#missionarylife
#limpingfordayssss #thatsprogress
Oh
wow. I'm hash-tagging. I'm such a weirdo.
BUT
this week ROOOCKED. I know I mentioned last week that I would probably have
changes and be transferred somewhere new...so lets start with that news...
Saturday
night is when you find out the news, and then changes on Monday. So our zone
leaders call us and tell us that we are BOTH leaving, both receiving new areas
and new companions. It's not too uncommon, our President loves that sort of
thing, but we were still a little in shock, and totally bummed.
"Just
kidding."
Oh
Elders...NOT A FUNNY JOKE NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT!
Hermana
Velazquez and I are together in this area for at least one more change, and let
me tell you, we were screaming like girls at an N SYNC concert jumping up and
down and she was hugging me so hard that I couldn't breathe. "No puedo
respirar, no puedo respirar!" We are SO HAPPY and SO EXCITED to continue
working here, and with these investigators and members that we have come to
love so much. Crazy that by the end of this change, I will have been in this
area for 6 MONTHS and with the same companion for 3 changes, but I am NOT
complaining :) So excited to keep hastening the work here in Cinco de Abril!
To
start out, I want to tell some GREAT stories about our investigator, Benjamin.
We have been teaching him for 3 months now, he is practically baptized, but
always had a problem of not feeling the spirit. We told him many times that if
he just reads the BOM and prays with real intent, he will receive an answer,
and he will feel the spirit. We have shared what feels like every scripture
about how to feel the spirit, shared so many personal experiences about it, and
he still reports that he feels nothing. Loves the gospel and its teachings, but
just can't feel the spirit. So frustrating, for us and for him.
But
this week, we had a baptism in the ward. And it is golden to invite an
investigator to a baptism. 9 out of 10 investigators who attend another person's
baptism will more likely be baptized themselves, because this ordinance is just
so powerful! So obviously, we invited him.
And
finally...FINALLY...he felt it! He felt the spirit!
I
was sitting next to him during the actual ordinance, and when the brother being
baptized was immersed in the water, Benjamin quite literally gasped and said
"How beautiful." "Que bonita." And as we were walking back
into the chapel to hear the talks for the baptismal service, he told us that he
felt weird, that he could feel something in his chest like a burning, and Hna.V
and I were practically tripping over ourselves to tell him that ITS THE SPIRIT
ITS THE SPIRIT REMEMBER THIS MOMENT FOREVER BECAUSE BENJAMIN GUAL, YOU ARE
FEELING THE SPIRIT!
Happy
Day :)
So
now, he knows what it feels like, and everything has changed since then. He has
picked up on his reading in the BOM- we all started reading it at the same
time, and while Hna. V is in 2nd Nephi 3 and I am in 2nd Nephi 9, he has now
finished up Jacob. And when we called him Sunday morning to remind him about
church, he told us that he was already dressed and ready to go, which is truly
a miracle. I know that these are small things, but they are evidence that his
testimony is growing and that he is hungry for more, hungry for more of that
burning in his chest.
And
then, during Sunday School, we were in the class with investigators and recent
converts, and we were talking about the Holy Ghost. How absolutely fitting. And
you know what he did? He raised his hand and shared his experience about
feeling the spirit at the baptism. How us Hermanas told him several times about
it, and he thought we were crazy, but how when he finally felt it, it was
"something extraordinary." "una cosa maravillosa."
I
felt like a prideful mother whose son just made the winning goal. When your
investigator bears testimony of something that you have been working so hard
for them to feel and know to be true...there is a huge sense of accomplishment.
We feel more certain every day that he WILL be baptized. PLEASE pray for him!
Something
else from these week that made for an adventure- for four days, we were in a
trio! One of the sisters that we live with had to go home due to illness, so
Hna. Rivera joined our companionship of love and awesomeness for the four days
left before changes, and it was SO FUN. One day in our sector, one day in hers,
for four days. And let's be honest, I have heard some horrific things about
trios, especially when it is 2 Latinas and 1 Gringa. But it was absolutely
delightful! Maybe it was because we were already friends from living together,
but we were able to teach with harmony and with the spirit, and we had the best
time planning to match and taking pictures every day and my opinion of trios
has officially changed.
Fun
fact! Janice Kapp Perry served in the Santiago Chile West mission a few years
back, and when she was here, she wrote a mission hymn. TRUE. STORY. Officially
the best mission ever, because we have a Janice Kapp Perry hymn to back us up.
You can't even argue about that! Its not pride, its just truth.
Another
small triumph from this week- we are visiting a less active brother who has a
tremendous desire to come back to church, but is a little difficult because his
wife is very much against the church. But still, we are super kind and put in
the effort to talk to her and be her friend. You can't talk about the gospel
until you are friends, that is something that I have learned here in Chile. And
yesterday, she sat in on our message. And SMILED. And when we asked if there
was anything that we could do for them, she told us that they had an abundance
of peaches from their peach tree and could not possibly eat them all, so could
we please take 2 or 3 or 12? From scowling and stomping upstairs when we came
to visit to smiling and giving us humongous and sweet peaches...small triumphs,
people. Small but huge and delicious triumphs.
Also,
I got two packages this week! One from Marcy and one from Steve, talk about
mega LOVE! Thanks, you two :) How could I live without your perfect love?!
Well, I'm signing off for the day. Be Bold, Stay Rad, Do What
You Do, relish your testimony and love for the gospel, so much that you cannot
contain it and have no choice but to share it with EVERYONE! Love y'all :)
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