Prayer

It has been a pretty incredible week this week. The experience that I am about to share with you is probably the single most powerful experience that I have had thus far in my mission. We were in a lesson with an investigator named Karen. Karen had read 150 pages of the Book of Mormon and come to church twice in the last two weeks. She hadn't been able to pray. I realized that there was something prohibiting her from praying, she wasn't just "forgetting". So, we asked some questions and she finally opened up. She said that shortly before her sister passed away (10 years ago, Karen was 15 at the time) they had gotten in an argument and some ugly things were said. She has since been unable to reconcile with herself. She confessed that she hasn't been happy since. She said that she hasn't been able to pray, or even close her eyes since. She said that she would like to pray, but that she couldn't do it alone. We invited her to pray with us. She said OK, but not here. We offered to go to the church, a dedicated building and pray with her. She said O.K. We lead her into the sacrament meeting room, where we sang a hymn to calm her nerves, then knelt together and she began to pray. She began slowly and timidly, then little by little begun to pour her whole heart and soul out. We prayed and listened for over a half hour. She asked if the church was true. She asked for forgiveness of every little sin that she'd committed. She asked for comfort and peace. She told God that she would like to change her life. When she finished, we knelt silently for a little while longer, then lead her into the baptismal font room. We took our seats there in front of the baptismal font and explained that if she wanted to begin a new life, it would start there. She said she felt the spirit testifying that she needed to be baptized, and that she would like to be baptized that very day. We said that would be O.K. and were about to pull out the spontaneous baptism (complete with an interview and the 2 lessons that we still needed to teach her) but in the end she decided that she would rather take a few days to think it over and invite her friends and family. It was really just incredible how strong the spirit was as she offered that prayer. I felt I could almost see the angels that were ministering to her on the other side of the veil. 

In other news, I officially became a Nicaraguan resident today. Elder Pocasangre painted an investigator's nails, so that she could look pretty for church the next day. We killed and feathered about 20 chickens on Friday (sorry, I forgot the camera that day). Alexander and Liliana are very excited about their wedding on Saturday. 

I don't know if transfers this week are going to affect me or not, but if they do, it's going to be a pretty great last week!

Love,
Elder Stephen Watts