Muchisimas gracias mamacita por los nuevos ropas. (The new clothes!!! Got them after we figured out how to open our mailbox hahaha) It is always nice to add some variety to the worn out wardrobe. I love it all. Hope Connor had a great birthday and congratulations to Holly you are all growing up so much! Can't quite imagine Holly driving...
Our week was incredible. Tons of work. Miracles every day. I look back on every day and cannot believe how much Heavenly Father has guided us. The start of every day is always the hardest part. The test of my faith. By the end you can always find some tender mercy of the Lord. We can all see it if we look for it. Last week we had dinner with the branch president and the Elders in our branch. I am learning how important it is to have the support of the branch president to utilize the branch in missionary work. We got to know our President at dinner and he gave each of us a blessing afterwards...in Spanish. First time for me. I understood everything. Coolest thing ever. Heavenly Father sees our potential. We just have to have the faith to reach it. I really think we established some good trust with our Branch President. We will see now if he will help us to implement the ideas we have for the branch. Making things actually happen is sometimes the hardest part.
We've spent some good amount of time getting to know the members of the branch here. I LOVE them. I LOVE their food. And I LOVE how they help us with our Spanish. Now the most important part. Getting them to come out with us and teach. It all starts with trust which we are working on building. We realized at the end of this week, we spemt a good amount of our time finding this week because we were pretty much starting from scratch. We found a ton of new investigators this week with the guidance of our Heavenly Father. Now we have to figure out how to help them all progress. That is the hardest part. And that involves the members. So we have our work cut out for us this week:)
This week I was again reminded of the power of the First Vision. One of the experiences we had was with a woman named Milta and her daughter. Milta was very sick but still invited us in. As we shared the first vision with them all the fiddling stopped. All the distraction stopped. Their eyes were locked on us...fixed on the story we were telling. The story of truth. After we asked how they felt. Milta said, no hay palabras...there are no words. That is just it. That is the response we received last night as we taught a father and son who had previous experiences with the Elders a couple of years back. They had forgotten the story of the Restoration so we decided to remind them. As we shared the first vision again there eyes were locked. I could see the familiar feeling the boy Alex's age recognized again as I began to share the words of Joseph Smith. Afterward they couldn't explain what they felt. The house was silent. I've come to the conclusion that in the right settings, telling the story of Joseph Smith drowns out the noise of the world. The spirit communicates. It is the coolest feeling. When you feel it you don't want it to go away. You almost don't want to move...with the fear of ruining it. That is a taste of the pure joy we feel from missionary work. The pure love of God...I can't even imagine what it was like before this life. And what it will be like after. There will be no words.
One of our investigators Marcia is from Cuba...meaning she speaks a million words per minute. Without the gift of tongues, it is practically impossible to follow. One morning we had taught Coni and had the hardest time speaking spanish. Both of us. We couldn't quite pinpoint why. Coni has become a little bit more to be our friend. I don't know if her intentions are to learn about the Gospel. We can see so much potential...but she loves to chat and feed us...but honestly that isn't our purpose. It is important to build relationships, but relationships that help invite others unto Christ. When we aren't fulfilling our purpose, spanish does not come as easily. It is so interesting. Some lessons, it is incredible how easily I can speak, others it is incredible how difficult it is to find the words. Before our lesson with Marcia we were praying our hearts out we would be able to understand her. Sure enough we understood her and she understood us. Which was so interesting as just a few hours earlier we had a lesson with Coni who has very clear spanish and we couldn't communicate very well. So interesting. There is so much power beyond our own in this work. It is what makes it work. The minute I start to rely on myself im stressed, worried, and ineffective.
I read something I LOVED this week. The solution to really all of life's problems~The Lord's Hook. When some worry or burden comes to mind that would cause you to worry or stew, ask yourself, What do I need to repent of? Tell Heavenly Father about your frustrations, fears and concerns. Ask Him to lift the burden. Then share your feelings of gratitude. Make it an open prayer all day. The day will go better and you won't try to carry your own load. It wasn't meant to be that way. And I do it way to much. The Lord will carry our burdens if we are doing our part. He is always there.
A lady was running up the stairs hurryingly last night with big bags in her hands...Hna Batchkoff and I looked at eachother and said we need to talk to her. We knocked the door even though we could hear some yelling of frusteration behind the door...the fear of is this a bad time...it never is for our message if they are ready to hear it :) She opened the door, immediately we found a friend. Another Coni..literally. Sweetest lady. Had been reading a Book of Mormon that was left in the laundry room of her apartments. The spirit helps us recognize the people who are ready. It is crazy. It is so cool to see. After the trial of our faith.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I don't just believe it. I know it. Never known it so well. It makes sense.
I love you. Les quiero mucho. Gracias por todo. Nunca se olvide la importancia del evangelio. Puede guiar su vida en la manera que Dios quiere.
Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Holanda
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