OKay. My life pretty much is amazing right now. I will tell you all about it. It´s called Once Upon A Time I had to wait until THURSDAY to go to the Tierra del Fuego. So I did. Waking up at 3 in the morning really wasn´t that difficult as I could really sleep that night anyways (Hermana Milmont and Hermana Alvey slept just fine). I get to the airport at 4 in the morning to find my good buddy Elder Palomino waiting to go south too! Elder Palomino is from Colombia and was in my zone for the past....forever. A long time. Anyways, I was happy because at least I was with another missionary and not by my onesie. Being in the Remis with the male driver was a little weird. So, it was good to have an Elder there. We were the only two lucky ones to leave at 4 in the morning. So we grab our stuff (aka Elder Palomino took my bag and his, LOVE being an Hermana) and we head out to the plane. Which we get into by stairs. Small airport. And by some crazy weirdness, we´re not sitting together. Pucha. But it doesn´t matter because it´s early and I try to sleep. Fast forward to 9 in the morning and I´m looking down to OCEAN. There´s going to be a lot of caps in the e-mail. Just saying. I´m excited. Anyways, so ocean. Yes, we get off the plane, we go find our bags and then head out to meet the Elders and the....Elders. Wait, where are the Hermanas? Oh, they didn´t know I was coming. Bienvenida al Sur. Yes, communication is a tricky process here. So, I get in a taxi and head off to the church in Ushuaia to wait for the Hermanas. Which is good, when they get there we get to chat for a bit, and I can change into tights - which was necessary. Oh, did I not tell you? Went outside and it was doing the mild slush rain thing. First thought in my mind? This is like Colorado! Love it.
Anyways, change into my tights, whip out my big coat, and then head out to the convey. But there´s only room for one passenger. Well, that´s not fun. So, we decide to wait until the next convey (which is like a 16 passenger van). Head back to the church and enjoy the little brownies the Hermanas had made for district meeting. Yumm, breakfast. So, we leave at 12:30 on the convey and it´s fun. Elder Palomino and I get to chat on this 4 hour drive, so now we are best friends, and he keeps telling me how he´s going to die. Never seen snow before, never been in the cold before, except for last winter in Buenos Aires. He will do great things. But we finally make it to Rio Grande and Elder Palomino gets dropped off first and I see the other Elders and there´s Elder León! Not my last district leader, but one of the Elders from my first district in Nuñez! I was all..what the..awesome! But I continue on to Chacra II - which is part of Rio Grande for those that were confused. I had no idea where I was going so I told you Chacra II because that´s what I knew. Anyways, so essentially, it´s like a barrio, a neighborhood, within the city of Rio Grande. The best part is I´m 5 minutes from the Ocean. yes!!! And I so badly look the part of the tourist. I´m just whipping my head side to side. Oh - tangent, driving here made me think of Wyoming. So, weather of Colorado, terrain of Wyoming - aka brown and flat. And I love it.
So, keep going, and I finally meet my companion. We take my bags in and the first thing I say to her is. Great! Can we go eat? I´m starving. I had not eaten all day, and now it´s 5 in the tarde. We cooked up some good milanesa while Hermana Gutierrez updated me on the investigators and menos activos in Chacra. And I just basked in the glory of being in the south. It is incredible. And I´m just so happy all the time. Hermana Gutierrez is incredible. She knows the language really well, and is full of confidence, we laugh a lot. And she always asks questions and tries to be better. She is an integrated part of this companionship. We actually talk about things and try to figure out what would be best for our area and our investigators. God loves me.
