Monday, October 26, 2015
Wow, I can´t believe
another week has flown by. Not to mention that tomorrow I will
officially be at the halfway mark of my mission. I don´t know where the time
has gone but it´s been fun to reflect and see how much I’ve grown and changed
in this time. I can´t imagine what else the Lord has in store for these next
9!
This week we were able
to really see the fruits of many of our labors over the past month or two. We
are finding new investigators that are really prepared to hear the gospel and
also seeing progress in the investigators that we have been teaching already.
We were walking one day after a lesson fell through and we passed by the house
of an old investigator. We decided to stop by to see how they were doing and
ended up having a great lesson with her where she asked us directly about
baptism and what she needed to do to prepare herself. Then in the next lesson
we were talking more about baptism and she shared with us that she had received
an answer that the church was true, even though she had never been interested
in joining a specific religion before. We are super excited to see her progress
in these next weeks as we help her to increase her faith in the savior and his
restored gospel.
Yesterday we had an
area-wide stake conference where we were able to listen to Elder Andersen,
Elder Soares, Elder Nash, Elder Uceda, and Sister Esplin speak to us (all in
Spanish except Sis. Esplin) by transmission. It was so neat and I learned so
much. It was for Peru and Bolivia and was very direct in the things that we
need to do here in this area. :)
We´ve also been trying
to look for more opportunities to serve during the day to gain the trust of the
people and help then recognize us as servants of Christ. Well, the Lord
answered our prayers! We were teaching an inactive woman and she was telling us
about how awful her neighbors are and that they are always putting things
through the sewer that clogs it and it overflows in front of her house and she has
to clean it out every day. As she was telling us this we began to see water
rising from the sewer in front of her house and start filling her front porch.
She just looked at us with an exhausted face and said "See, what I’m
talking about?" So...we told her not to worry and that we were going to
help her clean it up. We popped off the top of the sewer, she handed me a
bucket, and I started scooping out all the water as Hermana Chavez followed
with a broom to sweep all the water off her porch and down the street. The
people in the streets just walked by and stared at 2 young girls in skirts
playing in the sewer water as Hermana Gladis tried to find what was blocking
the hole. It was probably the strangest service project I’ve done in my mission
so far, but we did feel good after and the Hermana was so grateful. She told us
she would never forget us and that she was going to start coming to church and
our English classes to thank us. Haha, it was a fun little experience. :)
Hermana Chavez and I
are working hard and trying our best to follow the spirit as he guides us to
know who is ready to receive the gospel and how we can help those here.
The ward is another one of our big concerns and we are trying our best to gain
the confidence of the leaders and work with them to strengthen the members. So
many needs and lots of problems but we have faith that little by little the
Lord will help us make a difference. I am learning a lot about patience,
love, and humility as well as the importance of seeking the help of the Lord in
all we do. Too often I try to rely on my own talents and abilities when really
it´s the Lord that does the work in the hearts of the people.
So exciting
news...J... is getting baptized this week!!!!! Please pray for him and his
mom M...! He has grown so much in the few months I’ve been here and it has
really strengthened my testimony in how much the gospel really can change
people. J... is 12 and the son of a less active member. His father is not a
member and so he really doesn´t have a lot of support but he is strengthening
his testimony every day and I know he´ll grow to be a faithful, dedicated
member if he keeps putting in his effort. Please pray for him, he´s a little
nervous. He´ll be baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday. :)
Also please pray for D... and her family that they can come to church and act
on the things we are teaching them, B... that she can recognize that the
church is true and overcome her fears, M... that she can come to church and
that her mom´s heart can be softened towards her participating in the church,
B... that he can keep progressing and gain a testimony as well as M... and V... as they read the BOM and learn more. So many amazing people here, I
love getting to know their stories and see their faith.
Love you all so much.
I know this church is true and that Christ lives and loves us all. He truly is
our Savior and leads his church through his chosen leaders. Keep doing the
little things like reading your scriptures every day and having family and
personal prayer. So important. Love this work. :)
Hermana Cox
This is a common peruvian dish here...french fries with hot dog on top and smothered in mayo and ketchup....super healthy, I know. :) No wonder I´m gaining weight! I feel like it´s something Logan, Kylee, and Braden would enjoy though. :)
Some view from the rooftop!
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