Bolivia Bound

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.