And then we head out and start working. First day I meet a couple of our investigators. And we found some new ones. My favorite investigator right now is Rodrigo. He´s 10, but he´s nearly as tall as I am. Which is nothing, we met his 13 year old brother the other day, and I had to go on my tiptoes to bezo him. These kids are ridiculously tall. But super humble and sweet. It´s a great family. The mom and dad are both deaf, so I´ve been trying to remember all the sign language that I know. They can read lips pretty well, and the kids help them interpret. I can understand them sometimes, like half the time. I usually get at least the gist of it, and then I can ask for details. I´m sure they´ve learned how to interact with the world. But they love reading and the Dad wants a book of Mormon, so we´re looking for a big version so he can actually read (his eyesight is really bad and he can´t read the small letters). But get this, So, we took Rodrigo to the baptism of the Elders on Saturday (we share a BRANCH - did I mention that? Oh yeah, I´m in a branch. It´s hard because I keep accidently saying ward. And I keep calling the Branch President an Obispo - or Hermano.) and set a fecha bautismal with him and he came to church on Sunday. When we talked to him last night he said that when he was reading he felt alivado - or relieved, he felt something. It was incredible. He´s such a cute little kid. He will be getting baptized in three weeks, I kind of want to make it four and have him get baptized with his family. We´ll see what happens. "I have a family here on earth...." That song just popped into my mind.
AND THEN, I´m writing on Tuesday because we had a Zone Conference on Monday. And this is what is awesome. Because Rio Grande is in the cheto boonies, we take a convey down to Ushuaia Sunday night, and then we do divisions with the Hermanas there until it´s time to go to bed. And it was hilarious. Hermana Gonzalez from Utah and Hermana Shelley from California crack me up. So I go out with Hermana Gonzalez and we´re sharing mission gossip and stories and it gets time to go back inside. It´s about 10 (the horario is different here because things are so tranquil. We get up at 7:30 and go to bed at 11:30. So just an hour difference, but that means we are out later, when people are actually home. Love it.) and we get a phone call from a very out of breath Hermana Shelley. "Hermanas? Are you in the pension? President Gulbrandsen is going to inspect our apartment in 5 minutes!" and we´re all " FA!!!!!!" And we start booking it home. Run home, smash open the door, to find.....President and Hermana Gulbrandsen standing in our apartment. We´re panting, red faced, bundled up like mini snowmen. "hehe...Hey President....oi" It was good, Pte Gulbrandsen is pretty good natured about this kind of thing. Anyways, so then they leave and we get ready for bed.
Next day, we have our zone conference and it is amazing. We talk about how it really is our purpose to help others learn how to Love Christ. Because if we develop that love, then we are willing to do everything else. But we have to catch the Vision. We have to really understand it for ourselves. And that´s something I want to work on. I don´t have a lot of time left (I complete a year this Friday. How crazy is that? HAppy ONE YEAR! Yay me.) so I´ve got to capture it and apply it real quick. But I´m more determined then ever. And I´m super pumped because I know the Lord confides in me. We´re going to work miracles.
Well, I hope this letter was entertaining. I thought about titling it "I´m leavin´on a jet plane. Don´t know when I´ll be back again" But, obviously I didn´t. But I thought about it.
I¨M FARTHER SOUTH THEN THE PENGUINS! I´m happy, and sad about that. I asked my companion and she´s been here 3 months and hasn´t seen a single penguino. What the lame. Oh, and the people born here? Called Fueguinos. Because they´re from the Tierra del Fuego. I love my life.
Love you, I´ll be more spiritual next week. I´m to stoked right now to try to calm down.
Hermana Reed
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
..I can´t...I don´t....
I want you to know that I have been thinking for about 12 hours how I would start this e-mail. And I have varied in the number of ways I could fully express to you how I am feeling right now. Some of them were witty. Some of them were spiritual. Some of them were movie quotes. But none of them do justice. So I will just say it.
