Miracles In... Angelópolis?!?!

"What the heck Elder Ritchie I thought you were in Atlixco??" That's right everybody, this email is going to be about some miracles in my last area. But before I go on, I'm gonna give a recap on what's been going on here in Libertad.

Not much.

We've contacted pretty much everyone in our area book and we don't have too many people to teach so we've really been focusing on finding new people and visiting members. I really don't have too much to report besides the same ol grind of the mission life.

But I do want to share a few miracles that happened during my last days in Angelópolis.

On my last day in Angelópolis, Elder Dunn and I went to go get Carne Asada burritos to celebrate the end of my training and an amazing transfer together and you know we were in Mexico so we got burritos. Since i spent my entire training in Angelópolis I built many relationships and friends and I was lucky enough to get to say goodbye to all of them except for 3, which kind of bummed me out because we ran out of time and didn't have the chance to say goodbye to these 3 good friends of mine.

But as we sat there that night eating our God-Sent burritos, all 3 of those people individually walked by the burrito stand at different times and I got to say my goodbyes.

It was such a grand blessing and miracle in my life. I don't know how many times I'm going to say this in these emails, but God knows you perfectly and will reward you for your works because loves you.

Also, we baptized our Golden Family this week!! It was so sad because we originally set their baptism date for my last Saturday in Angelópolis but because of work they had to move it back too weeks which literally broke my heart. I love this family with all my heart and I am so grateful to be able to have brought them the joy of the gospel. But, I was able to join in on zoom for their baptism which was amazing!!

I think I already said this but their story is awesome. The son Ulisses was going through a terrible divorce and as a result of it he lost the right to see his baby son. This caused a terrible pain and a terrible trial for the entire family. Ulisses would wake up with immense anger and start throwing things all over his room and he went into an immense depression because he couldn't see his son. One day he was watching Youtube and an ad for the church popped up and he put in his information and the rest, as we say, is history. The family told us that we were angels in their lives and they had finally found the peace they had been searching for.

But this is the real miracle. 2 weeks before their baptism, the family got the right to see the baby every Saturday!! It kind of came out of nowhere because they are still in a mess of legal problems, but now they are truly being blessed because of their decision to be baptized.

My spiritual thought today comes from this family actually. The reason why they grew their faith so much is because they acted on their commitments. They had the faith to read the BOM, pray, go to church, fast, and all that good stuff. And their results are the everlasting joy and peace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a few miracles too.

James 2: 14, 26 says:

14 ^aWhat doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath ^bfaith, and have not works? Can faith save him? 26 For as the body without the ^aspirit is ^bdead, so faith without ^cworks is dead also.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings blessings and miracles to our lives. But we have to act. Act and repent. Act and go to church. Act and pray. Act and read the scriptures. Act and press forward to the end with a steadfastness in Christ. This gospel and this church is a way of life. Not just something we have to do a few times and call it good. We can't choose to be obedient one day and continue to our normal. Christ didn't do that, so why should we? My invitation to you all is to realize what this gospel and church is truly. It is not something that we think about one a week on Sunday. It is not something that we are forced to do. It's none of that. It's a way of life, a way of decisions, a way of behavior, and a way of blessings.

The Gospel without works is dead. And with that thought, I hope you all have an amazing week and I love you all!!

1. The Baptism

2. The View of Popo from my window

3. Our friend in teaching

4. A Mop on some wires