I Will Go and Do : Week 76: #LightTheWorld

Hey everybody! Elder Warner and I have had a great week in the frozen tundra of Bridgeport, CT! The snow finally came this week and the weather has gotten a lot colder. Our investigators are doing well and we are working with some super awesome new people that I am very excited to tell you about.

Last week, I mentioned a lady named Marjorie that we picked up as a new investigator. She came to church with her 3 kids/step-kids. Again this week things went very, very well with Marjorie. We began teaching her 3 kids: Rooby (12), Derby (10), and Irvince (6). You could definitely say that they are a little "wild", but we are loving teaching them all. They were unable to come to church this week, but Marjorie has shown great desires to become closer to God. She even cooked us some awesome Haitian "legume" after a lesson this week! She's the best!

Wednesday was a super awesome day for Elder Warner as we got to go to the Hartford Temple to see one of his recent converts receive her endowments. We had a great trip to the temple. As I was thinking of my own converts, I gave a couple of them a call and found out some great news about Tony Collazo from Worcester. He got engaged to his girlfriend Krissia who introduced him to the church and last week they both received their endowments. Also, they will be getting sealed together for time and eternity on January 20th. What a great joy it is to see people you taught in the beginning of your mission thriving in the gospel and continuing to have their lives changed. I am so excited for Tony and his fiance. They remind me a lot of my own parents story.

We were going through the ward list visiting all the members we didn't know and saw a huge miracle. We stopped by the home of the Ochoa family. When we rang the doorbell, a lady came out on the porch of the second floor, saw us, and said, "Elders!" She ran down to the door to let us in. We were both so excited. It turned out to be Sister Ochoa who is a life long member, but hasn't been very active for the past 10 years. She used to take herself and her 4 kids to the Spanish Ward in Bridgeport but her children didn't like to go to the Spanish speaking ward. Her husband is not a member and so over time she just stopped taking her kids. We later found out that just earlier this week she had been telling her oldest son that he needed to be a good example to his three younger sisters and that got her thinking about what kind of example she was being for her children. She realized that she needed to improve and prayed that God would help her to be a good example to her kids. She then told us how we were an answer to her prayers. This Sunday they all came to church and loved it! Donald (10), her oldest son, is unbaptized because his father doesn't agree with the church but we hope to start teaching him soon.

Things really could not be any better. We continue to find many new people to teach each week. Vernice is still doing great and we set a baptismal date with her this week for December 30th. She has been stuck in New York due to family problems, but she continues to show great desires. Claudette is doing well too and we are striving to see her baptized on December 30th as well. The Lord is blessing us abundantly and we are so excited. Remember to #LightTheWorld this Christmas season, it really is such a special time! Love ya all.

Love,
Elder Gutierrez