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| Where´s Waldo pic: the blonde, white girl stands out just a little bit huh? :) |
HOLA familia y amigos!!!
Well this week has sure been a fun rollercoaster ride. With lots of ups and downs. You sick of me saying that yet? :) Walking many days this week Hna Jo started singing the song Hawaiin Rollercoaster Ride from Lilo and Stitch but totally changed the words to fit our situation here. Thus, the title of my email.
Well Tuesday was our 8 month anniversary and Dallin´s birthday! So that was fun! We made oreo truffles to celebrate and share with the Zone at zone meeting. Hermana Ward taught a lesson with an awesome activity and it's always just cool to see these fully seasoned missionaries so close to going home sharing their testimony and knowledge. Elder Archibold (the other DL not mine) also taught and then to wrap it up he started saying how this week was going to be a competition to see who could baptize, etc. and I just got mad inside and started shaking my head in unbelief and frustration and turns out Elder VW saw me cuz he looked at me and looked back and raised his hand and said, ¨You mean it´s a competition this week to see who can love their investigators most, right?!¨ hahaha I loved the understanding we seem to have for each other and that he knew it bothered me and wanted to fix it. That´s what awesome leaders are like.
Also during practices, Hna Jo and I finished teaching the practice lesson and Elder Archibold, who was acting as the investigator, gave feedback. He said that for him the only thing to improve on would be to testify and give personal experiences. I just accepted because sometimes it´s not worth it to fight back and say when you actually did that haha so I said ok. Then he asked Elder VW if he had any commentaries and he said, ¨Yes. I loved the questions. And Hermana Bryan did, actually, share a personal experience and testify.¨ and that was it. bahahahaha I thought that was hilarious. He totally had my back on Tuesday the whole time! Love it.
Miguel. Wow, I hate Satan. A lot of troubles have happened with Mayra and Alvaro (the fact that Alvaro kicked Mayra out and she was living in Miguel's teeny room he rented for a week but then returned with her husband like nothing happened) and that has really affected Miguel so much so that he smoked again and then actually put all of his Gospel-related things in a bag under his bed because he doesn´t want anything anymore. He said he just feels so disappointed and let down by the church, Pres Amaya, everyone and is just tired. He has lost a lot of light and I KNOW what we said to him touched him because the Spirit was there and his reactions let us know that but I just pray and hope everyday we haven´t lost him. We haven´t been able to have a lesson since because he has been busy or working and though we have passed by to say hi, it´s not the same. For the first time he didn't come to church so we went and dropped off a letter at his house and left that for him to read. Please pray for him!! We found out that the pres was going to interview him after 2 months and that will be like in a week. He´s so amazing but also needs to realize that endure to the end means just that! Not just 3/4 of the way for nothing. There is a clear choice: eternal life, forgiveness, salvation and an eternal family OR none of that. It´s all up to us and the decisions we make! We have plans to help him recognize that through the Spirit and certain scriptures etc. The bishop also had to go through a similar experience turns out (he took 1.5 hrs to talk to us one day after lunch and share his feelings that he has seen we are working and actually wants to talk to us, etc and how that usually doesn't happen and then shared his experience. We are getting him involved to try and share that with Miguel.)
Wedesday. Satan is such a piece!! He got me SO down on Wednesday and it was so ridiculous and bad that as we left the house I just couldn't hold it in and began bawling/sobbing in the streets it was ridiculous! We sat down in a park and both cried and talked and resolved everything. Turns out she was feeling exactly the same. He was making us doubt ourselves but we also related everything to ¨The Gospel according to Harry Potter¨so that helped. haha yes we are nerds. It was so nice to talk everything out and realize we had felt the same, build each other up, realize what was happening etc and resolve ourselves to not let that guy and his workings get us down. He works so hard on missionaries working hard and who give it their all. Also we talked about how we had been so ¨jewed¨by Satan and Hna Jo just burst out, ¨You know WHAT, Satan?! We may be jewed right now but YOU are jewed FOR ALL ETERNITY!!! AND FOREVER!!¨ hahaha love her. We left and then immediately saw so many tender mercies in our lives. The Lord is so amazing and lets us know daily how much He loves us.
Then later while walking down the street, there was a car moving slowly in the opposite direction as us and this guy sticks out his head and arm out the window to try and grab me while saying Hello and I was scared and surprised and tried jumping away and he passed. Well turns out Hna Jo was in shock cuz she was right behind me and saw it happen and swears it looked like he fully grabbed my arm. I told her no I didn´t feel a thing and nothing happened. She was like WOW! You just got Samuel-the-Lamanite-ed! It was way crazy afterwards thinking about it but I´m so grateful for the Lord´s protection and love.
