Fastest week of my whole mission- it scares me a little how the weeks are going by faster and faster and now we are already finishing up October!This week went by especially fast because this week we started the divisions and since I am new and dont know the area I got to go to the other areas. Divisions are SO FUN! I love getting to know these hermanas and they are all super great. The best part is seeing the different ideas and talents that they apply to their areas and I am learning lots from all of them! The only downside is that it means 2 days away from my area so I have been having a hard time feeling at home in my new ward and area so far.President Carmack has encouraged us to set goals to find lots and lots of new investigators so this week was full of contacting and first lessons. For all of the mas o menos responses that we get we usually find at least one really positive person if we complete with our 15 contacts/day. Early this week we contacted/got contacted by another JW and he actually explained a whole bunch of what they believe and that made us super sad and very frustrated. So as my personal study I decided to study a lot about Adam and Eve and Gods plan for us. I started trying to find verses in the Bible so that I could battle with the testigos but turns out the bible is super confusing sometimes and I had this little crisis about not being able to prove them wrong with Genesis. But then I remembered that the Bible doesnt contain the fulness of the Gospel, only part. Then as I studied 2 Nephi 2 I realized how simple it all is. I love that God let us come to earth and experience good and bad and obedience and sin and HAPPINESS! and also that He has given us the Book of Mormon to make it all clear and simple. What a blessing!Also we had a really good stake conference and my comp likes gummy candy as much as I do so we stocked up big time and didnt fall asleep!This week we have a full week and get to go to the city a whole bunch which should be super fun and mean a good letter next week!Love,Hna Smithps according to statistics taken in the arraijan stake 9.5/10 members would get baptized again....would you like to learn more about our message?
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Burunga!!
Cambios
Hello family,
So its been a big, long, uphill week and I loved it!
We found out changes on monday night and I am in...Arraijan! Which is perfect and exactly what I wanted:) It is a lot like Chorrera- close to the city without being in the city and I am with Hna Erickson who was in the MTC with me and we came on the plane to Panama together and so far it has been a blast!
So on Tuesday I packed up all my stuff, said some goodbyes and got on a little bus to come the 20 minutes from Chorrera to Arraijan. I was sitting by myself in a bus in panama without a phone going to a place I had never been before and i thought to myself this is so strange and maybe I should be nervous but I wasnt. So I got off at the Xtra grocery store stop and sat at the bus stop and waited for my comp to come get me....and I waited....and waited....and then it started to get dark so I started asking people to use their cell phones but nobody in panama has saldo to call anyone so I waited and then finally after about 2 hours I lugged my huge suitcases to the nearest chino and the very nice chinos let me use their phone. Turns out there are 2 Xtras and I was waiting at the wrong one...oopps!
Other then that our week went pretty smoothly! Arraijan has more hills than Chorrera which I didnt think was possible but it totally is. Also my comp is an awesome marathon runner and all of her other comps couldnt run because of health issues so Im the first and we have gone running every day this week. On every single one of our runs one of us has fallen and eaten it hard cause we are basically trail running up giant hills! the good news is I might just fit into my nice pencil skirt for the next zone meeting!
We actually had a baptism yesterday which was weird because the first time I met her was at her baptism but she is a really cute 14 year old girl. The members and the leaders are super strong in this ward which is what we need and the work is being hastened, I just hope we can keep up the pace!
awkward moment of the week- we were gong to contact someone they had already talked to and they let us in and we were just starting the lesson and it was going really well and then all of a sudden the lady just starts throwing up. what are we supposed to do? do we wait , do we keep teaching the people who arent barfing? and then the daughter started telling us how uncomfortable it was that we were there...uh ok but you invited us in so what do we do....so we said a super fast prayer and got out and they didnt invite us back.
We are kind of starting over with investigators so it was a lot of contacting and a lot of first lessons....some positive, some not so positive but I am looking forward to finding the people the Lord has prepared for us here in Burunga, Arraijan! It is going to be a very fun transfer!
love,
Hna Smith
End of Transfer 4 in Biancheri
okey dokey heres the weekly update-
We worked so freakin hard this week. We are getting better at planning so our days are more effective but somehow we still end up walking up an outrageous number of lomas but hey thats missionary life.
this weekend there was a ward dance! we were already at the chapel teaching piano class and they show up with big speakers and 10 boxes of corn flakes and like 8 cartons of eggs...we were trying to figure out what kind of dancing games they could play with eggs and corn flakes....and we just couldnt figure it out. Turns out they were the prizes for the people who danced. We´re very practical here in Biancheri! They turned on the music and we stayed for about two songs to watch the members dance but it was killing us both not being able to join in so we went home and danced to some efy music in the house haha.
