How to be 100% Sure You Are Going to Heaven When You Die

This email was sent October 31, 2016

This week was really edifying and was capped off by the baptism of Maria Antonieta last night. There's still a lot of work to be done in this area because we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we finished teaching Rosa all the commandments and she is ready to go for her baptism this upcoming Sunday. We've really focused on helping her develop good spiritual habits like studying the scriptures, praying, and going to church and partaking of the sacrament with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. She is really excited for her baptism and loves how much going to church positively influences her life. Tomorrow we are going to finish the preparations for her baptism and help her set a goal of attending the temple because baptism is only the gate that leads to the path to eternal life. 

As far as our other investigators go, we were unable to meet with the Cinturas this week, but they came to church for the first time yesterday! It was the Primary program so I'm sure they were a little confused but hopefully felt the spirit. We will have a lesson with them on Tuesday to follow up with how they feel about everything and continue to help guide them safely to the waters of baptism. 

On Friday I went on exchanges to H10 with Elder Guzman and we went finding and taught a few lessons to some solid investigators. My eyes were opened to what the most Hispanic area in the mission looks like. There are tons of apartment complexes and pretty much everyone you talk to is Hispanic. It's a Spanish missionary's dream area. It's not quite on the same level as Westgreen, but I wouldn't mind serving there at some point in my mission. 

On Saturday we stopped by an investigator named Consuelo that we hadn't seen in awhile and she actually was outside doing yard work, so she invited us in and we taught her and her daughter Delilah. Consuelo expressed a desire to find a church where she felt good. So we shared the restoration with them and invited them both to pray at the end. During Consuelo's prayer, she broke down and started crying because she felt the spirit. That was a real testimony builder as to the power of the Spirit in testifying of truth to people. 

Sunday was the baptismal service of Maria Antonieta and everything went really well. Tons of her family members came, including her sister and father who are not members. The spirit was really strong and strongest when Bishop Narváez gave the “welcome to the ward talk” and boldly suggested that her dad and sister seriously consider getting baptized. I love how bold the bishop is. It was a reminder of how I need to be more bold as a missionary. Sometimes I put up artificial barriers and lack boldness when inviting people to repent or learn more about the Gospel, but I am learning to overcome that because the worst thing that can happen is they'll say no. And if invitations are given with love and boldness, the spirit can be felt and hearts can be touched.