A couple of great experiences this week. Changes, Buses and Miracles

Well... I have now traveled a total of more than 16 hours in buses this week. I had to go to renew my Costa Rican ID (I'm officially old in the mission) and later in the week I had to go back to San Jose to pick up my new companion. Elder Palencia headed off to Limón and now I'm with another Salvadoreño named Elder Valles. He has more time than me in the mission, but not by a lot. I have always had more time than my companions in the mission, so this is going to take some getting used to!

This week has been good though! One crazy experience I had was when I was walking to an appointment when out of nowhere a man came out of his house and said, "You guys!!" and then said very quietly, "I need to listen to you guys one day..." and so I responded, "Why not right now!?" and then he let us in and explained that he has always wanted to go to church with us, but has been to scared to just walk in alone. He has studied a whole bunch about the church and even listed all of the BYUs that there are. haha It's not every day that somebody takes the initiative to find you and not the other way around! 

After that crazy miracle we kept walking up the mountain to where we were headed originally. (a little background info before this story is that the whole mission and church members in the country did a fast to pray for angels to help us in the mission work) So as we get to the top of the mountain we see this one lady run into her house and I think to myself that we have to contact her! So we knock on the door and she comes out and says, I know you guys!! and lets us in. As we sit down she starts telling us that a long time ago she accepted visits from the missionaries and was reading the Book of Mormon but never went to church. Then to start the lesson I asked if I could say a prayer. Before the prayer she said, "After the prayer I need to tell you guys something really important." So I said the prayer and immediately after she said, "Do you believe in angels?" Immidiately my mind started racing, thinking "What does she mean?? does she know about the fast?? Is this a trick?!" after asking the question she said, "when most people think of angels they think of wings and feathers with halos... but I don't. to me... you are angels. The Lord knew that I needed your help and he sent you to me."

It was such an eye opener... sometimes I am guilty of thinking that missionary work would be so easy if angels appeared to people and prepared them to accept the lessons. But if I look at it as this lady did, I can do the exact same that an angel can do. I just need to help!