Hermano C and Hermana A and her 2 daughters came to the dance and also to church on sunday, wahoo! and they loved it:) We have being trying hard to take members with us when we teach them and its payed off because they have completely taken over. Someone goes to pick them up, someone else drives them home, someone takes him to priesthood and her to RS, and one member has helped us out so much with the marriage. Yesterday a member from the stake came to do the medical exams in their house and this week they can get married!! It has been 5 months since we first contacted Hermano C walking home from the chino and I dont think anyone imagined that they would progress and make it to this point. We taught them again yesterday and it was so great to hear her testimony. We were teaching the word of wisdom and we started out by talking about the blessings of obeying commandments...like the law of chastity. What difference could a piece of paper really make if they´re already living together? But she´s seen it herself that as soon as they started the process to get married, everything else has started to work out. Now they are getting more help from the government and she found a new job that allows her to come to church. A commandment she rejected the first time we taught it (she really likes coffee) she accepted easily because shes seen the blessings that come from obedience!
Thats what Ive learned in the mission and from my scripture study in these past few weeks. We will prosper to the degree that we obey. We obey because we love, not because we have to. Obedience applies to every single part of our lives. Obedience=freedom=progression=
Hearing about Jozenn the Chozenn was tough. She was one of the first people to make me feel welcome in Fort Collins, an irreplaceable part of my CSU family, and the best powderpuff and ward bball teammate ever! Grateful beyond measure for the Plan of Salvation and my love is with my family in FoCo. #horsetoothhottiesforever
Transfers again this week! Its been one of my favorites and Im praying that I´ll be able to take on whatever comes in this next transfer!
love,
hna smith
Wickedness!
This week is right up there with the best of them! It wasn't even anything big but a lot of small things and just a really happy week:)
ok first funny story: we teach english in a school nearby and I shared the scripture wickedness never was happiness and we explained that wickedness was not listening to the teacher, being mean to other kids, cheating, and so on. So after we had shared the message and were just playing games we hear one of the kids yelling ¨wickedness! wickedness!¨ at a kid who wasnt paying attention haha and so everytime that someone wasnt doing what they were supposed to the other kids would yell wickedness! oopps:)
ok so we do things called LPE which are just contacts and our goal is now 120 lpes every week, which is a lot. President Carmack has given us a lot of ways to make them effective and help us find new investigators and so this week we put it to the test! We almost never introduce ourselves as missionaries, always representatives of Jesus Christ.
Then we ask them a question- Did you know Christ came to the Americas?
Did you know theres a place in Panama where families can be sealed together for eternity?
But my favorite is this- if you had 2 minutes to talk with God, what would you ask Him? And then we use the Book of Mormon to answer their question. It really tests our knowledge of the scriptures and it shows people right away that the BoM contains the fullness of the gospel and the answer to all of our questions! We reached the goal of 120 this week and we found a ton of new investigators.
The biggest miracle this week was yesterday at church. We were waiting for a whole bunch of investigators and nobody that we were expecting showed up. But Hermano C and Hermana A did! They had kind of frozen and there was a lot of complications with work and marriage and bla bla bla so we had stopped visiting them, but they came to church! After church we had a lesson with just her and it was good, like really good. She had never officially accepted a baptismal date, only that they would get married, so I wasnt sure if it would be a good idea to invite her right away but after we shared our lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and covenants I had one of the strongest promptings Ive ever recieved that I needed to invite her to be baptized. Before I even finished the question she was shaking her head yes! We are praying there wont be too many more complications (aka satan) and that everything can go smoothly fro them to get married and baptized!
We found a few more couples this week and in total we have 5 couples that are progressing and almost ready for baptism....solo les falta matrimony! But by my calculations if they all get married this month I can come back next thanksgiving and spend a whole week in temple sealings:)
It rained, it was hot, we found a lot of bugs, we taught with the Spirit, we reached a ton of goals, we worked hard, saw a lot of miracles, and we are so so so happy to be representatives of Jesus Christ!
have a good week familia!
