Hola Familia~ Como estan? FELIZ CUMPLEANOS Alex. I thought about you on March 23rd don't worry. I just couldn't call, but I didn't forget :) You are 18 WOWZA un adulto!!!! Spring break in Mexico without me. Bueno..tenemos que visitar juntos cuando regreso. Pero que divertido...Have fun.
Another week. Wohoo! Do I ever know where to start..no. We went to the temple yesterday and that is why I am emailing today. The temple is incredible! Oh my gosh we have so much to learn there. I know it is the House of the Lord. And the thing that amazes me the most is the eternal perspective it gives us. Helps us realize all the little things we worry so much about maybe aren't the most important things to be worrying about. There we receive answers to our questions..if we go with questions. And a challenge for you all familia...This weekend is General Conference. So think of a few questions you have you want answered. Specific questions. Then listen to conference and I promise if you have the faith they will be answered.
As for our investigators...things are sure picking up. We are busy busy misioneras :) Just helping people do the things they need to do to know for themselves takes so much energy. Mari the woman who' Husband just passed away...we had a lesson with her whole family and the elders...set baptismal dates with them all :) It is all so new to Mari because she has never known anything about Christ appearing to the people in the Americas. If I hadn't grown up learning about the Restoration I have to believe it would be hard to accept at first. But she is so willing to learn. I know with time she will gain a testimony of the BOM. She is incredible. I love her so much. She didn't come to church because family was in town and I was I guess I could say devestated. You just develop so much love and hope for these people and it is so hard to see them not doing the things they even know they need to do. But people have their agency.
We are also teaching this woman named Maribel..who at first was not super patient with our Spanish and just seemed to have a pretty doubtful outlook on the whole thing. We brought a member with us from Panama who was Catholic to a lesson this week...and every since then she has been so different. Her heart has softened. She is reading the BOM. She WANTS to understand. So we went yesterday to watch the Restoration movie with her to try to help her understand why and how we have the BOM. I am turning into quite the DVD mechanic because for some reason these people never have their DVDs connected :) So miraculously we got it working and we watched the movie. She recognizes something. Something is sparked in her...she is searching and she will find an answer if she keeps searching.
The Ramirez Family we found I told you about last week..who's son Abraham has brain cancer, we visited last night. The mother of this family is an angel. She is incredible. She wants them to come back to church and find strength for her family. We were there to have a noche de hogar (family night) and Abraham was trying to down this medicine in the form of a shake...he is taking on all this natural medicine because Kimo wasn't working. He is such a cool kid. So sat there eating arroz con leche YUM while the poor kid had to drink this nasty shake. But Hna Batchkoff and I were cheering him the whole time...Hna Batchkoff gave him an incentive. He really liked her bracelet so she promised it to him if he would finish his medicine. He was so excited. She is so sweet...always looking to give something to someone else...share. Afterwards we played the what I like about you game where you throw a ball around and whoever you throw it to you have to say something nice about them. So Hna Ramirez has a 14 year old son she had to fight to get to play with us but he did. He ended up with the ball and he threw it to me. The whole time he looked miserable like he didn't want to be there...sound familiar mom and dad...but he told us that he was grateful the missionaries were coming to his house and trying to include him with his family...to help his family. Hna Ramirez's eyes filled with tears. That woman has so much on her plate right now. Her husband has a hurt leg, her son has brain cancer, shes got 2 little ones, and her 14 year old son well is "14". Families are everything. When we are younger it is so hard to see that. We'd rather be out with our friends. But soak it up, because now I would give anything to give my Mom a hug. And after being to the temple you realize the beauty of eternity with your family forever.
This last week we did a day of english fasting...spanish has been a struggle lately. For both Hna Batchkoff and I we feel like we just can't quite find our words. We are working so hard trying so hard and the words just weren't coming. So we've reevaluated our study plans, we had a training about Spanish with the whole Mission, and we are praying A LOT. Recently I've been realizing a lot of things I've been doing wrong so I am trying to change them..thats the hard part changing bad habits. But Hna B is really good with Spanish she is helping me a lot. The bottom line, is when I rely on myself too much...the words don't come. When there is fear, I can't find my words. For me it has always been about conquering the fear. So after realizing how wrong I was I think I let fear get to me a little. But yesterday was different. NO MAS MIEDO. Whenever the spirit is really there the gift of tongues WORKS! Anyways discouragement is Satan's favorite tool. Working on that one too :)
Well, I found out yesterday from the lovely Hna Jarman that 5 people I found and/or worked with in Bernalillo came to church last Sunday. A few of them are probably going to be baptized. It is all after the trial of our faith. Everything is in Heavenly Father's timing. That is for sure.
Las Familias son eternas. Se que con todo mi corazon. El templo es el hogar de Dios. Hay personas que pasamos cada dia que necesitan este conocimiento. A veces me siento como estoy muy debil...por que si yo soy. Soy humano. Estamos aqui en elmundo tratando vivir las leyes celestiales en un mundo de mortales. No es facil por que salvacion no es facil. Pero cada uno de nosotros~tenemos un amoroso padre celestial. Uds son ejemplos a mi. Gracias por todo de su apoyo y amor. Compartir el Evangelio con sus amigos...ellos necesitan el don que uds tienen :)
Enjoy Conference. Take your questions and they will be answered. Get to know your Savior Jesus Christ. Just trying will show him how much you love him...and he will give you more than you could imagine in return. It isn't easy sometimes to get the answers we want from our prayers. But sometimes God listens first. Then answers us after we've struggled and learned His way. God loves you and never forgets you.
Love you all so much. Have an amazing week.
Hermana Holland
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