Hola familia!
This week seemed to go by really fast.
And I am so grateful for those weeks, rare as they may be. Every transfer we
have to go on exchanges with the sister training leaders. As we were each
pondering who should go and who should stay with us, Sister Hawn and I
prayerfully decided that Sister Guti should exchange with Sister Mackelprang.
So on Tuesday, Hawn and I were Guti-less. Translation: it was either sink or
swim because Mackelprang is English-speaking. It was so terrifying! Every
person we planned to visit, we had to put on our spanish thinking-sombreros and
pray for the gift of tongues. It turned out alright and we made it through the
day.
Thursday we got a call from Cristina
telling us that she wants to start taking the missionary lessons again!!!!
(side note: we used to visit Cristina pretty regularly, but we had to drop her
because she wasn’t progressing and we needed to focus on our other
investigators. This call came out of nowhere and took us completely by
surprise! So Friday we booked it over to her apartment as soon as we finished
our studies to witness this miracle for ourselves. When we asked her what had
changed her mind, she said that the other night she opened up the bible with
her kids to a random chapter and read it. She interpreted it to say that she,
as a mom, is responsible for teaching her kids and whatever they do according
to their ignorance she will answer to God for it. Y'all know where she read it?...
ISAIAH!.. I am certain that this was nothing less than divine inspiration
working in her. The heavens opened up to her and gave her an answer to her
prayers. Before we left, we scheduled
a return appointment and we walked away in awe. I can't wait to teach her and
see the miracles we will come from her willingness to come unto Christ!!!
Friday night we helped the branch
celebrate a baby shower for one of the new converts who will be having her 4th
boy! It was pretty fun, but most of the girls there spoke only spanish. I don’t
know what it was about Friday, but my spanish left me and I was hopelessly
unable to communicate with anyone. So during the party, I felt like crawling
under a table because these relief society women asked me all sorts of
questions and I couldn’t answer them. Ugh! When we went home I didn’t write in
my journal or brush my teeth, I just went straight to bed after planning and
cried myself to sleep. Feeling sad for myself for not being able to speak
spanish and on top of that, I felt really homesick. Friday was not one of my
finest days on my mission.
One of our investigators, Eva, had a
planned baptism for this weekend, but because of some issues with the father of
her baby, we had to consult our Zone leaders about her situation and the
procedures to follow. So Friday, right after district meeting, we asked them
and they told us that with her situation some conditions are allowed. Eva would be able to be baptized only a
few days after the baptism was originally scheduled. The next evening, we went
over to tell her the good news. Instead of an atmosphere of joy for the good
news, we were met instead with many Bible-bashing sort of questions from
Gilberto. They seemed never ending and it was not conducive to the Spirit. We explained
what needed to change with their situation so that Eva can be baptized. It seemed like a long time had passed
when we realized that we had to bear our testimonies and leave.
This week in my personal study of el
Libro de Mormon was really productive! I finished 1 Nephi. In the 3rd chapter
of 2 Nephi, Nephi calls himself "wretched" and explains how he
struggles inside himself to recognize the blessings of the Lord and is
constantly frustrated with his brothers, Laman and Lemuel. But Nephi has every
reason to be angry at them!! Then, he goes on to give himself a pep talk and reminds
himself that if he puts his trust and faith in the Savior that he will no more
have place for the enemy of his soul. How awesome is that?! He dispelled satan and willed himself to
follow the divine counsel from ministering angels. Amazing as this is, this
doesn’t exempt Nephi from the temptations of the devil or from making mistakes
because he is human. This is applicable to everyone, especially as members of
the true church of God. Endowed with knowledge and armed with righteousness, we
have greater knowledge and when we make the same mistakes that everyone else
does in the world, we will suffer as D&C 82:3 tells us, “greater
consequences”.
Welp, family, I hope y'all are safe and
sound.
I love y'all!
Hermana Moss
No comments:
Post a Comment