Hna Smith
Things That Only Happen On A Mission
This week was a fantastic one! Here are some of the experiences that really define what a mission is like in Panama-
- Zone Conference- We got to listen to some amazing counsel from Pte Carmack, make paper airplanes, eat a whole bunch, and see all of my favorite people in the mission. Hermanas I hadn't seen since the very beginning and now we are almost the oldest sisters in the mission!
- Divisions with Hermanita R- We have a girl in our ward who left for the mission today! Her mom is the rs president so last week we had divisions and my comp went with her mom to visit less actives and Hermanita R came with me to get some real life missionary, contacting experiences. She is a fierce little missionary! She didnt want to take no for an answer from anybody and when an evangelico started telling us he didnt want to hear about the book of mormon she pulled out the scripture that says wo unto those who say they have enough and basically told him he needed to humble himself. She will do great, bold things.
- Painting walls....badly- This week we painted in the house of a less active and in her own words we would go hungry as professional painters. But we had a good time and she really just wanted the company so it was fun to serve her. If anyone needs a wall painted with lots of love- We are your hermanas!
- RAIN!- Well the rain finally came and all of the water that didnt fall in these last few months fell in the last few days. We were hurrying from one appt to another and while we were passing in a little valley (quebrada...dont have any idea how to describe it in english) basically at the bottom of 2 hills the street was a foot deep in water and while we were trying to cross it 2 taxis came racing down the hill and it was just like the movies. A massive wave of dirty water came flying right at us and we went to our next lesson with our right sides completely drenched!
- Deaf Testigos- This week we found a whole bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses. One of them was literally deaf- he could speak but he couldn't hear- so he spent a half hour telling us about how wrong we are and how he wants to teach us the truth and we couldnt respond at all because he was deaf! how convenient for him, right? I told my comp that maybe I'll start pretending to be deaf so I can go around saying anytihing I want and no one can try and argue with me. But we also found a bunch of other JWs who were spiritually deaf. Whenever we find them we try and teach them about the BOM and they all reject it right away but none of them know really what it is! ¨ do you even know what mormon is teaching you up in the united states?¨ ¨ sam smith is a liar and a cheat!¨ and its so sad because they love the word of God! and there is more of it for them to read and love and they reject it! It reminded me of the talk by Elder Holland that says that if anyone is going to leave or reject the church they have to go over or around the book of mormon. That's why I try and teach the truths of the BOM to everyone we find- it contains the eternal truths and promises we need to reach exaltation!
love you all!
hna smith
Sunday, August 30, 2015
The Haps This Week In Chorrera
Hello fam,
This week satan worked really hard on our investigators which is really really frustrating. I think Heavenly Father knew that was going to happen so He strengthened us a lot so that we can turn around and strengthen the people we teach.every lesson taught with a member- 5 pts
One Year Later... (Aug. 17)
Familia,
I am officially one year into this crazy adventure they call the Panama Mission. When? Where? How? I´m not really sure, but there it went!
This week passed by woooooshhh super rapido! But there were lots and lots of good things-
On Tuesday we had divisions with the new sister leaders and I stayed in our area with Hna Anderson and had the best day I´ve had in a long time! She is super great and we worked HARD!
Our first lesson was with Carlos and in the last lesson he told us that he felt like God had been ignoring him so I promised him that if he went to the stake conference he would get an answer from God. We got there and he told us that he hadn't gotten an answer. Dang it. So we shared a scripture about God's love and then I felt prompted to teach a little about the Holy Ghost and Carlos interrupts me and asks what does it feel like? So Hna Anderson explained how she feels the Spirit and then I explained and I said that when I feel the Spirit I get the shivers (except I didn't know the word for shiver so I acted it out) and as soon as I said that Carlos gets this goofy grin that I love and he goes ¨I felt that at the conference but I didn't know what it was. Was that the Spirit?¨ YES! So right now Carlos and Ana are working on getting their marriage papers so that they can get married and baptized!!
After that we walked a ton and taught a lot of good lessons. The last lesson before dinner we stopped by a less active's house and he has a son that lived in vernal, utah for 7 years. We walked up to the porch and there was country music playing...real, good, english, country music! I have gotten really good at ignoring the normal radio pop songs that get played in stores and on busses but I havent heard country music in a year and I was not prepared for how much of a distraction it was for me!
On Thursday we got to wake up at 3 in the morning and go to immigrations which is always a fun time. I´ve almost forgotten how much I don't like big cities...almost. We might have fallen asleep in our lunch and dinner....ooops!
