Striving to be a ¨Disturber and Annoyer in his kingdom¨

Julio's Baptism

HOLA!
First of all I want to say: HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY DALLIN!!!!!!!  You are the best brother ever and I´m so excited for you!!!  Also I love that your birthday falls on my 8 month mission anniversary!!!  Crazy how the months go by so fast!  In 2 weeks I´ll be halfway done with my mission--what?!  That´s crazy.

So Tuesday we had District meeting and the practices were so so wonderful.  I was acting like one of our investigators and the first practice was alright so I was honest with them and made them re-do it haha because I didn´t feel like it really helped me with my needs.  So Elder Vanwagoner stepped in with Elder Rubio and it was incredible.  They asked me more questions and really were guided by the Spirit.  One time during the practice, Elder VW asked me a questions and I looked down and really thought about it and answered and when I looked up again, Elder VW was crying--super super teary and that hit me really hard.  I had never seen him like that and it really touched me.  I love this work and the Spirit we can feel when we really focus and love the other people.  He has learned and improved a lot--he talked so much today and was so open and friendly and expressed more details of the struggles the zone had in Manta--things I had no idea about and his experiences searching for me in the Clinica Manta, etc.  haha it was great. And he calls us to congratulate us for our work and our numbers and baptisms and asks if we need help or anything, it's incredible--the change!

Tuesday also Camila and Alejandra had their baptismal interviews and it was incredible how impressed Elder Rubio was with how they could differentiate between our church and others and their testimonies.  Also, Camila has an awesome personality and is absolutely hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed her teasing the elders a lot.  We went to ask the mom to sign for permission and she all of a sudden changed her mind that she needed to talk to the dad first, etc etc so that was a bit of a scare and something we really had to exercise our faith and prayers about.

Wednesday was an awesome awesome day!  I woke up SO so super happy and the Lord blessed me with such happiness today!  I LOVE the Gospel and missionary work and studying and being able to share together what we learn and have such an uplifting comp study.  I just felt so blessed to be here with Hna Jo.  It´s really a season of hard work, desire, love, and pure joy.  During Wed we just had like a half hour where Satan that piece was trying to get us down and we went walking looking for a contact and met dun dun dun...Oscar Nieto.  This ancient old man who talked our ears off for 30 minutes and would NOT let us leave and kissed our hands and kept calling me Astrid and asking if that was correct and after the 10th time I just finally told him that yes my name was Astrid haha it was such a hilarious, weird, crazy experience and I was crying laughing the whole time and was just a testimony that the Lord has a sense of humor and loves us and wants us to be happy and have fun in this work and in life.

Thursday was Woman´s Day and was hilarious because everyone kept wishing us ¨Feliz Dia¨ and we had no idea why until English class when our students told us and Miguel brought us roses.  Haha dang it we could have taken advantage of that one!  :)  Thursday during my personal study I found a scripture I loved in Luke and though many scriptures are similar in Matthew, etc.  In Luke when it talks about the people who take up their cross, Luke added a word in there and said take up thy cross DAILY.  I loved that.  A lot.  because the decision to follow Christ and the trials we go through, etc. are daily things and we daily have to do things to follow Him and to be examples of Him and to go through trials but it's all worth it!!  Thursday night, Elder Hammer called and played a WAY mean joke on us that had us freaking out about transfers for like an hour and got everybody involved in it including Elder Rubio when we called to give our report.  What a fool! haha I was cracking up but yelling afterwards cuz of how gullible we are cuz we are always paranoid about that subject because we don't want transfers at all :)  More details when I get home but it was a good one.