GOD LOVES ME SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I¨M GOING SOUTH FOR THE WINTER/SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope that crystallizes it for you. I don´t think I put enough exclamation marks in there to really justify the sentiment. But that´s okay. It was actually really funny. When Elder Withspoon told me last night I was leaving for the south, I pretty much went in to shock. I didn´t even do a little happy dance until 15 minutes later. I´m going to be with Penguins! Muahaha. And, since I´ve almost reached my year mark (hello crazy right) I´ll probably end my mission in the south. How freaking awesome is that? I love my life! God loves me. And this is exactly what I needed. Because I will admit, I didn´t think I would ever be going south. Which saddened me, because the mission gossip is that only the really obedient and dedicated go down there (because we´re essentially left on our own...forever). And I hadn´t been sent down, so what does that say about me? Now, I know that´s only partially true. You can´t send down someone who is going to slack off, because it´s not like President Gulbrandsen can just whip on down there to baja la caña. But there are obviously diligent, dedicated, obedient missionaries that don´t have the chance to go down south. BUT I GET TO GO!! I´m ridiculously excited. And my new companion´s name is Hermana Gutierrez, who is actually from the United States, she came in with Hermana Alvey. So, another Hermana from the U.S. as a companion. I have had a lot of those. We actually don´t have many latinas (hermanas) in our mission right now. Kind of funny to think about. Anyways.
Okay. Mah! okay. I´m focused. What even happened this week? I don´t know. Uh, I´m pretty sure I taught people. I have to go look at my notes. Oh, want to hear something funny? So, Thursday we had a cita with Monica. And we were praying to know who would be our miembro justo to come with us, and we end up calling Jeremy, who is in her class in Primary. So we go, and Monica gets all bashful! She goes back inside, comes back and had changed into her skirt. Then she goes back inside and is doing her hair for like 15 minutes. Super funny, super cute, mildly annoying. It was super hard to teach her, because she didn´t want to answer, she just wanted to hide her face. If they end up getting married, I want a wedding invitation. When we told Elder Leon about this little experience he just started laughing, called us little matchmakers, then said good job. I´m glad we have such a good relationship.
What else happened. Oh, and we did divisions this week again. I went to Hermana Renteria´s area this time. And it was actually a really spiritual experience. We were going to teach the law of chasity to a 19 yr old single male, with a recently married couple on Valentines Day (hey, you find ways to enjoy the mission) but he wasn´t there. So that was a bummer. But it gave Hermana Renteria the chance to improve her "following the spirit" skills. As she essentially had to be senior companion for the day. I obviously knew the area (I´ve been here 6 months, only 3 of which the area being divided), but I gave her the reins. And she just flourished. And then during nightly planning we prayed specifically to know where we should go in the morning. And we both received the revelation to go to a certain area (one of those, pray and look at the map and listen to where God wants you to go.) And we both picked the same spot on the map. Obviously revelation. So we went there, and we ended up doing contacts for about 2 hours. But it was a great experience. We found a couple of people, we were able to share our testimonies. And we ended up contacting this Testigo de Jehovah who just couldn´t accept that miracles are being done today. (hoy en día? how do you say that in english). He even said "After Jesus crist died, miracles stopped, the power to do miracles wasn´t there anymore". Well, yeah! But that power was restored to the Earth once again! "no, no, miracles can´t happen anymore". It was sad, because I see miracles all the time. And I know the blessings that we have through the priesthood. But by that time we´d been talking for about 45 minutes so, I was super suave and we ended with "Well, I promise you that God will show you a miracle. And that´s a promise from two missionaries sent from God...." And then we walked away.....I thought it was cool. Maybe it was a bit catty. But I´m still happy with the experience. It was a great experience for Hermana Renteria. She was able to share her testimony, and she told me afterwards that all she could think about was "by the mouth of two witnesses" so she made sure she shared what she knew. Even though she still struggles with the language. So, no new investigators, but our faith was bolstered and we felt pretty shnazzy afterwards. Thanks Heavenly Father! We knew we were supposed to be there at that time, we have no idea what´s going to come of it. But it is very likely that one of those people will be baptized, eventually. We were supposed to contact them. That´s God´s plan.
Anyways, so. My mind is down south. I´ll be there soon. My flight doesn´t leave until Thursday (at 4 in the morning) I´ll get in to Rio Gallegos about 8 in the morning, and then I´ll take a convey (yes, that is how awesome and desolate the area I´m going to is) until about 12. I don´t know the plan after that but I¨m stoked. The area I will be in is called Calafate. I think. I didn´t really pay attention. Elder Withspoon just said the name and I responded "......I don´t know where that is." "Hermana, you´re going south." "oh! well, I still don´t know where it is, but now I at least know the general area." Anyways, googlemap it. Maybe you´ll see me proselyting. Just kidding. Like you´d be able to pick me out. I´m that black dot! *do the little chin jutting thing that Granddad always does*
Anyways, got to jet. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. I really needed them this week. And God is blessing me so much for the dedication of my family!