On Friday night we did divisions with 4 of the jovencitas in our ward which was super fun. 2 of them are the daughters of a super awesome RM and we get to the house and the oldest walks to the door and we go ¨Miriam, tu vas tambien?!¨ and with the most angry face she tells us that yes, she has to go too. She got to come with me and we taught and contacted and walked a lot and it was actually really fun! Then at church yesterday she asked if we were going to do it again this friday! Our RC Vivian went with my comp and she told me that she was a contacting machine! She already has the missionary bug and asks us all the time when she can go out with us!
We are starting out this week with our agendas already full of good things so I know its gonna be a great one!
Its supposed to be winter here in panama which usually means lots of rain but we are passing throught some phenomenon where it doesn't rain so it's just really really hot and the rivers are drying up and the water goes out. So basically there are no seasons here, it's just summer all the time! Enjoy the end of summer and the beginning of Fall, it's a beautiful thing!
Love you lots,
Hna Smith
La Estaca La Chorrera (Aug. 10)
Milagros this week-
1. We got to go to the temple! It is a day called Dia en los Cielos and the whole stake goes to the temple for the whole day. We left at 5 in the morning and did 2 sessions before heading home but there were members who were there from 5 in the morning until 10 at night doing work in the temple.
2. Carlos and Ana are going to get married! They are ready to start the process of marriage so that they can get baptized! This week both of them prayed at the end of our lessons and he has a little bit of short term memory loss so he can't remember anything at all that he reads in the book of mormon but he still reads every day like a champ! He has this cheesy grin that he does when we ask him tough questions and they just make me so happy!
3. Vivian came out on visits with us this week and she was solid as a member present! She is reading the book of mormon, going to seminary, and she wants to serve a mission. Obviously we have to work hard with the ward to help her keep this enthusiasm but she's got this spark that she shares with everyone and the whole ward loves her so I'm not too worried:)
4. Today we went as a zone to Chicá and I didnt get eaten by the giant spider and we got to see some cool waterfalls and beautiful beautiful panama. The miracle is really that I get to be in this amazing country serving these amazing people!
5. The stake conference with Elder Alonzo blew my mind. It was just so good so I am going to share a few of my favorite parts-
Our stake president is this tiny little man who speaks like a baptist preacher but he speaks with an authority and a spirit you can't ignore. He started off the conference sharing John chapter 20 when Mary and the apostles saw Christ. ¨when they saw the resurrected Christ they became special witnesses of Christ. I testify that Elder Alonzo is a special witness of Jesus Christ.¨
Then Elder Alonzo stood up with his real scriptures and his Iphone turned off in his pocket. He talked about when the apostles fell asleep while christ was in Getsemane and he says ¨you couldnt wait with me one hour?¨ (which I always relate to when I want to fall asleep during studies) but he was talking about sacrament meeting and how we cant even turn off our phone during the most important hour of our week!
He talks so much about Christ which is awesome. He told us that Christ smiles, He's kind, He's attentive and then he asked us who had seen Christ. Obviously no one raised their hand. ¨Just because we don't remember, we think we´ve never seen him! ALL of us have seen Him, walked with Him, talked with Him¨
Someday our chapels will be the only place where people can find peace and people will be lining up outside, pleading to be baptized.
He called up all of the missionaries and told us to sing I am a Child of God (just like we practiced right? ;) and then he says this:
¨ They aren't perfect but they are the best of what our Heavenly Father has. Every morning they wake up at 6:30 with enthusiasm, study, pray, and every single day people ignore them, reject them, and lie to them. At the end of every day they go home and thank God for the experiences they were able to have. The question is brothers and sisters: What are you going to do with them? When they ask for your help or for references, when they come to your house for dinner or to a ward council, are you going to ignore, reject, or lie to them?¨
If Christ wants fish, he can get fish! What he needs are disciples! Forever! Someone who will preach his gospel, someone who will love him! (¿simon pedro, me amas?)
When Christ comes again do you think he will come to the chapel? Please, He will go directly to His house, the temple. Do you have your recommend?
I dont know how much you can get from my scrabbled notes but this is what I got most from the conference- CHRIST LIVES! He lives and He is right now leading His true church through His chosen prophet and apostles!
Can you believe its already August?
Love you all!
Hermana Smith
Funerals, Baptisms And Choir Practice (Aug. 3)
This week in La Chorrera-
- This week I found a lot of joy in the scriptures. I am studying the New Testament and the Book of Mormon in spanish (side note- what a miracle that I understand enough now to actually get something out of it spiritually and how weird that I speak spanish right?) and the BoM is so true, even the bible says so! Everytime I read in the Bible I find cool references that I will probably never use in a lesson but that strengthen my testimony in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!
