Feliz Navidad!

December 23, 2013

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wow, this was an interesting week. It was kind of a tough week in some ways, but as always, the Lord gives us trials and He gives us miracles, and we saw some of each.

At the beginning of this week, we had four people with baptism dates scheduled: one, Leonela, for the 21^st, another, Naireth, for the 28^th, (this Saturday), and two for January. Well, we went to talk to Leonela after her long trip away from home to see how she was doing with her preparation for her baptism, and she told us that she’s going to be traveling again the 21^st, and besides that, she fell again in her alcohol habit and she’s not too sure she wants to get baptized. That was a huge disappointment for us, and we left that lesson pretty sad. Then, Naireth’s aunt Cinthia, who is one of my favorite ward members, had an operation and Naireth had to take care of her a lot, so we had to push back her baptism date because she doesn’t have all the lessons. She’ll be getting baptized in January when I won’t be in Braniff anymore. Then, we learned that Scarlet, who had a baptism date for January, isn’t actually married but lives with her boyfriend, who has been traveling for months.  So she has to get married before she gets baptized but we won’t be able to get her married for a long time because her boyfriend is never home. Then finally, our other investigator with a baptism date, Carola, went with us to a baptism in another ward and commented that she didn’t feel the Spirit at all because the ward members were unfriendly. Ouch. Another huge disappointment. So, for those reasons, it was a tough week.

But as always, God gives us trials to help us learn, and something I’ve really seen this week is that even though He gives us trials, He also always gives us little miracles to help us know that He loves us and He is still involved in the work. We just have to be able to recognize the "small" miracles instead of being disappointed about the trials.

Something I was reminded about this week in our Christmas devotional with Presidente Willard is that we are missionaries all the time, and should talk with everyone, even when we aren’t in our area. Hermana Lopez and I talked and made the decision that we’re going to work hard to talk with EVERYONE, especially when we’re traveling on the bus to go different places. And you know what? God helped us see miracles for our efforts!

One of these miracles was with a menos activo that we got to know this past week, Daniel Cordova. He was baptized more than 25 years ago and hasn’t gone to church in about 23 years, but other missionaries found him contacting in the street and passed us the referencia. (A miracle of other missionaries talking with everyone, including outside their area.) Turns out that he has had a really hard time since leaving the church, and really wants to change, especially because he has an alcohol habit. Then, he presented us to his daughter and the mother of his daughter, and it turns out that the mother of his daughter, Kati, is also a menos activa, and wants to come back to church! So the three of them came to church yesterday, and we’ll be working to activate them and baptize their daughter. That was one miracle of other missionaries talking with everyone.

Another miracle happened this Saturday. Hermana Lopez was sick so we had to go to the clinic, but we didn’t want to be there too long because we had a lesson an hour and a half later. On the bus, we decided to talk to a family sitting next to us and we ended up taking down their name to pass on their referencia to the missionaries in their area. When we got to the clinic, the receptionist told us the wait was more than an hour to see a doctor. We were pretty disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to make it to our lesson, which was important. But, to our surprise, 15 minutes later they called Hermana Lopez in way before all the other people waiting. We were able to make it to our cita in time, and we were super grateful. Hermana Lopez and I both feel like that was a miracle that we received thanks to our efforts to be better missionaries and talk with everyone, even if they are people who don’t live in our area.

Well, as always, I just love being a missionary. I love you all and wish you all a Merry Christmas! I invite you all to think hard and remember why we’re really celebrating Christmas, and as you give gifts to everyone around you, think as well about the gift you’re going to give to your Savior, Jesus Christ. I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and I know that the best gift we can give Him this Christmas is our obedience and our love.

Love you all!

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

It’s beginning to look a lot like... oh, wait

December 16, 2013

Nope, it’s NOT beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  We’re currently enjoying a Bolivian summer here in Santa Cruz, and it is HOT. But that’s okay, because despite the killer heat and the killer mosquitoes, here in Braniff we’re feeling the Christmas spirit as we give the Lord the best Christmas gift we can: the offering of our hearts. :) 

This week was a week of miracles. I love being able to see the hand of the Lord in His work. First off, we have our investigator, Leonela, with a baptism date for this Saturday. As I’ve mentioned before, she is 15 years old and really wants to change because she’s fallen in with some bad friends and has made some pretty poor choices.  For the past few months, we’ve been seeing her change a lot, and I know that every change in her is a miracle. However, she traveled with her family to Cotoka for several weeks and we couldn’t get ahold of her. No one ever answered at the two phone numbers we had for her.  We were concerned with her baptism date getting closer and closer that we couldn’t see how she was doing, especially since she had a problem before with the Word of Wisdom. Well, Hermana Lopez and I decided to fast on Friday for her, and we were praying for a miracle. That day, we called one of the phone numbers again, and her aunt finally answered and gave us another number to call Leonela. We got to talk to Leonela finally, which was a miracle in and of itself, and the other miracle was that she has stayed strong with the Word of Wisdom despite the fact that we haven’t talked to her for almost two weeks. Thanks to this experience, I can testify that I know that fasting works, and that the Lord WANTS to bless us with miracles if we have faith that He will.