Friday we went to Julio´s (we went every day this week) and he said he had started the BOM again and read from the beginning until 1 Nephi 14 and got so excited to tell us the things he learned and it was amazing watching his face light up telling about the stories from the BOM.  I was just staring at him and seeing the look of pure content and peace and wondering how this happened.  I can´t pinpoint a time when Julio stopped doubting and let his faith take over, but it´s happened.  It´s all fallen into place and his light, absolute humility, humor, peace, countenance changed is such a humbling and emotional experience for me.  The Lord is amazing.  How am I so privileged to be a part in these magnificent changes?!  There is NOTHING that compares to watching someone change their life and being able to note the change just by looking at them all because of the Gospel but to be able to be there every step of the way.  What JOY and how utterly blessed and humbled I have felt.  Friday we came home early because anemia Hna Jo has really really affected her that day so I had some more time to study.  I found a scripture in Luke 16:10 that really hit me about how obedience in the small things really does determine our obedience in the greater or bigger matters.  Also how obedience in the small things can determine our destiny and who we become.  Also in JSH 1:20 I LOVE the word choice of Joseph Smith to describe who he was in comparison to Satan.  He said he was sure that he passed through many trials because Satan knew he would be a disturber and annoyer in his kingdom.  That´s right, Satan!  That´s what we are :)

Saturday= JULIO´S BAPTISM!!!!  Wow so many things went wrong that day to make us feel crappy, etc.  (that's usually how baptismal days are for us in the mish here) but Satan can´t win and Julio was baptized!!!  At the baptism I was kind of mad because hardly anyone came and talked to him and even the Bishop was acting dumb but it´s just a testimony to me to know that it´s not about the other people.  Julio felt the Spirit and felt so happy and nothing else mattered.  We sang Come Thou Fount and I bore my testimony about the Savior before we sung and threw in an inside joke we have with Julio about the Gospel to make him smile and we felt so much better.  The ordinance was amazing--we had someone baptizing Julio (the most awkward guy at church and it's SO cute because they are good friends) and another young 18 year old kid standing in the font, shaking while holding Julio up.  He was so great and it was a miracle he didn´t drop him because he was absolutely shaking!  They brought him under and back up again and then man grunted out of the font but he did it, Peter!!  Julio was SO nervous beforehand but afterwards couldn´t stop smiling and I could tell he was so happy.  The Bishop gave a wonderful welcome and explained a lot of things to him and during talking about us and the work we´ve all done, Julio looked over at us and smiled and gave us a fist pound in the air--it was such a Hurrah for Israel moment.  He texted us later that night just thanking and thanking us.  What a blessing!!!!

Sunday Julio received the Spirit and it was such a testimony of the power of the Priesthood for an 18 yr old kid who normally can't speak fluidly and is more awkward to give the blessing and just feel so powerfully the Spirit and he was just so smiley afterwards.  Also, we passed by Camila and Alejandra in the morning to walk to church and they came out and handed us the baptismal forms ALL SIGNED because their mom had talked to their dad and they GOT PERMISSION!!!!  The Lord does so many miracles and I know that fasting works and prayers exercised with faith.  They will be baptized on Friday!!!

So I found some quotes I wanted to share.
First comes from a YW song: ¨Remember you are greatest, when you walk with God.  When His light is in your eyes, you are truly strong.  You are divine within, you were sent here to become like Him.
the other two are in  Spanish and come from the RS book Hijas en mi Reino:

¨Si solo hacemos nuestro trabajo a medias no tendremos ningun placer; si lo hacemos por nuestro sentido del deber, no tendremos ningun gozo; pero si sentimos que somos una rama de esta viña, que nuestro Padre Celestial nos ha considerado dignas de ser miembros de esa rama y que podemos llevar a cabo esta obra cuando se tenga que hacer, entonces tendremos gozo.¨--Louise Y. Robison

¨Lo mas grande en el mundo es el amor.  Y si siempre guardamos eso en el corazon, y lo damos como mensaje a los que nos rodean, seremos bendecidas y seremos instrumentos para bendecir a las personas con quienes nos relacionemos.¨--Clarissa S. Williams

another one from our week:
¨Sometimes God removes our burdens and other times He strengthens our backs.¨--Me
¨And other times your companion puts rocks in your backpack to do it for you.¨--Hna Jo

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!  Have a wonderful week!!
Hermana Kenna Bryan