Bolivia Bound

August 19, 2013

 HAPPY ONE MONTH!

Wow. Although I’ve been a missionary for two and a half months now, I officially reached one month in Bolivia on Saturday. I’m very happy to be able to count in months when talking with other missionaries about our amount of time in the mission field. It was embarrassing to have to talk in days, ha.

Well, the work continues here in Bolivia! I’m going to have my first baptism this Saturday!!!!! Yay!!! Andres and Marcelo are going to get baptized. It was kind of touch and go with Andres for a few days. We’ve been having a lot of trouble getting in contact with him, and finally we ran into him through yet another mini-miracle (there are a lot of those in the mission, and especially here in Santa Cruz de los Milagros!). We passed by the house of his girlfriend and she wasn’t there, but who came out of the house? Andres! He was pretty uncertain about his baptism, and for a few days, we visited and he kept changing his mind with different excuses for why he didn’t want to get baptized, then reasons why he did, and back and forth. Finally, we figured out that he was scared for two reasons: first, he was afraid that he would get baptized and then he would mess up and sin again and not be able to stick to his covenants. We assured him that yes, he would most definitely sin again, but that that’s okay because we always have repentance! Second, he thought Mormons weren’t allowed to dance, go to parties, or anything. Well, we definitely cleared that up for him, and now he’s FINALLY feeling good about his baptism. He and Marcelo had their interviews yesterday and now they’re all set to go!

We’re also finding new people who are accepting baptism dates! It’s incredible how the Lord puts prepared people in our path when we are working hard and searching for them. Monday night, we went to one of our lessons but the family didn’t answer the door, so we were leaving the door when we heard a little girl yell, "Hermanas! Hermanas!" We looked, but didn’t recognize her or her mom, so we just sort of waved, thinking it was a member. But at the last second, Hermana Castañeta said, "Let's go see who it is." We walked over, and turns out, it wasn't a member at all! It was a woman named Karen. She invited us into her house and we had a lesson. Apparently the majority of her family, her brothers and sisters, are members, and she goes to church with them sometimes, and that’s the reason her daughter recognized us as "hermanas." Well, Karen said she wants to have a happy family like the families her siblings have, and we testified that it's the gospel that makes the difference. And right then and there, she accepted a baptism date for 14 de septiembre, and she came to church with us this Sunday. Now we just have to work with her husband too!

Also, there is a woman in our ward with a nonmember sister, Soledad, who recently moved in with her. We’ve known Soledad for a long time because she would visit her sister a lot, but now she lives in our boundaries and we can actually properly teach her instead of just say hi every once in a while. So we went by to teach her, and although she previously hasn't had much interest in our message, she had a dream a few nights ago that she wasn't in the right path right now in life, and she wants to find the right path. Well, we testified that the right path is the gospel, and the door to that path is baptism! So she also accepted a baptism date for 14 de septiembre, and also came to church this Sunday! Yay!

The progress with Omar and Noelia continues to be slow. It's hard to find Omar because he works so much. We need to talk to him about marriage. We've talked about it a lot with Noelia, but we need a lesson with Omar so he, too, can understand how marriage will bless his family, and also that it's a prerequisite for baptism. But we're praying for them, and for all our other investigators.

One more quick story. Yesterday we met a girl, 20 years old, and started teaching her about the Book of Mormon. She was super interested and wanted to read it, so we gave her a copy and asked her if she would read 2Nefi 31 and pray. She said yes, and that if she got an answer she would be baptized the 15 of September (she works Saturdays, so she couldn't do 14). We were super excited of course, and then we asked where she lived (we were teaching her at her aunt's store). Turns out, she lives in a different area. Dang it! But we took down her information and are going to pass it on. I'm just imagining the excitement for the elders that get this referral, complete with Book of Mormon and baptism date, ha.

Anyway, those are the highlights of my week! I know that the Lord is a huge part of this work because He is bringing us to His children that are prepared to receive His gospel. Miracles are real, we just have to look for them!

Love you all!

Hermana Chelsie Faulk