An Old Yellow House

played futbol with this young sprout. he was the only one brave enough to take a pic with the american haha we played with about 5 other niños

25 Feb 2013

Pretty intense little week! Not sure if you have heard already, but they will be splitting the Mexico Hermosillo Mission in two and creating the Mexico Obregon Mission! this will take place in Julio, but that was pretty big news for me! It snowed some more in Cananea. Although it was droppin a few snowflakes here and there, there was a bunch of hail and cold cold rain. At one point in the day the wind was blowing so hard that chunks of ice were flying sideways and stinging our faces. Hah! Good thing about Cananea snow storms is they never stay for too long. the clouds left the next day and the sun straight melted all the remaining snow. Cananea was a swamp of mud. we had some fun with that!

We have been working with Luis, his wife Dennia and their son Bruno. They are a sweet family with huge potential and great faith. Luis is exercising his patience while waiting for an "answer" to his prayers. He is searching for his testimony in regards mostly to Joseph Smith and the Restauration. He loves our visit and makes us feel like part of the family. PLEASE keep this family in your prayers! In my missionaries opinion i believe they are part of the "white" in the phrase "the field is white ready to harvest". At least that is what I hope for! :)

I had a very special, spirit guiding, personal experience this week during one of my morning studies! I have been reading a book called The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox. It is a super awesome easy read that I look forward to reading every morning and night. Anyways, I woke up right at 6:30, turned on the heater and started reading. After a half hour or so reading this book, I turned to another great read, you may have heard of it, its called The Book of Mormon. I was reading in Alma and it was like BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! haha like i was just reading a list of answers that my Father in Heaven had prepared for me. But this isnt the super sweet part. I woke my companion up at 10 and we began to plan for our day. Elder Liddle began this planning session with a prayer and during this prayer I saw in my mind very clearly an old yellow house. A house that Elder Villegas and I had visited one of my first weeks here in Mexico. We knocked the front door and nobody answered, and we never went back. It was a clear as day. To tell you the truth I really thought nothing of it. None the less, I suggested we visited this house first thing after leaving our apartment.

We walked up to this battered old yellow house and knocked the door. We were greeted by 14 year old Mayra and her Mother Gracia. The mother is an inactive member who is a relatively recent convert, and hasn't been to church in 5 years. We shared a quick message about faith (Ether 12:4,6,12). We concluded with our testimonies and while testifying I expressed how I had a special feeling this morning, a feeling where we needed to come to this house but I didn't know why! In response to our message Graicia explained to us, through her watered eyes, that she had quit her job 2 days before our visit! She had worked at this job for 5 years, and was unable to attend church because of it. She told us that she had nearly forgotten about church and if it wasn't for us and our visit she probably would have never found the desire to return back to church. She said thank you probably 40 times before we left!

Never before on my mission had I had such a spiritually guided experience. I was glad I was able to be a worthy receptor of the spirit on that morning, as I was following mission rules and studying as I should have been. I was glad we visited that old yellow house, and were able to help the lives of la familia Vasquez! I have said it before and I'm sure I will say it countless times throughout these next 18 months, there is no greater privilege than to be a missionary for this church. The days are tough and the work is hard, but there is no greater joy we missionaries are able to feel daily through our labors. I love my church, my God, my Redeemer and my family! My brother Elder Urry and his family are in my prayers this week. love you buddy, smile through through the trails, you are the man! Have an incredible week

-Elder Farrow

P.S. I have taken missionary-sleep-talking to a whole other level. This week Elder Liddle woke me up at 3 in the morning as I was on my knees, next to my bed on the cold tile floor, saying a prayer out loud, in Spanish! hahah I dont remember a thing. I love it.