The miracles with Leonela continued on Sunday.  She told us Saturday that she there was a chance she could come from Cotoka in the morning Sunday for church, but probably not. Well, we prayed hard that she would be able to come, and she called us that morning and said she would come! Then, we were going to pick up someone for church and we passed by Leonela in the street. She was in a spot of trouble with some of her old bad friends, who were drunk, but when they saw us, she was able to get them to leave pretty quickly. I know that the Lord guided us in that moment to help her, because I think it’s likely that if we hadn’t been there, she could have gotten into some serious trouble, or maybe even fallen in the Word of Wisdom again.

We kept seeing miracles Sunday. After several weeks without ward council, we had a ward council meeting, and for the first time our ward mission leader attended.  He gave a powerful presentation about our conversos recientes who have now gone inactive. When he did that, everyone in the ward council really got serious and reflective, and our leaders made the decision that we are going to completely change ward council and follow the guidance of the prophet to talk about people rather than activities and work together to bring about the salvation of many people. It was a complete change, something Hermana Lopez and I had been praying for a lot, and I’m really excited for the progress our ward is going to make in the year to come with this new focus.

Finally, we had another miracle with our investigator Naireth. She, as I have mentioned before, is a granddaughter in a less-active family and almost the only one who goes to church. We have been praying hard for her because she wants to get baptized but her family has been resistant to signing the permission. Well, this week we went by the house a lot, trying to gain the confidence of the grandparents (her legal guardians) and help them remember their testimonies. Then yesterday, we stopped by and talked for a while with her grandpa, and he FINALLY signed the permission slip! We’re now planning Naireth’s baptism for the 27th. I know that the Lord can soften and change hearts, and that this is just another step in reactivating the entire family.

Well, along with all these fantastic experiences, we’re also enjoying ourselves a ton!  

Hermana Lopez and I are getting into the Christmas spirit, and we’ve set up a little mini tree in our apartment, complete with ornaments and the presents Mom and Dad sent us.

We also had a sweet Relief Society activity, and tons of people came, including investigators and less-actives like Jhossely Carvahal, who we have been able to rescue so that she is no longer less active!

And here’s a photo of us with Naneth, who is traveling for Christmas, so this was the last time I think I’ll see her. That was a bitter-sweet moment. I am so grateful to have been an instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring her the gospel. She and her sister Monica are SO special.

Well, that’s my life right now! I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful it is to be a missionary. The time is passing way too fast, and I love every second! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

And here are some pictures of a zone activity. We ate enormous sandwiches and played futbol and it was fantastic!!

Hola de Bolivia!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Well, hello everyone!! Welcome to another great week in Braniff. :)

This week was, as always, a lot of fun. I love being a missionary!!! We continue working with Leonela, preparing her for her baptism on the 21st when we have a "noche blanca" (or white night) where everyone in the zone baptizes. So far, it looks like for our noche blanca we’ll have somewhere around 10 or 11 baptisms for the zone, so it should be a really incredible experience. I’m pretty stoked. :) Unfortunately, Leonela is traveling for a few weeks, and doesn’t have a phone so it’s pretty tough to contact her, only through her aunt’s phone, which appears to always be turned off. We’re praying hard for her because she has a hard time with the Word of Wisdom, so we’re just praying that she will have the strength, through praying and reading the Book of Mormon, to resist alcohol, especially during this time when we aren’t there to help her. But she’s strong and determined, so I know she’ll be able to do it.

We also had a really sweet experience with a young woman named Naireth. As I’ve mentioned, we’re working a lot more with less actives, trying to activate them, and baptize their non-member friends, family, and, in a lot of cases, boyfriends and girlfriends. Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that all of Naireth’s family is inactive, and she and her sister are the only nonmembers. Naireth wants to go to church and wants to get baptized, but it’s hard because her family doesn’t support her. They say that they know the church is true and they know that Naireth needs the gospel in her life because she historically has been a little rebellious, but then they make it almost impossible for her to go to church. It makes me so sad for her, and so sad for all of them - they have a lot of problems, and they know the solution, but aren’t willing to follow it. I am DEFINITELY learning a ton about patience from this family. This must be how Jesus Christ feels every time we don’t want to repent when we know we should. It’s tough sometimes, but the good news is that Naireth was able to come to church this Sunday, thanks to our late-night visit Saturday with her active aunt. She was super happy to be there and announced eagerly to the other young women, "My baptism is the 28th of December!" What a pleasure to see her so excited. :)

We also started working this week with several other menos activas and their non-member boyfriends, or in one case, a menos activo and his non-member girlfriend. I love being able to teach nonmembers with less actives. The less actives remember why they joined the church in the first place, the nonmembers get to understand why this gospel is so incredible, and together they push and motivate each other to go to church. I feel quite confident that all of the nonmembers in this group, Denver, David, Carola, and Yimmy, will get baptized, and their respective boyfriends or girlfriends will come back to church. They’re all really motivated, which is great. I think we’ll also be seeing some weddings in Braniff in the near future! :)

And finally, I had another great exchange with another one of my hermanas. She is almost brand new to the mission, only has one transfer under her belt and is already training, so she’s been pretty stressed about that. It was good to be able to proselyte with her for a day, especially since we had an experience together she still hadn’t had up till now - that of an investigator with a baptism date suddenly trying to back out of her baptism. My companion got really nervous and didn’t know what to do, and so I was grateful to be there and be able to teach her a little bit about the importance of using inspired questions to understand the concern of the investigator, and help them come to their own solution. By the end of the lesson, her investigator was back on track for her baptism, which should be this weekend. Yay!! I LOVE getting the chance to not only help investigators, but also other missionaries. It is so fantastic to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord!!!

