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.
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!
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