MARVIN!

Here we go folks; another great week!

I hate the "best for last" rule. It blows. I am very much not patient so I will not put you through that turmoil. 

MIRACLES continue to happen. Do you remember Marvin? We met him on the bus back in October. The first time I only gave him a little business card with a thank you note for giving us his seat. Ok, I also commented on his cross neclace and said, "we love Jesus, too!" Either way, no communication. Just the card. The second time we bumped into him he came up and sat by us. We were so happy to see him again and jumped at the opportunity to invite him to the big International Dinner we were having the next day. We gave him the flyer, and gave him our phone number, and talked and had a great conversation before he had to get off at his stop. Next day came and he didn't show up to the party. I was super bummed. He lives out in East Boston so I thought for sure that we wouldn't be able to find him again. I prayed and prayed that we would find him again until one day we were visiting someone in Chelsea and we saw him sitting outside of the house next door! OH MY LANTA I was happy! This time I was fully committed to getting all of the information I could. I immediately told him that we teach English classes, something that I had wanted to tell him when we first met, and being a new resident to the US he was super stoked to get this opportunity! We asked him about his church and found out that he is very happy going to a youth-group in Boston, so we set up the days for the classes, got his phone number, and said goodbye. He began coming to the chapel three times a week for English class and every time he brought more friends with him. It was great! The elders were coming, too, and we were getting excited to invite Marvin to learn about the gospel. Then he got too busy with work and stopped coming. END of a great opportunity.

On Saturday we had a lot to do but weren't sure of when we should do it. We finally decided to drop by a friend's house in the morning, which was perfect and we got an appointment for the next day. As we headed to destination #2 I questioned myself and said, "I think we should go to Caraballo... she lives closer anyway". So we just immediately changed course and headed to her house. There was no parking in front of her house so we stopped a little ways up the street. We hadn't prepared anything to share with her yet so we sat in the car and found a few scriptures and ideas, and prayed, and then finally got out of the car. As we did I turned around and leaning on the wall of the building next to us was MARVIN!

I have never been so happy in my life. He said the same thing. We greeted each other and I introduced him to my companion. He told us he had just quite his job and he has a lot of free time. He didn't say anything about english classes but rather about the church! I am so so so dang committed to teaching him about the gospel and I will not let this opportunity pass. 

Complete miracle. This has happened a few times, and I know that if I were to watch more closely I would see God's hand directing our path more often.

What else has happened. Well, here's a cool thing I learned this week. I just shared it with my mamma.

I was reading in 1 Nephi 15-16 this morning! There is a really good talk from the Ensign called "A New Writing" and it takes you through these chapters and points out different key points. I marked little notes in my scriptures so that I always remember the talk and this morning I was flipping through it and noticed something cool.

Keep in mind that there is order in all things. Maybe you're not supposed to do Project A till you finish project B, or maybe you're right on track. Maybe you only need to try a little, or maybe you need to push harder. I know we're all aware of all of how much we need to prioritize our lives but just think for a moment about WHAT it is that we should be prioritizing. How do we figure out what we really need to do? There are a million sources available to us that help with this. I've had a blog for years and it's helped me piece things together and share with others.  I've received and given away great books, many from my dad, that have changed my life for the better and answered my biggest questions. But I'd like to add on another favorite of mine. My true "Go to". My guide. On the top of the first page I wrote "textbook for life". It's called the Book of Mormon. It's small, it's nifty, it's organized, it looks great on the shelf next to my Bible and it feels even better when their both open side-by-side.  My recommendation: take ANY question to God first. He's smarter than your boss, your neighbor, your spouse, your mom, and he's definitely smarter than you. Ask him what he thinks you should do. Then just start to ACT and see how you feel. You'll never know if the seed is good or bad until you plant it. You can always pull a bad weed, but you can never pick fruit off a tree you never planted. 

Well that's all over the place. Hopefully it makes sense. I never have time to re-read and edit! Hopefully my sister dear does it for me :p

Love you all!

Happy new year and make it a great week!