Wednesday Hna Ward came and slept over with us because she was leaving for the states on Thurs morning! That was a tender mercy for us all as we got to catch up and enjoy each other so much :) As she was leaving it was so sad--it´s always such a weird feeling watching people go home. But she was like don't worry we will take lots more pictures and have crazy times as roomates at BYU :) haha Elder Hammer freaked out when he heard us 3 were planning on that and was like oh nooooo haha.
Wedesday we also saw Julio again and it´s SO amazing to see the light of these recent converts!! Such a change and incredible miracle. I love the gospel! He said he was reading the Liahona the other day and that he just felt this cool amazing happy feeling and he said, ¨I said to myself, Julio, You are MORMON!!¨ and said he felt so happy and had noticed a difference in himself.
Thursday wow I have the most amazing comp ever. During comp inventory she related 3 Nephi 12:8 to me and added cool insight to it (said she thought it meant the pure in heart will see God in other people), and read me other gifts of the Spirit she had researched that reminded her of me and then pulled out a letter she had written me. She is incredible.
Thursday we visited the girls (just like every other day this week) and it was just so amazing to see how ready they were for their baptism the following day. Also it was incredible how they keep finding out that more of their family members investigated the church at one time or that their grandpa was a bishop a while ago in the church, etc. what?! The Lord works in mysterious and miraculous ways :)
Side note: we have felt so sick, run down, SORE, tired, powned and jewed lately. We literally have like old sore decrepit bodies it feels like! haha
Friday we contacted for 6.5 hours straight in the sun. That was fun! BUT It was CAMILA AND ALEJANDRA´S BAPTISM!!!! I honestly have NEVER felt more happy or joyful, grateful, loving, etc than I did that night and when we got home. Wow. The baptism was literally perfect. SO many people came!! Like more than they do in the States! The YW sang ¨Hijas de un Rey¨and made the mom of Camila and Alejandra cry! The baptisms were both performed by Fabian per the girls´request and that was awesome! Just studs all the way around that day :) They looked SO happy and I just imagined them in the temple soon! The welcomes were awesome and the bishop addressed the mom for a bit too and she stood up and thanked everyone and expressed how she felt like they were all family now, etc. It was wonderful! Everyone was so congratulating, loves, and has fun with them and can see how special they are. There was such a special and amazing spirit there. They said they felt so good and it was something extremely beautiful and special. There is truly NO joy like this!! I had a hard time talking to Elder Rubio giving my inform at night without bursting for joy and I was just laughing and so happy and so was he! What a perfect, amazing night. And an absolute miracle from our Heavenly Father! It blows my mind how we found them--knocking doors--that was a direct blessing and privilege. They shine and the Lord is so good to us and blesses us! That was a direct answer to MY prayers too to be able to see the fruit of our labors. Wow I´m just so humbled by the mercy of my Heavenly Father and the goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Saturday we got poned by making fun of Latin hair styles in the morning about how they are all slicked back and then had to accept the offer when a member saw us sweating and wanted to pull our hair back and did that to us! bahaha It was hilarious! We also threw a bunch of rocks at a mango tree to try and get some mangoes and this guy saw us and pulls out his 12 foot bamboo stick to show us up and help us get mangos. We then contacted for 7 hours straight and it was probably one of the hottest days of my mish. BUT I know the Lord will bless us for this in due time! That's how we have to find people. We don't have many people to teach after the baptisms and we get down about that and the lack of a program or people wanting to accept but how can we complain?! No way. The Lord has blessed us so much this transfer and I know it will continue if we keep working hard and giving it our all.
Sunday we contacted more and with Josue our mission leader (the kid in the pic with us and Julio at his baptism is our mission leader! :) ) and also had a fun experience with Alvaro trying to insult us at church and make us feel guilty, etc but I held my ground and didn't accept it and made them know how much we have done and how much Miguel does mean to us and how much we will continue to not give up and talk to the leaders and try and help Miguel out. That guy has some nerve and will get his own someday!
Wow sorry for so much details about all that has happened. The mission is the most wonderful, hard thing ever and I feel SO blessed to be a part of it! I love the Lord with all my heart and feel so humbled by how much He loves us. I am a weak human trying to serve Him and I fall short in so many ways. But that is the blessing of the Atonement and the Gospel. If we give it our all and continuously strive to progress and get better, They will take care of the rest and bless us in so many ways. I know this church is true. I know the BOM is true and changes lives. I know the church is directed by a prophet who gets revelation. It only makes sense! Because HF and Christ LIVE and LOVE us and want to help us. I LOVE you all so so much! And am so grateful for you.
Have an incredible week and always remember that smiling and laughing is the way to enjoy this life :) Seek to Serve, Live to Love, Go and Do!! :)
Love,
Hermana Bryan
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| Camila and Alejandra and me! |
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| ¨Fav¨pic cuz it has my fav people: Fabian, the girls, and my comp! |
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