-We had the baptism scheduled for saturday at 1....until this less active sister passed away and they scheduled the funeral for 1 oclock on saturday. We had a couple inactives in Santiago who were inactive because no one showed up to their mom's funeral so I was a little worried but the whole ward showed up- even a whole bunch of less-actives showed up out of the nowhere. I played the piano and I did not anticipate how much more pressure there is to play prelude for a funeral than for a normal sunday- it is dead (too soon?) silent so everyone is listening to the mistakes. I don't have that much experience with funerals but it seemed like a nice one.
- So Vivan got BAPTIZED! She is seriously the cutest. She comes from a huge less active family and not a single one showed up for her baptism, not one. Luckily her ward family was all there to support her! She shared a sweet testimony and we walked her home. She is going to the temple tomorrow and she is already asking which days she can go out on visits with us! She is going to be an AMAZING missionary!
-This coming Saturday and Sunday are stake conference and Chorrera has the awesome priveledge of having Elder Alonzo from the area presidency attend. And Barrio Biancheri was chosen to be the choir....awesome right? We don't actually sound that bad but the stake choir director decided we could sing one of the hymns with 4 parts which might have been overestimating our abilities just a little bit. Basically we spent all of our sunday in a choir practice that never ended and the large majority still don't understand that they cant just sing the melody. Hopefully the speakers are really good;)
-After the endless choir practice we had time for one family home evening and we taught the family about family prayer and I loved being able to tell them about how my awesome family does family prayers every night! I love the mission but I am really looking forward to being back around your bed with the whole fam!
Love you all! Have fun on all of your adventures!
Katie
Transfer #3 In Biancheri (July 26)
Familia,
Ok so my favorite thing this week was when I learned that the panamanians call speed bumps ¨policia muertos¨ [Dead Police]. The panamanians love it when I know slang words, they think it's hilarious!
Ok so we had changes this week and Hermana Chamul and I are staying for a third change together here in Biancheri and we are so excited because this change we are going to reap all of the baptisms we have been sowing these past 2 transfers! And it starts this saturday with Vivian! Vivian comes from a massive family of members (grandparents, 10 aunts and uncles, and her mom) but they all went innactive before her generation could get baptized. She is 16 and she is eating up the gospel, it is so awesome to see! She studies the chapters we leave and then we she finishes she reads the BOM from the beginning. She is so prepared and I see a future missionary in her, its awesome!
Here in panama they also celebrate Pioneer Day....just not quite as organized as the neighborhood haha. As missionaries we were in charge of acting out a few scenes from the organization of the church and the arrival in Salt Lake. It was....interesting. To say the least. Each ward had a parade of pioneer children and a part in the activity and, like everything panamanian, it took a really long time! But it was really fun and it was so cool to see how much work the members put into making the costumes and how much they loved talking about the Pioneers!
Earlier in the week I was talking with the bishop and I asked him if there was anything we could do to help him. He told me that he might need one of us to speak in church and because I offered the help I got volunteered to give the talk. Ok cool, totally fine, I can give a talk in spanish...I think. They told us in the MTC that we would give a talk the first week in the mission field but that was a lie because I made it a year into the mission without having to talk. The bishop had given me a general conference talk from President Monson on love to base my talk off of and I spent a really long time prepping super well and I felt totally good about it. Then as we were leaving the house on sunday morning the first counselor calls me and tells me that he has to speak too and that he likes my topic better so is it ok if I speak on something else. Are you kidding me? I got up and spoke for my 15 minutes. What I said? I have no idea. But my comp told me that my Spanish rocked even if my message was a little scrambled....you win some and you lose some :)
Ok best best best part of my week was a lesson we had last night with Carlos and Ana. Earlier this week we visited them and it was super depressing. He had had some convulsions the night before and they had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and if it happens again she is going to have to stop working and they don't have any money and with everything they were going through they couldn't think about marriage or the verses we had left. When we left that night we really weren't sure what we could do for them and if they were even going to keep progressing. So we prayed and prayed and prayed for them and we stopped by last night to see how they were doing.
