This week was awesome! I had a lot of fun and hard experiences!
Most importantly: I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!
The girl's name is Karen and we started teaching her my first week here, she was a referral from an awesome member. She is 16 and super sweet, and super tall! The experience was amazing.
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| Karen's baptism! |
We were running late, our ride picked us up late, and when we went to pick up Karen and her mom they weren't ready (we ended up being 20 minutes late for her baptism). When we got there everyone was already there waiting (including our mission president and his wife...oops), and when we were getting ready we realized Karen had forgotten a change of shirt (luckily I had brought a sweater, which I never do because I rarely get cold here...thank goodness for a prompting amiright?). Usually all of that would've left me feeling overwhelmed and stressed, but as soon as the meeting started, and when she was baptized, all I could feel was joy. The spirit and this gospel are truly amazing!
Had my first intercambios (I don't remember the English word) this week, so I spent a whole day in Spanish (except during comida when the members wanted to practice their English with me). But I survived!
It was sad though, during one lesson, right at the end, I was sharing a scripture and testifying of it to the people, and feeling like it was really powerful. When I finished the woman we were teaching just smiled and said "que linda" (translation: how cute) and clapped because I spoke Spanish. That was pretty sad, but also funny.
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| Hermana Hernandez as Sadness |
And it also rained. A lot. They were talking for days about how this huge storm was going to hit, something about a hurricane even. The "big storm" hit Friday night, and flooded the streets, and soaked me and Hermana Hernandez pretty thoughroughly, (mom help, idk how to spell anymore, and never did). But with the rain came miracles. We were in the midst of getting stood up for appointments (whats new) and trudging through the puddles when we saw the house of a contact from a while before who we had never actually visited. We decided to knock and see if she was home, and she actually let us in! The spirit was so strong during the lesson, and let me tell you she was prepared by God. Before the end of the lesson she accepted a baptismal date!
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| rainy day (my coat was a little tight over my backpack, but gotta keep the scriptures dry! |
The Lord prepares people, and we are not the ones who convert them. We go and we teach and try our best to do it well, but rely fully on the spirit to carry it to their hearts. Never be afraid to share the truth with others. Don't be afraid of saying something wrong. If we are doing our best, relying on the spirit, and speaking from our hearts, the Lord will bless us with the words to say. This week while in a lesson I really wanted to share something with one of our investigators, but didn't want to mess it up, so was about to just tell it to my companion to translate when I remembered a story from the bible (I can't remember what prophet, sorry) in which he was promised that if he would speak he would be given the power to do it, but he instead asked God to give him someone else to speak for him. I decided I wasn't going to pass off my blessing I was promised (the gift of tongues), I was going to claim my blessing, so I went for it, and I spoke. It was definitely not perfect, but I was able to speak without hesitation, and I felt the spirit come over me. If we let the Lord use us as His tools and trust Him to help us, He will. If we are doing His will, He will always bless us with the power to complete our task. Turn to Him, trust in Him, and He will work miracles through you.
Love and miss you all!
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| Before and after our taco feast today (which some unknown good Samaritan paid for) |
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