Love you all!

Love,
Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Monday, December 2, 2013

Hello everyone!!!!

Well, I’ll just start off by saying, as I probably do every week, that I love being a missionary. I don’t know if it’s possible to say it enough, and as I’m now three days from the six-month mark, I’ve been reflecting on this time as a missionary, which seems to be going by WAY too fast. I’ve been thinking a lot about how the mission, in only six months, has already changed me so much. Before my mission, I thought I was pretty good, pretty obedient to the commandments, pretty converted to the Lord. Now, I know that before my mission, I didn’t know what it was to be converted. Here as a missionary, I’m finally learning that lesson. I’m learning how to make the Lord truly the center of everything that I do. I have a lot of goals as a missionary, but the biggest goal I have is to be able to become, in this time, the kind of person the Lord needs me to be to be able to serve in His kingdom for the rest of my life, no matter in what capacity. I also feel like this mission is preparing me a ton for a future as a mother. I thought my family studies classes were good preparation - they’re nothing in comparison to being a missionary, ha! Every once in a while when I’m studying, I feel like I get a tiny glimpse into the vision that God has for families in the earth, and the real sacredness of the calling of being a mom. It’s something I can’t really explain well, but I feel like I’m coming to understand how truly holy that calling is, and I’m learning things that will help me direct my children in the way of the Lord, which is the most important thing I’ll ever be able to do as a mom. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store. :)

Well, something that was really special this week was the opportunity to really get started with my responsibilities as hermana capacitadora. I organized an exchange with one of my hermanas who is training for the first time and having kind of a hard time. When I got there in the morning, we spent a long time talking about all the struggles this hermana is having. She’s been in the mission the same time as me (she was in the CCM with me), but hasn’t baptized anyone yet and feels like a failure, and now she’s training and feels like she’s not connecting well with her companion, who is also having a hard time but won’t open up about why, AND she’s worried that if she hasn’t baptized anyone, she must be a bad missionary and she’s going to teach her companion to be a bad missionary, too. So all around, she’s pretty discouraged. Well, I didn’t really know what to do or say, but I prayed a lot to be guided in how I could help her. We had a good day working, and throughout the day I was blessed to understand this hermana a lot better, to really get some insight into her that she hasn’t shared with anyone else yet, and to see some things that could help her improve. But I still wasn’t sure how to explain the things I perceived, especially the improvements I wanted to suggest, because I didn’t want to offend or discourage her more.

That night, we had a feedback session after daily planning, and the Spirit really put exactly the right words in my mouth to help her. We talked a lot about the Atonement, and why Christ loves us. He loves us perfectly, with an individual, specific love for each and every one of us. But why does He love us like that? Because He took the time, through the Atonement, to REALLY understand us. He suffered everything we suffer, He lived our hardships and difficulties and pain. And because of that, He can love us as individuals. We as missionaries are representatives of Jesus Christ, and so in like manner, we have to learn to love the way He does. But what does that mean? It means that we, like Him, have to take the time to really understand the people around us, investigators, members, and companions alike. We have to ask questions, and above all, we have to listen, so that we can in some small measure start to understand them like Jesus Christ does. Then, and only then, can we truly love them and transmit Christ’s love for them. I can’t really explain very well in a short letter all the things we talked about, but it was a lot of things I had never even thought about before, so I know that the Spirit was guiding our conversation. This hermana told me that it was something that she hadn’t thought about before either, and said she wanted to try to really change and love people the way Christ loves them, to listen and understand people before making judgments or assuming things. It was a special experience to be able to help another missionary like that. I had it confirmed to me, just like I told her, that Christ knows and loves each one of us individually, because I could feel His love for this hermana as I took the time to understand and serve her. I’m so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Well, other than that, this has been kind of a slow week as far as teaching goes because I had the monthly meeting of leaders in the mission Monday and Tuesday, then on Saturday and Sunday we were in the house most of the day because Hermana Lopez got the flu. But this week, we’re motivated to really get out there and keep working! :)

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Oh, and to answer your question, Dad, we didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving. I forgot all about Thanksgiving until one of the other norteamericanos said Happy Thanksgiving in our district meeting, ha.

Mision Braniff!!

Hello everyone! Well, here I am, back in good old Braniff! I flew back from Yacuiba on Tuesday, and we had cambios Wednesday. I was a little sad, fully expecting a to be moved to a new area because Presidente Willard said it would probably have to happen, but to my surprise and pleasure, I got to stay in Braniff for one more cambio with Hermana Lopez! Woo!! So basically, seeing as how the first six months of my mission will be in one area (with the exception of my five days in Yacuiba), I have officially labeled myself "mision Braniff." And that's great with me. :)

Hermana Lopez is doing WAY better, emotionally and physically. Looks like the doctors FINALLY found the salmonela that was hanging out in her digestive system, and she's taking medicine and now isn't throwing up every day. So that does a lot to help keep our spirits up. :) However, it's now the rainy season in Santa Cruz, which means it's also now the season of bugs. Those of you who knew me before and knew that I was horribly afraid of insects, you should see me now. I handle insects, including massive cockroaches, without fear! The bad news is that insect season means a ton of bites from mosquitos and who knows what else. But hey, I'm learning lots of self-control as I practice not scratching, ha.