Hermana Reed
GOD LOVES ME SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I¨M GOING SOUTH FOR THE WINTER/SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope that crystallizes it for you. I don´t think I put enough exclamation marks in there to really justify the sentiment. But that´s okay. It was actually really funny. When Elder Withspoon told me last night I was leaving for the south, I pretty much went in to shock. I didn´t even do a little happy dance until 15 minutes later. I´m going to be with Penguins! Muahaha. And, since I´ve almost reached my year mark (hello crazy right) I´ll probably end my mission in the south. How freaking awesome is that? I love my life! God loves me. And this is exactly what I needed. Because I will admit, I didn´t think I would ever be going south. Which saddened me, because the mission gossip is that only the really obedient and dedicated go down there (because we´re essentially left on our own...forever). And I hadn´t been sent down, so what does that say about me? Now, I know that´s only partially true. You can´t send down someone who is going to slack off, because it´s not like President Gulbrandsen can just whip on down there to baja la caña. But there are obviously diligent, dedicated, obedient missionaries that don´t have the chance to go down south. BUT I GET TO GO!! I´m ridiculously excited. And my new companion´s name is Hermana Gutierrez, who is actually from the United States, she came in with Hermana Alvey. So, another Hermana from the U.S. as a companion. I have had a lot of those. We actually don´t have many latinas (hermanas) in our mission right now. Kind of funny to think about. Anyways.
Okay. Mah! okay. I´m focused. What even happened this week? I don´t know. Uh, I´m pretty sure I taught people. I have to go look at my notes. Oh, want to hear something funny? So, Thursday we had a cita with Monica. And we were praying to know who would be our miembro justo to come with us, and we end up calling Jeremy, who is in her class in Primary. So we go, and Monica gets all bashful! She goes back inside, comes back and had changed into her skirt. Then she goes back inside and is doing her hair for like 15 minutes. Super funny, super cute, mildly annoying. It was super hard to teach her, because she didn´t want to answer, she just wanted to hide her face. If they end up getting married, I want a wedding invitation. When we told Elder Leon about this little experience he just started laughing, called us little matchmakers, then said good job. I´m glad we have such a good relationship.
What else happened. Oh, and we did divisions this week again. I went to Hermana Renteria´s area this time. And it was actually a really spiritual experience. We were going to teach the law of chasity to a 19 yr old single male, with a recently married couple on Valentines Day (hey, you find ways to enjoy the mission) but he wasn´t there. So that was a bummer. But it gave Hermana Renteria the chance to improve her "following the spirit" skills. As she essentially had to be senior companion for the day. I obviously knew the area (I´ve been here 6 months, only 3 of which the area being divided), but I gave her the reins. And she just flourished. And then during nightly planning we prayed specifically to know where we should go in the morning. And we both received the revelation to go to a certain area (one of those, pray and look at the map and listen to where God wants you to go.) And we both picked the same spot on the map. Obviously revelation. So we went there, and we ended up doing contacts for about 2 hours. But it was a great experience. We found a couple of people, we were able to share our testimonies. And we ended up contacting this Testigo de Jehovah who just couldn´t accept that miracles are being done today. (hoy en día? how do you say that in english). He even said "After Jesus crist died, miracles stopped, the power to do miracles wasn´t there anymore". Well, yeah! But that power was restored to the Earth once again! "no, no, miracles can´t happen anymore". It was sad, because I see miracles all the time. And I know the blessings that we have through the priesthood. But by that time we´d been talking for about 45 minutes so, I was super suave and we ended with "Well, I promise you that God will show you a miracle. And that´s a promise from two missionaries sent from God...." And then we walked away.....I thought it was cool. Maybe it was a bit catty. But I´m still happy with the experience. It was a great experience for Hermana Renteria. She was able to share her testimony, and she told me afterwards that all she could think about was "by the mouth of two witnesses" so she made sure she shared what she knew. Even though she still struggles with the language. So, no new investigators, but our faith was bolstered and we felt pretty shnazzy afterwards. Thanks Heavenly Father! We knew we were supposed to be there at that time, we have no idea what´s going to come of it. But it is very likely that one of those people will be baptized, eventually. We were supposed to contact them. That´s God´s plan.
