I went through the temple in Spanish on Saturday!! It was AWESOME! I felt like I was going through for the first time again. The spirit was so strong! One of my first progressing investigators received his endowment and we were able to be there. It was Henry. After doing a session we went to a sealing. The very first couple that I visited in the mission is now sealed in the temple. The Alas family. It was so amazing. I was very grateful that I got to see the progress of so many people manifested in the covenants that they made in the temple. Besides that, it had been FOREVER AND A HALF since I had gone. It was a super long day, though, and my companion and I were pretty dead for the rest of the night. We got home and planned after a couple of lessons that evening and then I went straight to bed at 9:30. Some other missionaries called at 10:20 to ask about an exchange that we're going to do with them. I remembered talking to her, but I couldn't remember exactly what I had said the next day so I called her back. Luckily, we had a coherent conversation even though there were, indeed, some parts of it that I didn't remember.

So here is a miracle that I hope I never forget. There is a man in our branch that has been inactive for more than a year. We went to visit him in the beginning of February with his wife (she's active). Before we went over, we had been visiting with a member of the Relief Society Presidency. She was planning the Valentine's Day activity and was looking for someone to be a DJ for the dance they were going to have afterward. She found out we were going to visit Brother Alpire and asked if we would ask him for her since she knew that he had done some of the branch dances in the past. Well, we got to his house a few days later and this man was way sarcastic with us the whole time. At times he was pretty rude and he made it obvious, or so we thought, that he didn't really want to come back to church. We asked if he could do the activity and he said that he would only do it if a certain brother from the branch called to ask him. We set everything up, he got the call he wanted, and then came to the activity and did the music.

That, in and of itself, I suppose could be a miracle. But it gets even better. My companion had the thought the next day to make a thank you card for him and have the relief society sign it. She said she thought it would be a nice gesture, I think it was inspired. She put the card together, and we took it to church and passed it around the Relief Society. It got put in the mail a few days later and we forgot about it after that. The following Sunday we got a special surprise at church. Hermano Alpire. He told us that he was back to church to stay and asked when we were going to come visit with him and his wife. We set up the appointment for the following Sunday. The next Sunday (this fast Sunday) we were sitting in sacrament meeting listening to testimonies. I looked up on the stand to see Hermano Alpire sitting there waiting to bear his testimony. I was SHOCKED. I couldn't understand what had caused him to come to church in the first place, let alone bear his testimony. I would soon find out.

He stood up and started talking about how he hadn't been coming to church for quite a while and said that he was waiting for a visit from the missionaries. Some sisters finally went to the house to visit them. After that he started thinking about going back to church, but still didn't really want to. Then, he got a card from the sisters in the church after he did the activity. He explained how he felt so much love from the branch and that when he read that card he knew that he needed to come back to church. As he was bearing his testimony he started to cry and said that he knew that God was aware of his needs and thanked the relief society for that card that made him come back. Hermana Barrero and I were both sitting there with our jaws dropped all the way to the floor. We had no idea that a thank you would have so much of an impact in the life of someone. When we went to their house later that evening his wife brought the card in to us. He grabbed it and opened it up to read the notes again and said, "This is the card that changed my life. I put it in the living room next to the pictures to remind me." He handed it to us and I almost started to cry. The man that we were visiting was completely different from the one we had visited the first time. His heart had been touched, softened, and changed all because of a "thank you." Don't underestimate the power of those two words. They can change the direction of someone's entire life. I'm grateful that my companion was following the spirit when she decided to make that card.

After that the conversation changed to when we were going to finish our missions and come back and visit. I told him that it wouldn't be long until I was back with my family. He told me that when we come back we already have a meal planned with them in their house. By the way, he's Bolivian. They never let me down:)