Well, I learned a lot this week, as always! More than anything, I learned a powerful lesson about faith. We have an investigator, Candi, that wants to get baptized. She's 14 years old and her stepmom and stepsister are less active members. For a long time, she never wanted to talk to the missionaries, but about a month ago, she suddenly announced that she wanted to get baptized, and totally changed with us. We're now like her best friends, she always comes to church, she reads her scriptures, she always prays, and she always wants to listen to us. But, her dad doesn't want her to get baptized. So, when he told us a few weeks ago that he doesn't want to give permission, I kind of gave up. We kept visiting Candi, but I didn't really believe that she would be able to get baptized, so I wasn't really putting forth a ton of effort. But last night, my lider de distrito called and asked about Candi. I explained the situation and started in with what I later realized were basically excuses for why I haven't been working hard to help Candi. But as I talked, he cut me off and said, "Hermana. Take the permssion slip to Candi's dad. This is Santa Cruz de los Milagros (miracles), and in this mission, God helps us to see the miracles if we just act in faith. You put a baptism date for her; that was your faith. Now, you have to act. Just have the faith, hermana." He then gave me a few scriptures to study in my personal study. Well, that definitely humbled me. I thought a lot about it, and realized that I've started to think about the mission as something that my companion and I do, without thinking so much about the reality that this is the work of the Lord. But this IS the work of the Lord, and He WANTS to work miracles here. He just needs our faith to be able to do it. So I've definitely repented of that mindset, and am now way motivated to work hard for miracles, to trust more in God and the promises in Mormon 9 and Ether 12 where it talks about the fact that God is unchangeable, that He did miracles in old times and He will keep doing them today, if we just trust Him. I know that as I turn more to Him, I will cease to do my own work, and I will become an instrument in His hands to do His work.

What else? Leonela is progressing still to a baptism! We also had another young woman accept a baptism date for the 21st of December, Naireth. She's a PF and we're working on reactivating the rest of her family, so that's great!

Well, there's so much more I could say, but there's never enough time, is there? But I love being a missionary and I love the responsibilities I've been given here! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve as an hermana capacitadora (I'm going to my first mission leader meeting tonight and tomorrow - woo!) and to train, because I learn a TON from the missionaries around me. There's no doubt about it, leadership opportunities definitely aren't to be proud, they're to learn. Anyway, now I'm just rambling, ha, but I love the mission and I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. :) I'm not too sure if some of them will work because I lost all my pictures from a virus and then some kind elders recovered them for me, but recovered them kind of weird. But we'll see. The first two are from our baptism, with Monica, Naneth, and Nahuel from the ninth. One is of everyone that came to the baptism, and the other is of me and Hermana Lopez with them and the hermano that baptized them, Hermano Jorge.

Then we've got a few from Yacuiba. This is Hermana Black and me in front of the Yacuiba airport, which is TINY, and the airplanes are tiny and I thought I was going to die in the air, ha.

This is me on a railroad track crossing over a dried up river. Sweet. :)

And finally, this is a birthday party for a kid in the ward. We were invited by the president of the Relief Society to help out.

Hola de YACUIBA!!!!

That’s right, I’m now in Yacuiba! And it rocks! Although I imagine that your first question is, what the heck is Yacuiba? Well, Yacuiba is another city in Bolivia, in the far south about 10 minutes from Argentina. So to answer dad’s question about where else missionaries go that isn’t the actual city of Santa Cruz, I will explain... Our mission is the south half of the department of Santa Cruz (departments here are like states), and then the department of Tarija. So, there are missionaries in the city of Santa Cruz, then in a city called Porto Suarez in the department of Santa Cruz, then four cities, Bermejo, Villamontes, Yacuiba, and Tarija, in the department of Tarija. And of all these cities, the options for hermanas are some parts of Santa Cruz, and then Bermejo, Yacuiba, and Tarija. And now I’m in Tarija!

So, how did this happen? As I mentioned last week, Hermana Lopez has been having kind of a rough time, particularly emotionally. Well, she’s also been having a rough time with her health because she’s been throwing up on a pretty consistent basis for almost her entire mission. We’ve gone to the hospital a few times, but they haven’t really found much. But this week, it got a lot worse, and she had to rest a lot, so we weren’t really going out to work. But at the same time, Hermanas Black and Cladera, who are in Yacuiba, had to come to Santa Cruz because Hermana Cladera got really sick and there basically aren’t hospitals in Yacuiba. So after a few days, Presidente Willard decided that the best option would be to leave Hermana Lopez and Hermana Cladera in Braniff (my area) together, and send me and Hermana Black back to Yacuiba. We flew here Thursday afternoon (it’s like an hour flight in a TINY plane for 20 people) and the plan was that I would just be here until today, Monday. But it looks like I’ll actually be here until transfers this Wednesday. Not too sure how it’s all going to work out since I have to fly back to Braniff for all my stuff and then from there, go to my new area if I have a new area, but hey... we’ll get it all figured out.