Anyways, so. My mind is down south. I´ll be there soon. My flight doesn´t leave until Thursday (at 4 in the morning) I´ll get in to Rio Gallegos about 8 in the morning, and then I´ll take a convey (yes, that is how awesome and desolate the area I´m going to is) until about 12. I don´t know the plan after that but I¨m stoked. The area I will be in is called Calafate. I think. I didn´t really pay attention. Elder Withspoon just said the name and I responded "......I don´t know where that is." "Hermana, you´re going south." "oh! well, I still don´t know where it is, but now I at least know the general area." Anyways, googlemap it. Maybe you´ll see me proselyting. Just kidding. Like you´d be able to pick me out. I´m that black dot! *do the little chin jutting thing that Granddad always does*
Anyways, got to jet. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. I really needed them this week. And God is blessing me so much for the dedication of my family!
Hermana Reed
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Be Careful What you wish for Cuz you just might get it
So, first off, that song was playing on the radio while we were grocery shopping today and I instantly thought of Fallyn and Just Dance. I love that game. You should be proud of me. I resisted dancing in the middle of the grocery store. Something about being a representative of the church... And then a Justin Beiber song came on and I burst out laughing. Never Say Never. It´s been a while.
Anyways, So this week was a rollercoaster week. Essentially we almost had a baptism. We have this little girl, Monica. Eleven years old. And living in very humble conditions, her parents want nothing to do with the church, but want Monica to learn. Monica loves church and the Book of Mormon, but also is told by her parents to essentially be the Mom of the house in taking care of her 4 and 2 year old brothers. A very sad situation. And in the end, her baptism fell through because she didn´t make it to church on time. The member who passed by her house didn´t get an answer from Monica. Talked to her 4 yr old brother Axel, who can be and often is a terror. So we ended up going after her with Hermana Gulbrandsen to at least get her to Primary. Score for being in the same ward as the Mission President. It does have it´s perks. But she didn´t have the asistencia to be baptized. So we had to suspend it. It was rough. But the work moves forward and our new and awesome ward mission leader is chalk full of energy and ready to help us out. Him and his wife are very pro-obra misional. So essentially the missionary work is going to explode here. LOVE IT!!
And that was pretty much the whole week. We did have a pretty awesome contacting experience this week. We went to contact a reference, who turned out not to live there. But when we talked to the neighbors they said they would read the Book of Mormon front to back (before we even got the chance to invite them to read it) and to come to church. They didn´t end up coming to church. But they are really nice, and we´re working on gaining their trust so we can teach them really well. Right now they are still a little hesitant to let us in their house. But, It was a good contacting experience. The best part though is that the husband is this gruff old man who plans on living until he´s 120 so he still has time to change his life around (he´s like 70). And he likes to give me grief. Even though he doesn´t even know me. Crazy man. I love it. I love teaching him, even if it´s only through his gate. It still makes the day a little more fun.
And not it´s time to go. A little word out. Just for all the future missionaries out there (*coughEthancough*). I´ve been thinking a lot this week of how much I´ve grown and what I want out of the mission. A group of missionaries are going home this week that I really respect. But it is interesting to see the difference between the missionaries who really got everything they could out of the mission and took the time to develop their spirituality, and others who had to take the time to learn how to do the trivial things - like how to take care of themselves, how to develop self motivation, discipline, working with others, prioritizing. You can see where they missed this wonderful opportunity to focus on their testimonies and relationship with God. Or atleast, it wasn´t as fruitful as it could have been. So my advice to you (and to everyone really) is to take the time now to develop the ability to take care of yourself, and learn how to work, that way when you have a calling or when you go on your missions, you will be able to focus in on what the Lord wants to make of you, and how you can really mold yourself into the instrument the Lord wants you to be. It is an incredible experience. To see, and to be a part of. I love my Savior. I love my Father in Heaven. I´m glad He loves me too.