When we got there they were so much happier, YAY! They had finally gotten his medication and they have been reading in the book of mormon every night. We shared the talk on love that I had been assigned for sacrament and it was the sweetest lesson I have ever been in. She started out telling us that love between people didnt exist, only customs. Then we asked him and he looks at us and goes ¨I love her, even if she doesnt believe it.¨ And we talked more about the love of Christ and how all love we have comes from the love He gave us first. As a couple they understand the pure love of Christ. She has stood by him in every single moment since his first seizure, doing literally everything, and there isn't a trace of regret or bitterness- she does it completely out of love. By the end she was telling us herself that she loves him. We were practically in tears listening to them talk about everything they have been through together. She told us that he is so diligent with his prayers- this coming from the Carlos that wouldn't pray a few weeks ago because he wasn't sure God would understand him- and that she was ready to say the closing prayer- YES! They just make us so happy and we are so hoping that they will be able to get married and then baptized in these coming weeks!
A few reasons I love my Biancheri ward- the leaders here understand leadership. The ward has a goal for indexing and on the bulletin is the list of the top indexers in the ward...#1 on the list is our bishop, followed closely by his counselors. Ward choir- the bishop and his counselors. It's really awesome to watch the miracles it produces when the leaders lead by example.
Ok well love you all!
Katie
despedida
End Of Transfer 2 In Biancheri (July 20)
Good week in Biancheri! Not a whole ton of excitement but some good days-
Tuesday- So last week we didn't have time to do weekly planning but wouldn't you know that we had the most productive week we've had in a long time (I still totally have a testimony of planning don't worry). Tuesday was a beast of a day- in a good way- we left the house feeling good and didnt stop til we got back! We taught every single one of the lessons we had planned and found some awesome new investigators! Really it was just a normal missionary day but it felt so good to get home and realize how effectively we worked and taught with the spirit and it set us up for an awesome week!
On Wednesday we were walking from a FHE to our dinner and we decided to take a shortcut on this little dirt road and we got about halfway down the street and the lights went out...everywhere. It was pitch black and we didn't know whether we should go back or move forward so we held our umbrellas out incase there were any psychos and walked very slowly to the member's house where we ate a romantic candle-light dinner....and then in the middle of the closing prayer the lights came flickering back on.
It rained a ton a ton a ton and somehow we were still without water for saturday, sunday, and monday...will somebody tell me how that works? The good news is that I can now take a solid hygenic shower out of a 2 liter bottle...one more talent to add to the resume i guess.
We were at dinner last night with a fam that has a grandson the same age as milo (as in jan. 3 birthday) and we were at the dinner table finishing the lesson and eating popsicles and we look over and he is sitting on the floor feeding the dog right off the popsicle stick and I thought of the picture of milo and wilbur on the floor with all the cereal haha
We should find out transfers tonight or tomorrow so pray for me:) I was thinking deep on the bus from panama today and when I am people watching I like to think about what the jovenes would look like as missionaries and today I realized how most of the poeple I see everyday will never ever get the chance to be a full time missionary and then I pictured the spirit world and how cool it will be to be able to say that I served a full time mission when I was on earth because really there arent very many who will be able to say it! I am sooo grateful fro the privilege I have to serve the Lord in these 18 months! Love you all, have an awesome week!
Katie
Katie's Letter (July 13)
A week full of little trials and big miracles- shocker right?
This week my comp was having a tough time. The miracle was that on the day we were having a hard time we found a ton of new people to teach! We have our goal of 10 people contacted every day and normally 1 of these 10 will tell us that we can come back and maybe maybe but probably not are in their house when we come back. But this day I was feeling so crappy so I started to contact houses and 4 right in a row told us to come back and gave us references. Then the 5th house was this crazy old man that I think is mentally ill because he was locked inside his patio and he told us that he had 65 kids and who knows...maybe I´m one of them! Doing missionary work and seeing God try and help us out a little reminded us why we are here and helped us laugh it off a little. It also prepared us for the next hard day.
On Thursday we called Betsy in the morning to confirm our appointment and we were so excited because she had beed reading and the spirit was so strong in our lessons. She told us how much she wanted to come to church and we had plans to go pick her up. Well when we called she told us that her husband didn't agree with what we were teaching and that to avoid problems in the marriage it is better that we don't stop by anymore. Then in the afternoon we had a lesson with Kathy and we watched the restoration video and bore fierce testimonies about the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith and she basically told us that since we have been teaching her she has been feeling really confused and that she is comfortable with her own religion. Boom. Our favorite investigators both in one day. That was super tough but we put them in the area book and hope the future missionaries will take the time to find them when they are more prepared.
