't believe how sincere and earnest this young man was. And it was so cool to see as we taught that the gospel had the answers to all of his questions and desires.

 

The gospel is the answer to true and everlasting happiness. Applying it is how we truly can achieve any and all good things in our lives, it's how we can become more like Jesus and be forgiven of our sins. It's how we can have a true change of heart and a desire to change and live in accordance with the will of our Father in Heaven. His will should be ours. And when we have enough confidence in Him to care more about His will than our own, or even that of others, that's when we will be endowed with power and a strength beyond our own to withstand every fiery dart of Satan.

Abner is really smart and is progressing really fast. We are already about half way through on the Plan of Aalvation. Abner said the closing prayer after we finished the first lesson on the Plan of Salvation and what he said I wrote down because I wanted to remember it. He said, as he prayed, something like this: "Father, I think I'm on the the right path, and I'm not going to leave it. You're going to see not just by my words but by my actions..." Abner knows he's on the right path, and he's determined to show his Father in Heaven by his actions that he's not going to leave it because he  knows it's true. His determination to follow Christ has inspired me and it made me really think about what I am going to do to show my Father in Heaven that I too am willing to follow His Son in the path He has given us that will lead us back Home? What more am I willing to do? What am I willing to give up?... What's more important?

I know with all of my heart that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the answers we need in our lives, and when applied, we'll be given the strength we need each day to stand tall as examples of the believers in all times and in all places. I invite you to think of what you are willing to do to show Heavenly Father, by your actions, that you are willing to follow Him as I was inspired to do by our investigator Abner.

May we all let our lights shine before the world, (Matthew 5:14-16) and allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ heal our hearts and spirits.

With Much Love,

 

Hermana Olivia Nicolosi

 :) His baptism was just yesterday after church. He's 11-years-old. He's so cute and really smart :) Hermana Ramirez (my new comp) and Hermana Zertuche had been teaching him before I came. 

​me, hna ramirez, hno martín, luis, his mom neri, and his brother julio