Leave it in His hands... and maybe even leave the country.

AH! Two great stories for you this week. 

1. I was deported to Ecuador. Okay, not really deported, but yes I had to leave the country with 6 other illegal missionaries to renew our tourist visas. ha. ha. Thinking it would be a fun adventure... maybe i would get to buy a keychain or something from Ecuador... well, my expectations were scattered and destroyed. Long story short... We flew to Lima, slept, flew to Tumbes, Peru, drove across the border to Ecuador for 15 minutes, sat in immigrations for 4 hours, a pregnant lady yelled at us, my ear was still plugged from the plane and was in excrutiating pain, turned around, drove to Peru immigrations, bribed the lady with icecream to let us back in, drove to Tumbes, flew to Lima, slept, flew to Cusco. Yay! Such an adventure. The pictures explain how excited I was to be there. Okay, maybe I´m being a little dramatic. It was actually pretty fun to be with the Hermanas and enjoy the hot humid weather in Ecuador! I also asked for a blessing from the Elders because my ear was hurting SO bad. I literally haven´t been in that much pain for a long time. Within an hour after the blessing, my ear wasn´t hurting at all. It was crazy. The power of faith and the priesthood continues to amaze me! 

2. Oscar is GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell how TOTALLY STOKED I AM???!!!! Oh my gosh. My companion was with Hermana Tamaríz while I was gone. We have been visiting Oscar everyday this week, really trying to figure out what he needed, his doubts, or fears about baptism. We fasted for him and then with him this week. I prayed harder than I´ve ever prayed for an investigator and for us to be able to know how to help him... then I left the country and literally left it up to the Lord. I had a feeling something great was going to happen while I was gone. Well, Hermana Guajardo and Tamaríz welcomed me with the incredible news that Oscar finally accepted the date to be baptized! They had a great lesson with him and after reading a few things we gave him to read, he told them that he did believe in God and that he wanted to be baptized. It wasn´t so much that he needed to recieve a big answer, but it was more about believing what he already believed. It was incredibly humbling to hear that incredible news. I know that Heavenly Father was listening to my prayers, Oscar´s prayers, and the many other prayers that were going out to him. I know that He made this happen. My faith was tested and strengthened in this whole process with Oscar. I understand more fully that we need to focus more on the Lord´s will. There´s an EFY song that I love that says something like, when I give up my own will and choose his, he gives me so much more. That couldn´t be more true. Sometimes we don´t know or understand His will, but just the act of giving up our own opens our eyes and hearts to more wonderful things! Oscar looks SO happy now that he has really made the decision to be baptized. We are planning an awesome baptism for him! We´re gonig to eat Flan! Woohoo! So grateful f or the plan of our Heavenly Father and the miracles he works in our lives. I guess sometimes all we need to do is leave the country and things work out! ;) 

Love you and praying for you as always!

Con bastante amor,

Hermana Nelson