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.