Elder Ralphs gives the 'thumbs-up' as he assists in a ocean baptism in Belize.

Heavenly Father knows

...As they told us all of that I couldn't help but think of you, Mom and Dad, and about your purpose as our parents, and about all of the love support and help that I felt when I was back home and still feel now. We talked with the family for about 45 minutes and it was one of the most spiritual Family Home evenings that I've ever been in. But the best part of this whole story was at the very end. 

Monica, who had tears on her cheeks, told Elder Cernades and me about how, not but an hour before we came, that she went to her room and prayed because of the hard day that she was having.  And she told us that in her prayer she had asked God to send the missionaries to her house to come help her out of it.  When she said that I started to cry a little bit too.

That experience is one that I'll always remember, and it reminded me that I don't deserve any credit for what we do because it was God who knew what was needed and when it was needed.

The Lord trusts us to do the work

         Elder Trujillos and I had an awesome experience around 3 days ago, we were walking back from a lesson and we saw this guy standing next to his door so we thought why not, and we went to talk to him. As we visited with him, we found out that he's read the whole Libro de Mormon and prayed about it and gained a testimony.  We were kind of shocked just because after days and days of inviting people to read it and pray to get a testimony, it actually works!

            We have no idea how he got a libro de mormon but he's now taking the lessons and his son's girl friend is as well, and both said they want to be baptized. It really strengthened my testimony that no matter how little Spanish you can speak or no matter how new you are, the Lord trusts you to do his work and he will guide you to those that are prepared to hear the gospel.  It was amazing.

La llegada

....We are happy to announce that your son, Elder Ralphs, has safely arrived to our mission. The night of his arrival, we enjoyed getting to know him in a dinner at the mission home, and we can tell that he is a great missionary.

We are grateful for his sacrifices and your sacrifices to allow him to be here. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will pour out his blessings upon your family. We are very happy to have your son with us and we know he will bless the lives of many people here in the great country of El Salvador.

 

He has been assigned to the Acajutla 2 area in the Sonsonate Stake. His companion is Elder Trujillo from Mexico. We expect to see many miracles from this companionship.

 

Blessings and comfort

 My companion and I were able to give blessings of comfort to these elders.  It was an amazing experience. It has really hit me after helping with those that the Lord really does work through us.  He uses us to do His will on earth and we stand in a sense as proxy for him when we give blessing to those that need His comfort.

The last person we taught was an older man from Argentina he had just been baptized like less then a year ago. When we first got in there it was kinda tough to understand what he was saying, but we were able to pick up on it. 

We talked about El Salvador and the political situation there and his family. We while we were speaking to him, he told us that he found it hard to find happiness in all of the scary things that were happening in the world. It was amazing how Elder Going and I were able to share scriptures and our testimonies about how when we are doing as the Lord wants, we don't have to worry about what is going on in the world.  That made me even more excited to go to El Salvador and Belize!

Navidad in the MTC

I'm so glad that I get to be here during this Christmas season.  We've had the BYU men's choir come for devotionals - they are incredible.  We've had members of the 70 come and speak to us and I am so excited for the Christmas Eve and Christmas devotionals.

I am so grateful for this season of giving and I am so grateful for the gift that the Savior gave to us. I can't wait to teach about His gift of the atonement with all those whom I meet in El Salvador and Belize.

Ahh, Espanol...

Hey family it's been another great week at the MTC.  In case you didn't get my quick email yesterday, they told us that the MTC in Guatemala is way over capacity with the new influx of missionaries, so they´re going to have us stay here for the whole 9 weeks.   I'm kind of disapointed, but it is what it is.  I am happy that I get to spend more time with my district here and I'll be here to listen to the general authorities who will speak to us on Christmas.

This last week I've been working on Spanish a ton.  Some days are better then others, but I'm getting better. I don't know if I told you, but my first Friday here we got our first investigator "Hano" and taught him our first lesson in Spanish, it was ridiculously tough.

Since then we've finished teaching him and now we have two more investigators Fabian and Juan we've improved a ton since our first time teaching. The worst part about teaching in Spanish right now is knowing what they're saying and then you know exactly what you should say in English but you have no idea how to say it in Spanish it drives me crazy.   I love the MTC and I'm glad I'm here. I love you guys!