It was pretty sad to leave Braniff and to know this might be goodbye to Braniff forever, and it was especially sad to know that I might not be companions with Hermana Lopez anymore depending on what happens with transfers this Wednesday, but I have to say that I LOVE Yacuiba. It’s SUPER hot here, which is not fun, but it’s a city of 100,000 people compared to Santa Cruz, which is 3 million. So it’s a lot more tranquil and clean, and it’s SO pretty. We’re surrounded on all sides by a hilly jungle, and just crossing into it a little bit we reach Argentina. The city is really interesting because it’s the first time I’ve REALLY seen the poverty of Bolivia. I thought I saw poverty in Santa Cruz, but it was nothing compared to here. The city is divided in two parts, the rich part, and "la playa" (the beach), which is where all the poor people live, and it is SUPER humble. (It’s called la playa because when it rains hard here, it floods hard core, like water up to the waist, but Yacuiba is a hill so all the water floods la playa and sometimes destroys houses there and things like that.) Anyway, so Hermana Black and I are in a branch here and working a ton with reactivations and part member families. In these four days here, we’ve already committed 3 people to baptism for the end of the month and we’ve got another three or four who are ready, but just need to accept baptism dates. Sweet! We’re also working a LOT with menos activos. There are a TON in La Playa, like whole neighborhoods of inactive members, and we’re going house by house activating them. The branch really lacks priesthood, but I LOVE the enthusiasm of the leaders. They go out every Sunday, all of them together with the missionaries, for three hours to visit less actives, and these less actives are so touched by the visit that they almost always come back to church, right away. I love it here. There’s a ton of work to do and a lot of good things happening, and it’s way fun to be companions with Hermana Black. She’s the hermana with the most time in the mission, and she’s also an hermana capacitadora, so she’s been teaching me a lot about what I should be doing with this assignment. She’s also a ton of fun and super hilarious, so it’s great. I miss Hermana Lopez and I’ll be super happy to see her again (and especially to be her companion again if that’s the Lord’s plan) but I’m going to be way sad to leave Yacuiba. As I say like a million times a day to Hermana Black, "Yacuiba es lo MAXIMO!!!" (Yacuiba is the BEST!!!!!!!!)

Also, something sweet was that one of my old investigators, Omar and Noelia, moved from my area to Yacuiba! So I got to talk to Noelia today. She is now living with her sister, who is actually a less-active member! It just goes to show that the Lord always has a plan and is always preparing His children. Maybe they weren’t ready to get baptized in Braniff with me, but now they’re in a great place, listening to the missionaries again, and I know they’ll get baptized. They were always really special for me, so this was one of the tender mercies of the Lord to be able to see them again. :)

But no matter what we’re doing or who our companion is or where we are, the mission is the best. I love it so much and I’m SO grateful to be here. I love that I can see myself changing every day and growing closer to the Savior. I’ve already seen a lot of miracles with investigators and especially with Hermana Lopez these past weeks, and I love it!!!

Love you all!!!

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

 

Baptisms! J

Hello everyone! This was a great week in a lot of ways, but as always, it had its challenges. But we’ll start with the great news... Monica and Naneth and Nahuel got baptized! It was the best, such a special moment for me. They were all so happy, especially Monica and Naneth. Probably the greatest miracle of the mission so far has been the two of them, as I’ve already said before. Naneth is already talking about going on a mission, and the two of them are already excited about having callings in the ward. AND, their mom from another part of Bolivia got to come and see the baptism, and she now wants to listen to the missionaries in her house! We took down her information and she’s going to be baptized before long, I’m sure of it. It won’t be long before the three of them go to the temple to receive their endowments and be sealed together as a family with their dad who passed away a long time ago. That right there is probably the best part. Monica and Naneth almost cried when they learned that they could do baptisms for their dad (okay, a man can do it, but still) and then be sealed to him as a family. And Saturday in the baptism, Monica said to me, "Ever since the first day when you and Hermana Maldonado found me in the street, you have been angels for me." There is nothing sweeter in life than being able to be an angel in someone else’s life. That’s the second time someone has told me that, and every time I hear that, I’m so filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for being so aware of His children and for giving me the wonderful chance to be the instrument He uses to bless them. Wow, what a blessing the mission is.

We’re also working with someone new, Leonela. She is 15 years old and fell in with some bad friends a few years ago. She started drinking and made some pretty bad mistakes, and now she feels a lot of regret. She wants to get away from her friends and get away from alcohol and change her life completely, and she accepted a baptism date for the 14th! She came to the baptism on Saturday and came to church for the first time yesterday, and even though she was the only one in Young Women’s, (yep, one of the challenges of this ward is that basically everyone leaves after the first or second hour) she loved church. She lives with her grandma and some aunts and uncles, and Hermana Lopez and I now want to contact her family.

I also did my first exchange this week. Actually, I did two, but with the same companionship. And to answer your question, Dad, all the companionships that are my "responsibility" are in Santa Cruz, close to our area. The furthest is probably a 20 minute bus ride, and that’s how we travel, almost always, by bus. Anyway, it was a great experience to be able to help out a companionship that’s struggling a little bit. One of the hermanas is pretty discouraged because she’s had a lot of health problems, so the first time, I went with her and my job was to try to motivate her to stay in the mission for the last three months. Later in the week, we did another exchange and I went with her companion, who has been having a hard time being in the house a lot with a sick companion, to give her the chance to be able to go out and work for a change. It was good to be able to serve them and serve Presidente Willard, who requested these two exchanges. I’ve got one more to do this coming week with another companionship, so we’ll see how it goes!

