Christmas Miracles.

Merry Christmas from the Zone!

And the district! :)

PS, please note our district leader, far right. ....Payaso con placa..... He's a hoot :)

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE 2015.

This was probably the biggest miracle that I have seen my whole mission. I can't wait to cuent you all about it!!!!

Saturday was already planned to be "the best day ever." 20 converts to the temple AND a long-awaited baptism, all in the same 12 hours. Can you say stress? And EXCITEMENT?! :)

The miracle started at 5 am when we woke up to go to the temple. We had 20 new converts and rescues that we were bringing to the temple for the first time, and had to meet up with them all at 6:30 am. Well...I woke up................ and was SO sick. I don't know what I ate, or what was wrong with me, but for the first time in my entire mission, I was sick. I was throwing up all over the place, and couldn't really do much about it. I just kept thinking, "No.... not today. Any other day. I CANNOT be sick today."

I pulled myself together well enough to call the Zone Leaders and tell them to meet me at the Stake Center to give me a blessing - ASAP. Being the valiant and worthy Priesthood holders that they are, they arrived at the Stake Center at 6:15 am to give me the blessing I needed. 

Everyone started arriving to travel to the temple (about a 2-hour ride in city bus), and I just kept PRAYING that I would make it there without making a scene on the bus. Thankfully, immediately after the blessing from the Elders, I started to feel SO much better. I wasn't nauseous at all. I just felt a peace that everything would be alright in the temple.

And it was! EVERYONE got there in time, and the 20 converts and rescues were all able to enter into the temple to do baptisms for their ancestors. (pictures attached). Everything was guided directly by the Lord's hand!

When we left the temple, I was still feeling fine. And we had a baptism to go to! 

The baptism was of the Hermana Margot - we found her about a month ago, and she is WONDERFUL. She has a muscle and bone disease which makes it so she can hardly walk. She is only 38 years old.... but her body acts like that of an 80-year-old. Her teenage son was baptized 4 months ago in Huancayo, and they just moved here to Lima. When we found her, she was ready. She accepted everything and was SO excited to be baptized.

The only problem was.... there are hardly ANY chapels that have hot water for the baptismal fonts in Perù, and Margot could NOT be baptized in cold water because the disease that she has. We finally found a capilla that had hot water, and once we coordinated everything to hold the baptism there, we scheduled the date.

We came directly from the temple to the chapel to start cleaning and getting everything set up for the baptism. The Zone Leaders came to help us with the hot water... they were the ones who knew how everything worked. We got there about 3:00 - and the baptism was supposed to start at 5. We filled up the font, and the Elders turned on the water heater - assuring us that in 1 hour it would be hot and ready for the baptism. 

Before I continue on with the rest of the story, just remember - the Lord cannot do ANY miracle without our faith. And faith is not faith without being tried.

Long story short: One hour later, the water was still freezing cold. FREEZING cold. The heater didn't work. We tried everything....

I can't tell you HOW many times we tried to get the water heater to work.

 ... and nothing. 

Our Bishop and Ward Mission Leader got there 30 minutes before the baptism was supposed to start, and we told them what was going on. We all knew that there was no way that Margot could be baptized in this water. 

Our Bishop, with the keys and mantle that he has, decided that we should kneel down as the missionary team in our ward and ask the Lord what to do. Postpone the baptism? She was so set on this date. Baptize her anyway? It would be terribly dangerous for her health. We needed divine inspiration. The four of us (2 missionaries, 1 Bishop, and 1 Ward Mission Leader) knelt down and said a prayer together. When we finished, the Spirit was clear. Margot was going to be baptized that day. We just needed to ACT to get that water heated. 

The Elders called all of the members that were close and told them to bring their biggest pots to the church. There we started to heat up as much water as we could in the church's kitchen. We were 10 minutes away from the time the baptism was supposed to start. The Elders even sacrificed walking the 5 blocks to their house to bring back buckets of hot water from their shower.

Plan B? Have the Elders walk the 5 blocks to their house and bring buckets full of hot water from their shower. Throw it in the font. Pray for a miracle. God works in mysterious ways!

We were running around like CRAZY trying to get everything worked out. 

5:30 we started the baptism. Up until the VERY LAST moment, the Elders were throwing hot water into the freezing font to try and get it, at least, lukewarm. 

When Margot put her foot into the water, I thought my heart was going to stop. I had felt the water - and it was luke warm at best. I didn't know how she was going to react. 

But God worked a miracle with that water. She just smiled and entered into the font. It was perfect. She was fine. She told us that the water had never felt warmer. 

God works miracles - but he NEEDS our faith and action. I testify it. We saw SO many Christmas miracles - like little presents from our Heavenly Father - just in one little day :) 

The doctrine is true. I love this work.

Hermana Sintay :)