I love you all.
Hermana Reed
Anyways, So this week was a rollercoaster week. Essentially we almost had a baptism. We have this little girl, Monica. Eleven years old. And living in very humble conditions, her parents want nothing to do with the church, but want Monica to learn. Monica loves church and the Book of Mormon, but also is told by her parents to essentially be the Mom of the house in taking care of her 4 and 2 year old brothers. A very sad situation. And in the end, her baptism fell through because she didn´t make it to church on time. The member who passed by her house didn´t get an answer from Monica. Talked to her 4 yr old brother Axel, who can be and often is a terror. So we ended up going after her with Hermana Gulbrandsen to at least get her to Primary. Score for being in the same ward as the Mission President. It does have it´s perks. But she didn´t have the asistencia to be baptized. So we had to suspend it. It was rough. But the work moves forward and our new and awesome ward mission leader is chalk full of energy and ready to help us out. Him and his wife are very pro-obra misional. So essentially the missionary work is going to explode here. LOVE IT!!
And that was pretty much the whole week. We did have a pretty awesome contacting experience this week. We went to contact a reference, who turned out not to live there. But when we talked to the neighbors they said they would read the Book of Mormon front to back (before we even got the chance to invite them to read it) and to come to church. They didn´t end up coming to church. But they are really nice, and we´re working on gaining their trust so we can teach them really well. Right now they are still a little hesitant to let us in their house. But, It was a good contacting experience. The best part though is that the husband is this gruff old man who plans on living until he´s 120 so he still has time to change his life around (he´s like 70). And he likes to give me grief. Even though he doesn´t even know me. Crazy man. I love it. I love teaching him, even if it´s only through his gate. It still makes the day a little more fun.
And not it´s time to go. A little word out. Just for all the future missionaries out there (*coughEthancough*). I´ve been thinking a lot this week of how much I´ve grown and what I want out of the mission. A group of missionaries are going home this week that I really respect. But it is interesting to see the difference between the missionaries who really got everything they could out of the mission and took the time to develop their spirituality, and others who had to take the time to learn how to do the trivial things - like how to take care of themselves, how to develop self motivation, discipline, working with others, prioritizing. You can see where they missed this wonderful opportunity to focus on their testimonies and relationship with God. Or atleast, it wasn´t as fruitful as it could have been. So my advice to you (and to everyone really) is to take the time now to develop the ability to take care of yourself, and learn how to work, that way when you have a calling or when you go on your missions, you will be able to focus in on what the Lord wants to make of you, and how you can really mold yourself into the instrument the Lord wants you to be. It is an incredible experience. To see, and to be a part of. I love my Savior. I love my Father in Heaven. I´m glad He loves me too.
I love you all.
Hermana Reed
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
What a weird weird world we live in....
So yeah, I have had some fun experiences of late. The first happened this morning during language study. I was just hunkering down, getting ready to whip out my spanish idioms (for instance, they say go to the grain, vaya al grano, instead of get to the point. Oh, and they walk in the branches, they don´t beat around the bush. My favorite is " No me de la lata!" Which means, don´t be a nuisance. Really it´s just fun to say, but I digress) When the doorbell rings. Uh...hello? It turned out to be two people from a different religion who were telling how the Mother of God was on the Earth. Something like that, it was hard to hear over the phone that we have. But, I told them that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they didn´t go running in the opposite direction, so I figured, sure, why not, let´s go down and talk with them.