The only rough thing about the week is that Hermana Lopez is struggling a bit. She has also had a lot of health problems, pretty much all her time here so far, and we had to stay in the house a lot of Saturday and Sunday. She’s also pretty discouraged, for her health and for some other things that are going on in her life. So if you could all keep her in your prayers, that would be great! She’s really fantastic, and I’m learning a lot about my capacity to love and have patience as we’re working together.

Well, that’s all for now!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

These are two photos of the entire zone, first at the lomos de arena, and after at bowling. It was fun to go bowling, especially since almost no one in the zone had ever done it before. I'm ashamed to say that even though I've bowled my entire life, I got second place... our zone leader, Elder Salgado, dominated.

 

Happy Five Months!

Hello everyone! Well, happy five months in the mission! Okay, so tomorrow is five months in the mission, but still, close enough. :)

As always, this week has been SUPER eventful. It all started Monday, with our previous P-day. After internet, we went to our pensionista, Leidy, and together we cooked Peruvian food, lomos saltados, courtesy of Hermana Lopez. Super fun, and SUPER delicious. There we were, eating, everything calm, when all the sudden the phone rang. I answered, and who called? Presidente Willard, the mission president. When the mission president calls, you know it’s something important, and sure enough, he called to ask me if I would accept the assignment to serve as the new Sister Leader, or as we call it in Spanish, Hermana Capacitadora. WHAT???? Of course I accepted, but I was thinking, "I just barely, three weeks ago, finished my training! I can’t be a Capacitadora for hermanas with way more time and more experience than me! The other capacitadoras have at least 8 months in Bolivia, not just over 3!!" I was basically freaking out. But, here I am, new Hermana Capacitadora! Basically, I now am responsable for four companionships, plus of course my own companionship. When they need something or have a hard time, I’m responsible to see how they’re doing and help them out with whatever they need, and my main responsibility is to be in charge of exchanges with these four companionships. I’m planning my first exchange for this week. I’m nervous about being a leader now, but I know that the Lord gives us assignments for a specific reason and our job is to humbly accept them, leran what we can, and strive to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He asks of us.

Then, Thursday was Halloween! They don’t really celebrate Halloween here, but Hermana Lopez and I decided to celebrate in a little way... with ROOT BEER!!!!! Root beer doesn’t exist in Bolivia, but in Hipermaxi, the super market, they sell a few American products at ridiculously expensive prices (93 bolivianos for a bag of Reese’s, for example). And I found root beer! I was super excited, so I bought two, regardless of the price. We drank it for Halloween, which was fun. Hermana Lopez hated it, ha. But for me, it was heaven :)

Then, on Friday, we had the wonderful privilege of seeing Marcos get baptized. He was super excited, and the best part was that we were able to get some good ward support for the baptism, which in the past has been a little tough. And we had a few investigators come to the baptism. We were especially excited that Abacuc, another child in the ward, came to the baptism. He’s 10 years old and isn’t baptized because he’s afraid of water. But he came to this baptism and he’s going to come to our baptism this Saturday as well, so we’re praying that he’ll feel more comfortable with baptism in the future.

The plan was for Nahuel to also get baptized Friday, but Nahuel’s dad traveled for work and although he gave us permission to baptize Nahuel on the phone, he has to sign the permission slip before the baptism and he couldn’t do it. So, Nahuel, along with Monica and Naneth, will get baptized this Saturday. We are SUPER excited for Monica and Naneth. They are fantastic people, and their experiences are so powerful. They have told us about how drastically their lives have changed thanks to this gospel. They have a lot of trials, but they come to church every Sunday without fail, they read their Book of Mormon and pray every day, and they are so happy to be in the gospel! They’re already super motivated to bring this gospel to their family that lives in other parts of Bolivia, and Naneth is already thinking about a mission. I keep thinking about how huge of a miracle missionary work is, especially with them. Hermana Maldonado and I contacted Monica one night on the street when one of our lessons fell through, and I didn’t really think she would be especially interested, especially because a couple of lessons we scheduled fell through but Hermana Maldonado was persistent and kept rescheduling until we finally found them. Thanks to the persistence of Hermana Maldonado in the beginning, the lives of Monica and Naneth have been changed forever. It just goes to show that we never know who is going to accept the gospel, and we should never write someone off. The Lord knows who is ready for this gospel, and He directs this work. Wow, I love being a missionary, and I’m SO grateful to have the privilege to have played a part in the conversion of Monica and Naneth.

Well, here are a few pictures, of our root beer celebration and the baptism of Marcos!

· 

· 

 

Unidad es la Fuerza!

October 28, 2013

Hello everyone! My title for the day, and my new theme for the mission, is "unidad es la fuerza," or "unity is strength." First off, because it’s the slogan of Bolivia and is on all the Bolivian money. :) Second, because, as I’m learning in a big way, ward unity is the key to success in the mission. We’ve had a huge emphasis in our meetings and mission conferences on unity with the ward council to not only baptize, but retain the people we baptize and also rescue menos activos. So, Hermana Lopez and I have been putting that in practice here in Braniff. We had ward council this week and were super excited to see the beginning of a shift in our ward leadership... a shift from focusing exclusively on activities in ward council, with minimal collaboration, to focusing on people, on families that need this gospel, and collaboration on how we can help them among the different organizations and the missionaries. As missionaries, we’re only going to be in a ward for, at the most, maybe six months. But the ward members are going to stay, and they have to be intimately involved in missionary efforts if they want to see their ward grow and change.

