ok, as for the good news of the week...

wow. erik, i liked your email a lot about fasting and prayer. it is so true, and i´m learning a lot about the miracles that come from these two powerful tools that we have. this last week we had the opportunity to fast for our investigator Miguel (who will be baptized this coming saturday!!) and another investigator Oscar. Oscar is pretty much a "dry member" as they say. We have been trying to figure out what his worries are about being baptized. Anyway, sunday he came to church and for some reason wanted to talk with the branch president. then the branch president told us that as they were talking he told him why he didn´t want to get baptized. it was amazing because we were fasting and praying to be able to figure out what he needs. And we got the answer so straight forward it was a pure miracle. now we just need to figure out how we can help him resolve his worries. because it is a little complicated. but i know it isn´t impossible.

and another miracle. From the first day we met miguel, he had told us that he wanted to change but that he was afraid of falling. or not being able to change completely or being able to change, but not be consistent in the church and not be consistently strong to not smoke or drink. he is really humble and we told him time and time again that if he did what we asked him to do and put forth the effort, Heavenly Father would bless him and he would be able to change completely. Anyway, we stopped by not yesterday, but the Sunday before and he didn´t look so good. it showed in his face. he was really nervous and worried and told us that he came out of his house with desires to tell us he couldn´t change and that he didn´t want us to stop by anymore because he was too weak and didn´t want us to be sad when we saw him fall. anyway, we testified with the Spirit and we left him a little better. a little bit more sure. but we were still really worried for him. So we prayed and prayed and prayed for him. Then when we stopped by thursday (because of a job that he had for the week we couldn´t pass by earlier) and he came out to greet us, his face and his countenance had changed completely. He wasn´t the same Miguel that we had known for the past 3 weeks. He told us about how he "fought with God" as he put it, because he wanted to change. He said that he prayed so earnestly to be able to change. And he said that he told God that if he couldn´t change, he didn´t want to live anymore. He didn´t want to wake up the next day if he had to continue living how he had been living for his whole life. He told us that he fell asleep expecting to not wake up the next morning. He said he put his life in the hands of God. He told Heavenly Father to do what He wanted with his life. Then he told us when he woke up the next morning he knew God was telling him that he could change. He didn´t have the desire to smoke or drink alcohol anymore. He said he spent the day (because he isn´t working right now) reading the scriptures and writing his thoughts and feelings.

I will admit, I shed some tears of thankfulness because I was so touched. Those are the stories you want to hear from every investigator. That is TRUE repentance. The change has been miraculous. This is why I know the power of prayer, because it never fails. I know that I cannot help anyone, but the gospel can. The only way that I can see miracles as a missionary is relying on the Lord 100%. I´m learning every single day how to better rely on the Lord. I know our Heavenly Father is all powerful. I know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and King. I know that He sacrificed for all of us so that we could have the opportunity to experience the joy and happiness that Miguel is experiencing. And thanks to the atonement, we all will live again. How blessed we are to know these truths.

love,
hermana yingling (o sheen-leen how they say it here...haha).

p.s. a picture for fun....this is me with my hat that i get to wear. we asked for permission from the president so we don´t get skin cancer from being in the sun all day...haha. when the president saw my hat he laughed and said, "that hat is perfect" haha. i still am getting used to using such a big hat, but i´m learning to like it. haha it will be good to use after ward to teach swimming when i don´t have to be in the pool. :)