We had a ward activity on saturday night about family history and all of the members made familysearch accounts and tried to start their family trees. The problem was that none of the family history consultants (basically the 3 youth that know how to work a laptop) showed up so they roped me in to 3 hours helping people make accounts and input names and let me tell you- that website is just as frustrating in spanish. But the cool part is that most of the members are the only ones doing family history so all of the names they were putting in we were able to print out and they are all going to the temple this week!! Today I am going to help one of the hermanas who has more than 60 names to put in!
Sunday was just a full on miracle. We only had 3 lessons but in every one we had awesome members and in every one we were able to put a baptismal date.
This transfer flew by and we are praying for one more transfer here togehter becuase we know there are some amazing miracles coming our way! I love it here in Biancheri and could spend the rest of my mission here! Who knows what God has planned for me but I am going to enjoy this last week of the transfer just in case:)!
Love you!
Katie
Packages, Drunks, And Lots And Lots Of Walking (July 6)
Familia,
I spent all of my email time looking at all the pictures from flaming gorge so here are some miracles we saw this week:
*we walked a ton and no one was home...no one. So God gave us some awesome miracles along the way to help us keep walking.
-I got my packages!!!
- We went to go visit a huge less active family who were baptized and went less active about 15 years ago. The hermana and her kids arent ready to come back yet but we met 3 of the grandkids who were never baptized and who are super prepared. We left a book of mormon with the oldest and when we picked her up for church on sunday she explained everthing she had learned in alma 32 and then went on to tell me that she wanted to see what else she could understand so she read the next 5 chapters as well! I am always so amazed at how God prepares people, especially youth, to recieve the gospel. I love meeting these kids that just have this natural desire to know more about God.
- We were walking from one appointment to the next when this couple called us over to where they were standing on the street. The girl goes ¨I´m a member in another area, here's a reference for you¨. So this week we have an appointment to teach her boyfriend the gospel!
-Remember the huge family of 12? We have been working so hard on softening up the mom because when we started she was so seemingly unresponsive and cold. Yesterday we walked into church (we had 13 investigators at church yesterday, whatup!) and she was there with a few of her kids and we were shocked! We went to visit them after church and we taught them about the word of wisdom and law of chastity. We challenged her husband to stop drinking and he basically told us no and blamed her. She totally opened up to us and told us that all she wants is a happy family and that if she dies tomorrow she wants to know that her family is going to be ok. She talked about how grateful she is that we are visiting and teaching them and how grateful she is for her son's example (her oldest son is one of our recent converts). This coming from a woman we thought hated us! She still has a long way to go before she is ready to be baptized but yesterday was a huge step! It also means that we can start preparing the rest of the family to get baptized!
- Ana and Carlos came to church again yesterday and we had some awesome lessons with them this week. At first Ana told us flat out that she wasnt really that interested but if he went, she would go. But we had a lesson with just her and it was amazing to hear from her all of the good that has happened in their lives since they started investigating the church and how much she sincerely wants to learn more about the gospel. She told us that she had lost all faith so we are going to have to start from ground zero but she has the desire which is all that matters!
Turns out everyone knew it was the 4th of July and decided to party so we found a ton of drunks on Saturday. I also turns out that every drunk has the gift of tongues and thinks they can speak perfect english. I had so many conversations without any sentido.
My favorite of all of the unforgettable quotes was this ¨when I want to learn about God, I go straight to the internet¨
Love you all!! Have a great week! Say hi to all the family for me!
Katie
This Week In La Chorrera (June 29)
I haven't done miracles in a while so here it goes. The miracles we saw this week in Biancheri-
- One of the members bought a horse. Literally the most random thing ever because there are no horses around here but they felt like buying a horse so they did. Most of the time it is just chillin in the backyard but they also tie it up in other places when it runs out of grass to eat in their backyard. The miracle is that when I am feeling tired or hot or thinking about trunky things...boom there's the horse tied up in the most unexpected places! I feed it some grass and my companion practices contacting him in english and suddenly we feel a lot better:)
- Yesterday we were walking past a house and I yelled `buenas!` and three huge dogs come running out of the house and started chasing me and I just closed my eyes and forced myself to walk slowly, praying so hard and just telling myself `dont run dont run dont run maybe they will leave you alone` I opened my eyes and there are all three of them right around me barking and growling and my comp is on the other side of the street just staring at me and I`m yelling `ayudame!` and all the people on the street are just standing there laughing at me. I seriously thought I was going to die but I kept walking slowly past the house and my comp threw a rock and they went away. So far my legs are super covered in scars from mosquitos but miraculously I dont have a single dog bite!