And to do that here in Braniff, we’re following the revelation that our mission president received, to serve ward leadership, especially the bishopric. We had a family night with the first councilor in the bishopric and he thanked us profusely for taking time for him and his family, to strengthen them with a spiritual thought. We also decided that we’re going to visit the bishop this week to clean his house because his wife is sick. Finally, Presidente Willard told all the missionaries that something he has been thinking about a lot is that the missionaries should help clean the chapels. The culture here doesn’t put much emphasis on cleanliness, so the chapels are almost always super dirty, and Presidente Willard said that although it may seem like a little thing, he feels that if we as missionaries take the time to clean the chapels, it will have a big impact on gaining the confidence of the bishops and ward members, and will invite the Spirit as we serve and show respect for the house of the Lord. And as we know from the scriptures, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass! So this week, Hermana Lopez and I told the bishop that we would always be there with him to clean the chapel, every week without fail, because usually it is only him and two other leaders that clean everything every week. Well, it was incredible to see his reaction. Our bishop has historically been a little distant, especially from the mission efforts, but his manner changed immediately when we said we would be there to support him in cleaning. He immediately started to talk to us with more confidence and more enthusiasm for our work. Wow! Presidente Willard really does receive revelation from God, and surely small things have huge impacts.

We’re preparing for our baptism with Marcos and Nahuel this Friday, and the following Saturday, with Monica and Naneth. We’re still working with lots of less-actives and conversos recientes, as well as our investigators. We’re a little disappointed with our family, Marcela and her children that accepted baptism dates. Her children really like church and like the scriptures. They have gone to church twice, but Marcela doesn’t want to take the time to go to church because she works Sundays. It’s great that her kids want to go to church, but they need their mom! We’re praying that we can help her see the importance of going to church so that she can get baptized with her children.

Hermana Lopez is fantastic, best companion ever. I’m learning a ton about patience and about how to really communicate openly from being her "mama en la mision." And Dad, to respond to your question, Spanish is coming along well. I’m far from perfect, but I’ve actually gotten lots of comments this past week from ward members about how much my Spanish has changed, how they can actually understand me these days, ha. And Hermana Lopez is helping me a lot with minor corrections to more fully perfect my Spanish, as I’m helping her to learn English.


Missions are the best! As always!

Love you all,
Hermana Chelsie Faulk


Por fin, I’m sending everyone pictures. These pictures are from our zone activity last Monday. We went to a national park type thing in Santa Cruz called Lomos de Arena. Wow, was that an adventure. We went in a bus for like 45 minutes, finally arrived, where we had to cross a river that went up past our knees (the first photo).

Then, we walked about 45 minutes through a forest-type area, where I discovered my dream house (second photo). Hermana Lopez and I decided we’re going to live there together someday and preach to the pigs and cows and other animals in this forest. There were a lot of animals.

Finally, after walking like forever, we arrived at these HUGE sand dunes that we got to climb up! How weird, right? Forest to sand dunes, but it’s true.








So we partied a little on the sand dunes with our zone, and then it started to rain. And when I say rain, it started to POUR, with thunder and lightning and all that. But we had no other option but to walk back, in the sand and mud, in the rain, for another 45 minutes or so. Without lunch. AND with Hermana Lopez with an injured foot. Quite the adventure, ha. But definitely worth it. :)

MISSIONS!!!!!

October 21, 2013

Well, basically I love the mission. Every week in the mission is fantastic, and this week was no exception! Hermana Lopez and I are still working together great! She’s super fun, learning really fast, and I’m learning a bunch from her as well. As a trainer, I’m also much more painfully aware of my weaknesses and my sometimes less-than-Christ like attributes. Maybe that doesn’t sound too fun, but I’m super grateful for the opportunity because I know that the Lord gives us challenges to help us learn to be more like Him. I’m learning to be a lot more humble, apologize more, and I’m doing a whole lot more repenting every day and striving always to be closer to the Savior.

We are super happy here in Braniff because the work is picking up like crazy! We have this miracle family in our ward, la familia Aillon. They have decided to take it upon themselves to be the missionary family of the ward, and it’s incredible. First, they have a grandson, Marcos, that isn’t baptized, so he’s going to get baptized either the 30th or the 2nd, depending on when the person that’s going to baptize him can come. Then, they have a daughter, Carla, that decided she wants to serve a mission and has started accompanying us to lessons all the time - fantastic. Then, they gave us referencias for two families and a teenager of 14 years, AND had a family night in their house with all these people and more. Awesome!!! So we visited their referencias this week, and one of the families, a single mom, Marcela, and two of her three children (the third is 7 years old), accepted baptism dates for the 16th of November! Also, the 14 year old, Nahuel, accepted a baptism date as well! We’re totally stoked, and we totally love the familia Aillon. Members rock!!!

