Brownsville, Letter 11

From left to right: Sister Riley, Sister Clarke, Yasmin Reguenes (on her baptism day), Brother Reguenes (recently reactivated), their daughter, and a brother from the ward who performed the baptisms.

Yasmin's Baptism!

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

This week was a wonderful and special week! It was filled with miracles. I got to eat octopus for the first time this week (what an interesting experience), and the tarantulas are starting to come out in full force for the summer! It's been an exciting week!

Tarantula!

Eating octopus for the first time! (Looks like chocolate covered pretzels.)

She did actually eat it, she says.

Yasmin Reguenes was baptized yesterday at 3! It was a beautiful experience! The ward came together beautifully to support her and her family. Her baptism has been a long time coming! And her family and our ward happy were so happy to see her take that beautiful step. Sister Riley and I were able to sing Yasmin's favorite song at her baptism, a song that is already very special to me, "Love One Another." It was a really special and tender experience, and the Spirit was so strong. We could feel that our Father in Heaven is so happy with Yasmin's decision to be baptized, and we know it is going to be such a strength to their family to have an extra measure of the Spirit in their home. Yasmin is amazing and we love her so much!

After Yasmin's Baptism

This week I've been learning about angels and spiritual gifts. I've been able to see this week that we really do have angels with us as we go about doing our work. We had an experience this week with that. We went to go visit a referral, and the neighborhood was pretty sketchy. We went around the back of the house to get to the door and there was this huge dog there. We see a lot of dogs here in Brownsville, strays and otherwise, haha but this one was really ferocious. It was tied to a tree in the yard, and as we walked toward the yard the dog lunged at us. It was huge and growling and looked like it was going to eat us alive, and I wasn't quite sure if the tie holding it to the tree was going to hold it! I walked into the yard and it lunged at us again. Sister Riley is scared of dogs so she stood at the fence while I knocked the door. We were able to find this great potential named Ezequiel, and teach him about the Book of Mormon, which he loved. He has a really sweet family and we were able to teach him a good lesson there on his porch, and the whole time the dog was barking and growling nonstop. At the end of the lesson, we asked if we could leave him with a word of prayer, and so I started the prayer, but the dog was barking so loudly it was hard to hear the words or feel the Spirit. All of the sudden I just had the prompting to pray for Heavenly Father to silence the dog, and so I started to pray in my heart that He would, and I had a firm faith that He would if it was fitting. All the sudden, the dog stopped barking. We could hear it almost choking, as if it was trying to bark but couldn't. As soon as the dog stopped, the Spirit came so strongly to where we were standing. It filled my heart and I could feel its power working according to our faith. When the prayer ended and we walked away, I learned Sister Riley had had the same prompting to pray for the dog to be quieted. We sensed that it was almost as if someone was there quieting and calming the dog. We felt we had angels with us, not only keeping us safe but helping us when we needed it. It was a really special experience that Heavenly Father would allow us to feel His great power with something as small as quieting a giant dog so that one of His children could feel His spirit. 

Happy Sister Missionaries!

This week was a wonderful week, and filled with lots more miracles. I'm sorry this week's email is short and sweet, but being a missionary is as special as it's always been. It's getting hot out there though, even though this heat is nothing compared to what's coming! But I am happy to be in the Lord's service 24/7. That is a great blessing!

I love you all, ¡les quiero muchísimo! Have a great week!

Hermana Clarke 

Write to Rachelle at rachelle.clarke@myldsmail.net

This shot was taken in the library where they read and write their weekly emails on Mondays (PDay).

Happy Sunday!

Morning Prayer