January 22, 2018 (Week 17)

This week we saw the blessings of really planning for God's children.  We first had our zone conference where we really focused on setting inspired goals, and then how to thoroughly and prayerfully plan for those goals. 

We saw an example of this when one day we were running a little behind and didn't take too much time to plan and think about our investigators of that day, and when we went out everyone seemed to cancel on us and our lessons we did have weren't that effective. 

However, the next day we took a lot of time to really think and practice for our investigators and every one of our appointments were fulfilled and we really didn't have enough room in the day to receive all the blessings!  Anyways, another miracle we had with Brenda Mendosa was when she told us how she wants the gift of the holy ghost in her life so she can bring more peace and joy in her home with her parents and siblings, all this before we had even taught about the Holy Ghost! 

Also this week we are hoping to have another baptism of Antonio Chavez, he has been very prepared by the spirit and we hope after he has the holy ghost in his home we can baptize his wife and daughter as well!  Thanks for all the help with the prayers for our investigators!

-Elder Varney

Elder Varney with his Zone

January 15, 2018 (Week 16)

What blessings in the work! 

This week we had the opportunity to see the spirit work many different ways in the lives of others!  One instance was with the Chavez family, who are progressing very well and when we got to the word of wisdom, Anonio, who smokes and has a coffee addiction, said "I know what I have to do, last night I prayed and came up with a plan to stop smoking."  Holy moley!  We really don't have to do anything with the spirit in the lives of others. 

Another example of this was with Brenda Mendosa, we only had our second lesson with her and were going to invite her to church, but before we even extended the invitation, she said "I know, when I was reading the scriptures I felt like I need to go to church."  And on top of that, it was stake conference and she got to meet the mission president and hear the testimonies of him and his wife! 

The blessings really are prosperous, but for every person that is prepared there is another that doesn't want to accept, so we must continue to work hard!  Please pray for the Chavez family and for the Martinez family, they will need all the help they can get to overcome their challenges!

-Elder Varney

January 8, 2018 (Week 15)

What a week of success in seeing the doctrine of Christ in action!  This week we had the opportunity to have the baptism of Axel Zuniga, his parents were less actives and hadn't come to church for years until we started teaching Axel, and now we see the fruits of the labors! 

Also this last week we taught Brenda Mendosa, a new investigator, which was super amazing.  Her questions were almost exactly like Joseph Smith's, like "Why are there so many churches"and I feel like the all have some truth but not all of it.  We had only asked her to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon but she had read all the way through all the testimonies and marked them all up.

The Lord really does prepare people, sometimes so much that we don't really have to do anything.  Also this last Saturday was rosca de los reyes, which would've been nice if it wasn't the Saturday before Fast Sunday, but it was all okay in the end since we ended up getting two of them from members!

Thanks for the help through letters and prayers, they have been working!

-Elder Varney​

Elder Varney's first Baptism - Axel Zuniga

The Zuniga Family with Elder Varney and his Companion

January 1, 2018 (Week 14)

The Christmas in San Luis!

Our Christmas eve was spent in the hospital while elder Barragàn got his gallbladder removed, which was a bit of a downer but we were still blessed with a Christmas feast the next day from a member family.

This past week of proselyting was rich with blessings as well, we weren't able to walk to all of our appointments because of the condition of Elder Barragan, but if you have enough faith the Lord will bring the people to you.

Right after two of our teaching appointments within minutes we found two old investigators and another investigator family walking on the street and were able to teach each one of them! Also another miracle occurred while we were walking down a street in Juan Pablo, when Elder Flores and I had the idea to stop and knock on the door of an old investigator.  She answered the door right away and it turned out she and her husband were praying for guidance from the lord just minutes before we knocked!  Also we had the blessing of having seven investigators attend sacrament meeting!

Also, a less active member decided to come to church for the first time in two years on Sunday, which was great until he had an epileptic seizure in the middle of sacrament meeting.  Afterwards, after he was stabilized and his family was preparing to take him to the hospital, he stopped them and said, "no, before I leave I need to set up an appointment with the missionaries."  Blessings sometimes come in very strange forms...Anyways, have a great new week of the new year!

-Elder Varney

P.S. plz pray for familia Zuniga and for hermano Efrain, Efrain is really struggling with smoking and we hope to be able to get Axel Zuniga baptized this week!

Elder Varney and his two companions for Christmas Eve Dinner

Elder Varney and his two companions for Christmas Eve Dinner with the local Family that hosted them

Elder Varney and his two companions for Christmas Eve Dinner with the local Family that hosted them

The Missionaries Hot Water Heater that Ethan was able to fix - no more "bucket showers"!