So we go down, and see that we´re missionaries (already told you that), and start going in about the Mother of God and what we believe and how we need to read in the Bible and how we´re just as bad as the catholics because we worship on Sunday and not Saturday because no where in the Bible does it say that they worship on Sunday. And, it was mildly confrontational. The whole time I was listening I was wondering why she was trying to fight me on this subject. She kept going back to that too, that we weren´t keeping the commandments, and that Jesus didn´t worship on Sunday. And I tried to explain a little bit about the Book of Mormon and share my testimony. We even read with them the sacrament prayers in Moroni. And the older lady that was there got kind of quiet and said "hey, I´m pretty sure that´s in the Bible." Yeah, it´s in Luke. So, she was able to see that the Book of Mormon goes hand in hand with the Bible, and as we tried to share our testimonies about how God has called prophets again on the Earth to help clarify the Bible, the little fire headed Hermana wasn´t really interested in listening. So I just bore my testimony again, and ended the conversation. Ya está.
The interesting part was just seeing the different preaching styles. Hermana Alvey and I were very respectful, we understand that she is trying to help people come unto Christ and it is important to her too. But for a goodly portion she just spoke at us, and then fire bombed us with scriptures. It helped me understand how the people we talk too feel. I don´t feel like I´ve ever been aggressive enough to fire bomb people with scriptures (look! You´re condemned to hell, it says so in the scriptures right here!, I don´t think so. That´s not nice or Christ like). But her whole approach just lacked the love of God. God wants everyone to come back to him, and Christ served everyone. He didn´t attack them. I don´t know, it was interesting.
Oh, P.S. God LOVES me! So, we had this lesson with Monica the other day. She´s our 11 yr old investigator who loves church and is getting baptized this weekend (please pray for her, she is the only one getting baptized in her family and we need the support of her parents. I really want her parents to come to the baptism..Prayers please!!!) And as we were talking someone who lives in the same house with her and her family walked by. So we talked briefly and set up an appointment to return. We continue talking with Monica and tell her, if she happened to feel like it, she should talk to Oscar (the man) and share with him how much she likes talking to us. To which she responds "Do you want me to give him a Book of Mormon?" .....DUH!! okay, so we whip out a book of mormon put in a little testimony and have Monica chose the chapter that we are going to give him to read (she´s so good about doing her spiritual homework, she chose 2 Nefi 32). And then the next time we passed by she had given him the book, and said that she thinks he was reading it. Not sure, but it was so great that she was willing to do that. It is so humbling to me, that in this chaotic world we live in, where so many adults want the truth and want to find peace, that they can´t find it because they won´t take the time. BUt the little children who don´t even know they need to look for the truth, take the time to feel it, and see it in their lives. Monica loves the Book of Mormon. She knows that it is true. And I´m so happy to be a part of the invitation, to help her have this happiness for time and all eternity.
Those were the two main stories from this week. I went to Villa Crespa this week and did another Capilla Abierta. I do love them. The fun part was racing home at the end of the night. We weren´t given a Remis (like a taxi, but paid by distance not by time) so at 8:15 we were pushed out the door with a "You have to go home now! (it´s over an hour viaje by collectivo).....be safe." They love the Hermanas. It did make for quite the adventure. Running to the Sube (Subway) and then to the Collectivo parada. And then to the pension. Got my heart rate up real good. I do NOT like running in a skirt. But the Capilla Abierta was a success, and I was able to do a lot of really good teaching, and help members and nonmembers a like. We all need to fortify our testimonies.
Here´s my scripture for the week. Well known, still needed. James 1:22 "But be ye doer´s of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Baptism is an act of faith. Searching for the promptings of the Holy Ghost is also an act. We are not a passive church. Salvation is not a passive lifestyle. We work hard every day to change and be more like God, because He is our perfect example. And through the gift and blessing of the Atonement we can draw ourselves closer to those who truly want to make us happy.
I love you all. You need to repent. But don´t worry. I do to. I repent every day so that when I meet you all again you can see how much of a better person I´ve become. I look forward to the day where I can serve you all and help you better understand your roles in God´s plan and how much He truly loves you and wants to be a part of your lives. You probably already know it. But that´s okay. I´ll still be there.
