Hey everybody what a good/stressful/alright week,

So this past week we had some weird experiences some amazing experiences and some sad experiences. I will start with what happened last monday. So after pday we went to stop by a referral that a Ward Mission Leader gave us. We went and knocked the door and a Cuban man opened the door and began to verbally attack us in Spanish of course. He was Jehovah's Witness and really did not like us. Now picture this, a tall white kid standing in a door while a short Cuban tears apart everything you believe in religiously and all of this in extremely fast Spanish. Well I didn't think that he thought I was going to be able to hold my own. I kept my calm for the first bit and with every attack I was able to use his bible to prove him wrong. He began to attack us on how we know that Jehovah is Jesus Christ. I opened to Genesis where it is describing how Jehovah made the Heaven and the earth, he cut me off there when he saw that I was going to trap him and asked me who was talking in the scripture, I responded "God". He said "correct" but then tried to wiggle his was out by saying that God was talking about himself. I was not about to let him get away with that. I being a white kid learning Spanish asked him to look at the verb used in the scripture which was the past tense of hacer. The scripture said "Jehovah hizo" hizo is the past tense of the usted or he form. So I asked him "so if God is talking about himself then God would have used the conjugation hice which is the "I" form of the verb but since he was talking about Jehovah who was Jesus Christ it was translated hizo. Then I flipped to John1 where it talks about how the person who made the earth or Jehovah came down and dwelt among us and received a body. He looked stunned! Now this was all a good calm conversation until this point where he had gotten cornered and then he went on the attack saying how miracles have stopped and everything is just luck. My companion and I testified that if he denies the fact that miracles happen then he is denying the hand of God in his life and that his was wrong in not giving Him the credit. This made him mad and he began to attack the leadership of the church and their priesthood, the he grabbed me and began to get in my face. This is where I got upset. Now I do not like bashing and this is the first situation in my mission where I have ever gotten angry with someone who was attacking my religious beliefs, but when someone attacks and speaks bad of the prophet and the apostles of the Lord that is when they have gone to far. I told him that we were done talking to him and that made him more angry. He began to talk bad of the priesthood and continued to talk bad about the leadership and how we have no right to baptize because we have no authority and he does. I looked him right in the face and said "Sir well the person who baptized me doesn't have the car of the year and a big house because he is payed to baptize and preach what he preaches unlike yours." Then I turned and walked away. My companion just stood there stunned and then came running down the stairs after me. When we got in the car I had to take a few minutes to cool down and I talked to my companion about how we should avoid contention but how when the man started to talk bad about President Monson I snapped. That was my only bash and will be my only. But I was surprised how everything just came out in pretty much fluent Spanish.
OK so a few weeks ago I told you of an experience I had with Elder Wilson on an exchange of how we were lead by the spirit to a lady with diabetes whose husband was not a member. We taught him a powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon and baptism. Well were turned him over to the other elders and the other day I got a call saying he had been baptized. He was found by the spirit 100% and baptized a week and a half later. It made my day.

The next story I have to tell is very humbling but helped my testimony grow that God knows everybody's circumstances and knows when and how to help them. So we received a referral for a lady (single mom(I will withhold her name)) about 5 weeks ago and we could never contact her. We would try sometimes 2 or 3 times a day to find her but never could. Little did I realize that the Lord was waiting for the right time. This past Friday we finally were able to contact her and she told us we could come by the next day at 2pm. We stopped by the next day at 2 with Brother Carrasquillo and his brother in law to teach this lady. She warmly invited us in and let us sit down. We began by introducing ourselves as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and asked a few questions to see needs and previous beliefs. The Spirit was there and caused her to open up. She began to tell us of something that had happened to her a few days before. She had just picked up her 2 kids from day care and had arrived home. She came in the house and quickly realized that someone was there. Before she knew it someone attacked her and started to choke her, they raped her, robbed her and then choked her until she passed out the person then left thinking she was dead. Hearing what happened brought us all to tears but we were able to testify to her of the power of the Atonement. She told us that afterwards she thought about killing herself because everything had been going so wrong lately. Brother Carrasquillo and his brother in law testified of how trials prepare us for great blessings. There was an undeniable spirit there! We realized that we had not been able to contact her for so long because it was not until this moment that she needed us and God knew that. We were able to step in as a representative of Jesus Christ and show her the loved she needed. I will not soon forget this experience.

I testify that God is aware of every aspect of our lives and that he knows when to step in and give us the help we need and also when to let us struggle a little so that we can grow. I know this from personal experience and from seeing it in the lives of others. Missionary work is the most real work there is. It is a work of love and salvation.

Love,

Elder Jolly