We also have good news with Monica and Naneth. They have decided that they DEFINITELY want to get baptized. Unfortunately, they haven’t had time to meet with us a whole lot this past week, so we haven’t been able to teach all the lessons and they have to wait until the 9th to get baptized with Fabiola. But no worries, we’re super excited for the 9th. Monica and Naneth are incredible, and I love seeing that they have hope for the future now. Their dad died when they were young, and it was a joy yesterday to explain the Plan of Salvation. Now they know that they can be an eternal family, and they’re super happy. I love the miracles of the mission.

Soledad, unfortunately, isn’t going to get baptized, at least for now. We’re praying that someday, she will be ready to accept this gospel. Fabiola, however, is progressing toward her baptism! She has accepted the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. We now just have to help her really understand the importance of going to church, because she has only gone to church once so far.

Finally, we’re still working with menos activos and conversos recientes! It’s always a great feeling when we see someone who hasn’t been to church in a long time show up at the chapel. We were especially happy yesterday to see one sister, Raquel. She and her husband are members, but her husband is active while she isn’t. Her husband, Jorge, brings their four children to church every Sunday, and it’s hard for him to have that kind of responsibility, along with his calling, every Sunday. Also, their oldest son, Abacuc, isn’t baptized because he’s afraid of water. So, we’ve been working with the whole family to strengthen them. Sometimes we have family nights to strengthen everyone, sometimes we visit with just Raquel, and sometimes we visit with Abacuc to teach him the missionary lessons and help him prepare for a baptism. Little by little, we’re working to change this whole family, and we were thrilled yesterday because Raquel came to church! She changed her work schedule to have Sunday as her free day. Woo! This is the first step to getting her active, getting Abacuc baptized, and getting this family sealed in the temple, and I’m stoked.

Missions rock!!!!!!! If you’re thinking about serving but aren’t sure, do it. It’s the best decision you’ll ever make. Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

To The Rescue!!!!

October 13, 2013

Hello everyone! Happy Monday!

First off, big news... I have my hija! Yep that’s right, this past week we had cambios and I’m now training a nuevita, Hermana Lopez. It was sort of funny, we have this 12-week training program called "12 Semanas" and I finished it with Hermana Maldonado (my previous companion, who was also my trainer), Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon, I went to meet Hermana Lopez. She is great. She’s from Peru, 23 years old, and we get along really well! She’s super fun and already does great in lessons, which is fantastic. I often forget that I’m training because she seems so prepared, ha. And the other great news is that we stayed in my same area, Braniff. :) I thought I was going to have to leave because I was there for three months already, and we all thought, including my zone leaders, that I was going to leave and Hermana Maldonado and Hermana Johns were going to stay, so I took photos with a few of our investigators and the Relief Society President, and I was pretty sad to go. But then, miracle of miracles, our leaders called and said that I get to stay!! Whoo, six months (probably) in Braniff! The ward is tiny, but I have grown to love the members, the menos activos, and the investigators here. I’m super grateful that the Lord blessed me to be able to stay here.

We also had an incredible meeting yesterday, with all the missionaries in Santa Cruz, including Santa Cruz Norte. (Which meant we got to leave the MISSION for the first and only time - awesome!) But this meeting wasn’t only with the missionaries... it was also with all of the ward councils for all the wards, and the meeting was about how as a ward council and as full-time missionaries, we are going to work together in the work of salvation. The meeting was led by Elder C. Scott Grow (who I have always wanted to meet because of his name, ha) and it was incredible. The focus of the missions here is changing completely. We, as a ward council, are going to work together to bring salvation not only to investigators, but also to menos activos and conversos recientes. We are going to RESCUE our brothers and sisters who have previously accepted the gospel and have left it, for one reason or another, and I am STOKED. (Thus, the subject line, which also happens to be the title of President Monson’s biography, which I read before leaving for the mission, which is incredible. Read it!) So this is a call to all of you reading this... as active members of the church, it is our responsibility to go to the rescue of our less-active brothers and sisters. They left the church for a reason, but what I’ve learned here with the less-actives we’ve worked with is that the majority of them want to return. They just need the help, love, and acceptance, of active members. So... help them. :)

Some other good news... Fabiola and her children went to church yesterday! She accepted a new baptism date, for the 9th of November (happy birthday Mom!) and really seemed to like church. Also, her children loved church, including her special-needs son, so I’m thrilled. We were pretty preoccupied because we were having a hard time finding a member to accompany us to Fabiola, who desperately needed friends in the church to have the confidence to go with her special-needs son, but after praying a lot, the name of one of the members came to mind. This member, Cinthia, has started to go with us when we visit Fabiola and has really taken Fabiola under her wing as a constant friend in the church. Friends in the church are essential for investigators. Please, along with rescuing menos activos, be a friend to the investigators. It makes ALL the difference.

Soledad, Naneth, and Monica are also progressing toward their baptism dates the 26th. The three of them want to be baptized, but are pretty nervous about doing it so soon. We’re praying that we’ll be able to help them feel prepared for the 26th, but if not, then a few weeks after. But that’s okay, because what I’m learning is that I can’t drag people to a baptism date just because I want a baptism for October. The important thing is that they experience the change of heart necessary to be baptized and that they do so in the Lord’s time. But we’re praying for them!

I love this work. There’s nowhere else I would rather be than here in the mission. I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that He is hastening the work of the salvation of his children. It is a privilege to be a part of it. Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk