Viva Los Estudiantes!
In
Bolivia they have like a million holidays, which is fantastic. Yesterday was el
dia de los estudiantes (day of the students), so I figured I would celebrate
with them as my subject line. We most definitely need to make this change in
the US - day of the students, day of amor (different from Valentine’s day,
which they also celebrate), day of moms, day of women (yes, two different
days), day of dads, day of men (again, two different days), and even day of
dogs. And a ton more. Basically, the Bolivians look for any reason to
celebrate, and I love it!
The
work is progressing here in my little area of paradise, Braniff, Santa Cruz! I
love it here. It’s incredible the love I have developed for our investigators
and for the members of our ward as I have gotten to know the majority of them
pretty well. Every single one of them, like every single person, has real
struggles in their lives, and as missionaries, we have the privilege of
learning about and helping them through many trials, but what’s incredible is
that they remain firm in the gospel. These people with their firmness huge
trials of all types are incredible examples to me.
But
anyway, like I said, the work is progressing! We’re preparing our miracle
investigator, Hugo, for his baptism this Saturday, and I’m super excited for
him. He has changed so much from the first time we met him, when he called out,
"Hey, I need to talk to you! You two can help me." At that time, he
was super sad and hopeless, and didn’t believe that God loved him or that he
had the power to change his life circumstances. Now, three or four weeks later,
he has so much more confidence. He is living the commandments, praying, reading
the Book of Mormon, going to church, and is so much happier. This gospel has
real power to change lives.
We
are also working with a family! They live in the same house as us (like I said
in an earlier email, basically everyone lives in these compound -type things
with one central door and then a garden or patio with several apartments or rooms
so when I say they live in the same house as us, they rent a room in the same
place). It’s great because it’s super easy to teach them, and the person who
owns all of our rooms, la dueña, is a member of the church, so we can always
teach them with her. Anyway, they are quite religious and active in their Christian
church, so in past lessons, they have been interested in what we had to say but
they never really understood why our message was important. But finally on
Saturday we helped them understand that we literally have a prophet on the
earth in these days that is the same as Moses or Abraham. They were shocked by
this idea, but love it. They asked us, "How can we know what this prophet
has to say?" We explained about General Conference in two weeks and David,
who in the past hasn’t been too interested in going to church with us, said
immediately, "We’re going to General Conference." And that was that!
They aren’t married, but this week we’re going to teach them about the Plan of
Salvation and the Law of Chastity, and commit them to marriage and baptism! I’m
super excited for them.
I
love the mission because I love how we get the chance to see so many people
changing and growing. I love seeing the miracles that the Lord puts in our path
every day. I have too many stories to be able to share in my emails, but I can
tell you all that I KNOW that the Lord is preparing people, that His hand is in
the details of our lives, and that the things that happen every day aren’t just
coincidences. I read a talk from President Monson from Conference October 2012
where he talks about how we need to recognize and acknowledge the blessings and
the miracles in our lives. I think too often we write things off as coincidence
or think that things happen because we made them happen, but in reality, God is
in the details. I invite everyone to take an inventory of the blessings, large
and small, that they have seen in their lives. I did that this week and am
starting to recognize more and more the hand of the Lord, and feel more and
more grateful for all that He does for us.
Love you all!
Love you all!
Hermana
Chelsie Faulk
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