Bolivia Bound

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.