Hermana Reed
So we go down, and see that we´re missionaries (already told you that), and start going in about the Mother of God and what we believe and how we need to read in the Bible and how we´re just as bad as the catholics because we worship on Sunday and not Saturday because no where in the Bible does it say that they worship on Sunday. And, it was mildly confrontational. The whole time I was listening I was wondering why she was trying to fight me on this subject. She kept going back to that too, that we weren´t keeping the commandments, and that Jesus didn´t worship on Sunday. And I tried to explain a little bit about the Book of Mormon and share my testimony. We even read with them the sacrament prayers in Moroni. And the older lady that was there got kind of quiet and said "hey, I´m pretty sure that´s in the Bible." Yeah, it´s in Luke. So, she was able to see that the Book of Mormon goes hand in hand with the Bible, and as we tried to share our testimonies about how God has called prophets again on the Earth to help clarify the Bible, the little fire headed Hermana wasn´t really interested in listening. So I just bore my testimony again, and ended the conversation. Ya está.
The interesting part was just seeing the different preaching styles. Hermana Alvey and I were very respectful, we understand that she is trying to help people come unto Christ and it is important to her too. But for a goodly portion she just spoke at us, and then fire bombed us with scriptures. It helped me understand how the people we talk too feel. I don´t feel like I´ve ever been aggressive enough to fire bomb people with scriptures (look! You´re condemned to hell, it says so in the scriptures right here!, I don´t think so. That´s not nice or Christ like). But her whole approach just lacked the love of God. God wants everyone to come back to him, and Christ served everyone. He didn´t attack them. I don´t know, it was interesting.
Oh, P.S. God LOVES me! So, we had this lesson with Monica the other day. She´s our 11 yr old investigator who loves church and is getting baptized this weekend (please pray for her, she is the only one getting baptized in her family and we need the support of her parents. I really want her parents to come to the baptism..Prayers please!!!) And as we were talking someone who lives in the same house with her and her family walked by. So we talked briefly and set up an appointment to return. We continue talking with Monica and tell her, if she happened to feel like it, she should talk to Oscar (the man) and share with him how much she likes talking to us. To which she responds "Do you want me to give him a Book of Mormon?" .....DUH!! okay, so we whip out a book of mormon put in a little testimony and have Monica chose the chapter that we are going to give him to read (she´s so good about doing her spiritual homework, she chose 2 Nefi 32). And then the next time we passed by she had given him the book, and said that she thinks he was reading it. Not sure, but it was so great that she was willing to do that. It is so humbling to me, that in this chaotic world we live in, where so many adults want the truth and want to find peace, that they can´t find it because they won´t take the time. BUt the little children who don´t even know they need to look for the truth, take the time to feel it, and see it in their lives. Monica loves the Book of Mormon. She knows that it is true. And I´m so happy to be a part of the invitation, to help her have this happiness for time and all eternity.
Those were the two main stories from this week. I went to Villa Crespa this week and did another Capilla Abierta. I do love them. The fun part was racing home at the end of the night. We weren´t given a Remis (like a taxi, but paid by distance not by time) so at 8:15 we were pushed out the door with a "You have to go home now! (it´s over an hour viaje by collectivo).....be safe." They love the Hermanas. It did make for quite the adventure. Running to the Sube (Subway) and then to the Collectivo parada. And then to the pension. Got my heart rate up real good. I do NOT like running in a skirt. But the Capilla Abierta was a success, and I was able to do a lot of really good teaching, and help members and nonmembers a like. We all need to fortify our testimonies.
Here´s my scripture for the week. Well known, still needed. James 1:22 "But be ye doer´s of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Baptism is an act of faith. Searching for the promptings of the Holy Ghost is also an act. We are not a passive church. Salvation is not a passive lifestyle. We work hard every day to change and be more like God, because He is our perfect example. And through the gift and blessing of the Atonement we can draw ourselves closer to those who truly want to make us happy.
I love you all. You need to repent. But don´t worry. I do to. I repent every day so that when I meet you all again you can see how much of a better person I´ve become. I look forward to the day where I can serve you all and help you better understand your roles in God´s plan and how much He truly loves you and wants to be a part of your lives. You probably already know it. But that´s okay. I´ll still be there.
Hermana Reed
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