March 25th

Dear Family,

Things are good. Te cuento. 

Firstly: Adriana, that lady who I said was going to be baptized last week. She was doing well with quitting smoking until one day last week when she had a really stressful day, because of family problems back home, and she smoked. Well, she stayed here in 25 de Mayo just to get baptized, and so when we helped her to understand that she`s going to have to wait a little longer to get baptized things went south. I told her before we left that the devil was going to work on her, and that she should be aware of it ``because he does not want you to get baptized``. 

The next day we saw her. She looked totally different; depressed, upset, not the same.

We went to visit her that night and she told us. ``Honestly, I`m just going to leave it all behind. I`ve already made the decision and I`m not going to change it.`` My mouth dropped. I could not believe what I was hearing.

She explained. Among a lot of other things, like how she couldn`t talk to the missionaries because her neighbors will make fun of her, the main reason surfaced that she was doing this for her son, Christian, who has problems with drugs, and that he hasn`t gotten any better. That she was mad at God.

Shocked, we tried to help her understand, one, where these feelings are coming from, and two that she should think long and hard about this before taking such a rash decision; that she should think about all the times she was feeling a change in herself and how she said that this church is different than any other, and all the times she felt the spirit.

We talked with her for a few hours and I used every scriptural, logical, spiritual tactic I could think of to help her change her mind, or at very least think about this before making a final decision.

We left her with this thought and my testimony ´´I didn`t say it would be easy, I only said it would worth it``, I told her how I knew that it WAS and IS worth it. More than that, we left a few scriptures, and prayers, and told her that we would (and have been) praying for her--alot. 

We prayed--alot.

I finally came to a conclusion. I wrote in my Journal on the very last line,

``We did all we could, and will continue to do so. I have to trust that God will let happen what needs to happen.``

Sounds dismal, no?

Well, I`ll end this. We went to visit her the next day and guess what...

she said ``I thought about what you guys said last night. I was thinking all night and all of today... and... I decided that...

I`m going to do everything you guys taught me and listen to the missionaries.``

Yes!

Bottom line: God answers prayers. Sometimes he just tests us first.

Other than that we had transfers this week. I am going to have a mini missionary for my new companion--a young man from argentina who is thinking about serving a mision and wants to try it out for a few weeks. 

God`s testing again.

I`m a bit nervous, but everything will work together for my good. I know it.

Love you all,

Elder Bradley Turek