A Thanksgiving day surprise call with Elder Rose!!!

 What an awesome surprise today that Luke got to call!  It was so fun to see his smiling face on this awesome family day!  

He got to his new area in Resistencia on Tuesday.  Cute Ramona and Ernesto got up at 4:00 am and took him to the bus station.  They are doing really well and Luke is hoping in the next month or two that he will hear that they finally achieved their goal to get married and baptized.  They are now reading 4 chapters in the Book of Mormon each day and they said they have felt it bringing them closer to one another!  I love how the Book of Mormon changes lives!

Luke is loving his new area.  His companion in Elder Pretti and he loves him!  This is Elder Pretti's last transfer so Luke gets to help him finish up strong!  He already met one family that they are teaching.  It is a husband and wife that are already married (hallelujah!!!)  and their 2 kids.  When he first met them they started their meeting and Luke's companion said "Let's go over to the church."  So they went and did a chapel tour and Luke sat down and played a hymn for them on the piano!  He said the Spirit was very strong and they loved it!  Now maybe they won't be hesitant to come to church.  

He met another one of their investigators named Francisca.  She is a lady in her 70's that has come to church 5 times in a row!!!!  She has been trying to overcome smoking and hasn't smoked since last Thursday!  When they met with her this week they taught her how to pray.  Luke wrote the steps down for her and then she started the prayer she read what he wrote word for word :)  Ha ha ha!  I remember that happening on my mission.  They were in a hurry to leave so they just left it.  But on their way out a car stopped with a less active member who stopped and asked Francisca for a lighter!  Talk about torcher.  She reluctantly went inside and got him one and then he went on to light his cigarette and smoke it right in her face!  What a hard temptation to overcome.  They could see the worry in her eyes of her relapsing and so they went inside with her and told her these are the very moments that she can use prayer.  She started praying right then and there and gave the most sincere and powerful prayer.  She told Heavenly Father she needs help and she can't do it on her own!  Luke told us with tears in his eyes that the Spirit was so strong!  What an amazing blessing to be able to be there while people are learning to talk to their Heavenly Father and make changes in their lives!  

What a great way to start our Thanksgiving!