- Ok so this week my real miracle is Carlos and Ana. We contacted Carlos while he was walking to the chino a few weeks ago and he is the greatest. A little over a year ago he had a pretty serious seizure that left him completely immobile. He did some rehabilitation and now he can walk mas o menos with a cane and talk but it's hard to understand. They couldn't afford more therapy, even with Ana working all day, everyday so he hasn't progressed much in the past year. We have been visiting and teaching them about the plan of salvation and the atonement. I don't know if I have ever taught someone who needed it as much as this family needs the peace and the healing that the gospel of Jesus Christ provides.
Easily one of the coolest lessons I have ever been a part of was talking to Carlos about prayer. We asked him if he had prayed about the Book of Mormon and he told us no. He insists on prayers with Ana at night and in the mornings but he had never actually offered the prayer. He said that he's embarrassed about the way he speaks and that he wasn't sure if God would understand him. Also that because of past sins that he wasn't sure if God would want to hear him. We were able to teach him about our loving Heavenly Father who is always anxious to hear our prayers and that our prayers don't have to be formal and out loud. God knows every thought and every feeling and His arms are always outstretched to receive us. Always.
There is a girl in the ward who is preparing to leave on her mission and we took her with us to a lesson. That was inspired. She has taken on Carlos and Ana and now the whole ward is involved! We have a member who is a physical therapist and he met with Carlos and Ana to evaluate and create an exercise plan. All of the young single adults signed up for days in the week to help him with the rehab and read in the scriptures!
The best miracle is that they live close enough to the church that he can walk there without getting too tired and they were able to come yesterday! I am so so so grateful for prepared people, amazing members, and this amazing message of hope and healing that I get to share!
Katie
Katie's Letter (June 24)
quick recap of our week-
The zls bribed us with ice cream to reach some of our hardest goals and surprise- it worked!
We have been learning and working on inviting to baptism in the first lesson and every lesson afterward with power and authority. It can be intimidating but it is really important that everyone understands exactly what our purpose is. We have even been contacting with this line ¨ buenas! we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we would like to teach you and your family the restored gospel and prepare you to be baptized in the only true church!¨ We get a lot of ¨ummm.. no¨ but we have had some really awesome experiences of people who have let us in and listened to our message!
Our goal to invite helped us to reach our goal of investigators with baptismal dates. We have been teaching Betsy for a long time and she is reading and praying and she is ready! Last week we shared the family proclamation with her and challenged her to share what she has been learning with her husband and 2 kids. So when we came to teach on Friday we were able to teach her 14 year old daughter as well and she is super shy but she has a desire to learn and she accepted the fecha immediately and didn't hesitate at all when we invited her to say the closing prayer!
This week we taught Kathy about baptism and the priesthood. She has been evangelica all of her life and feels very attached to her church. She wants so badly for there to be exceptions- maybe God can give other people the authority outside of the church if they are faithful or maybe any baptism can be valid if you have enough faith. It can be tough to teach without offending her but it is pretty incredible at the same time! She knows and LOVES the bible and she reads and studies all of the chapters we leave in the BOM. She really likes it and I know that her testimony and answer is going to come first from the BOM. My favorite moment in the whole week was when she told us (after reading 2 Nephi 32) that the Book of Mormon is really beautiful and clear and teaches her things in a different way than the bible. What?! I know she is so torn because she wants her church to be true so badly but she also recognizes that we have something different, something really really good. We pray constantly that we can help her find the answer that helps her make the change. The Book of Mormon is so powerful and so so so true!
So good/awful experience of the week- We have this inactive that cuts hair in her house. Everytime we pass by she hides and locks the door but yesterday when we stopped by her son let us in the house and she tried to kick us out by telling us that she had to work and she had people coming for haircuts. I wanted so bad to talk to her so without thinking I asked if she could cut my hair. 1st mistake. Then I asked her to just take off the tippy tippy tips and give me a tiny bit of layers. 2nd mistake. She went nuts and cut off all the hair I have worked so hard to grow out since the mtc and gave me the worst layers ever! Buuuuuutttt we schmoozed her up and we have a return appointment so it just might be worth it!
Hermana Smith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)