Ojos de la Fe
Well,
this week was disappointing in some ways, but also excellent in others. The
disappointment came with some baptisms that fell through - we were hoping to
baptize two families, la familia Cuellar and la familia Solis, both of whom we
have been teaching for a long time, this week, but all of them fell through.
That was hard for me, but I know that it is the Lord’s way of teaching me
patience. These two families are still progressing toward baptism and I have
faith that they will make it, but probably not while I’m here in La Colorada,
seeing as how we have transfers this week. I was pretty disappointed about
that, but I know that the Lord wants me to understand to be less self-centered:
baptisms aren’t ever, or at least shouldn’t ever be, about me. It’s not about
how many baptisms I’m present in or whether or not I’ll get the chance to take
the coveted "photos in white" before the baptism, it’s completely
about these families, their progress, what they need. So I have committed to
the Lord that I’m going to strive to be a non-self centered person, to truly
focus on the needs of the people around me instead of my own desires, and do
all I can to serve the people around me and help them progress to baptism in
the Lord’s time, not in my own.
Well, apart from that important lesson, it was a great week because we had the privilege to have a multi-zone conference and a mission leaders meeting with Elder C. Scott Grow of the Quorum of the Seventy. It was incredible to be able to be in the presence of a General Authority and learn from his wisdom and feel his love for the Savior, his true conversion to the gospel. Just being in his presence made me want to be a better missionary and a better person, and I learned a LOT from him. He talked a lot about faith - about looking at people, areas, missions, months, etc, with eyes of faith to find and recognize the people that the Lord is preparing to be baptized. He taught us about the fact that although we focus a lot on numbers in the mission, this is truly a spiritual work where we can and should receive revelation for our areas every day, that the Lord really is preparing thousands of people in the city of Santa Cruz to receive the gospel. He invited us to pray and ask the Lord to reveal to us the number of people that He is preparing to be baptized every month, and then to trust completely in the revelation the Lord gives us, and then to go find those promised people, those promised families. He told us, "It doesn’t matter so much what the number is, because the Lord will be preparing a different number of people in every area this month. But I promise you that the number will be much bigger than any of you think it is." I am going to be praying a lot to know the number of people the Lord is preparing for the month of April, wherever I am. And then I pray to have the faith to be able to bring about the Lord’s plans, and to recognize who are the prepared people, and then to bring them unto Chist through the door of baptism!
Well, apart from that important lesson, it was a great week because we had the privilege to have a multi-zone conference and a mission leaders meeting with Elder C. Scott Grow of the Quorum of the Seventy. It was incredible to be able to be in the presence of a General Authority and learn from his wisdom and feel his love for the Savior, his true conversion to the gospel. Just being in his presence made me want to be a better missionary and a better person, and I learned a LOT from him. He talked a lot about faith - about looking at people, areas, missions, months, etc, with eyes of faith to find and recognize the people that the Lord is preparing to be baptized. He taught us about the fact that although we focus a lot on numbers in the mission, this is truly a spiritual work where we can and should receive revelation for our areas every day, that the Lord really is preparing thousands of people in the city of Santa Cruz to receive the gospel. He invited us to pray and ask the Lord to reveal to us the number of people that He is preparing to be baptized every month, and then to trust completely in the revelation the Lord gives us, and then to go find those promised people, those promised families. He told us, "It doesn’t matter so much what the number is, because the Lord will be preparing a different number of people in every area this month. But I promise you that the number will be much bigger than any of you think it is." I am going to be praying a lot to know the number of people the Lord is preparing for the month of April, wherever I am. And then I pray to have the faith to be able to bring about the Lord’s plans, and to recognize who are the prepared people, and then to bring them unto Chist through the door of baptism!
I
also had an extra special privilege during these two days of meetings: an
interview with Elder Grow. He chose a few people to interview, like 15 out of
the mission, including me! We talked for about ten minutes about how I decided
to go on a mission, what I have learned here in the mission, etc. And then at
the end he said, "Tell your family that this week you had an interview
with a General Authority, and that this General Authority looked into your eyes
and saw a daughter of God striving to do His will, and that He is pleased with
you." WOW. It felt great to hear that, but I know I still have a long way
to go to be ready to return to my Heavenly Father again.
I
feel my conversion deepening every day as I identify more and more weaknesses
and try, through prayer and work, to overcome them. I’m sad that I’ll probably
be separated from Hermana Hincapie, but I’m excited for a new opportunity to
learn more and come closer to Christ. I love you all!
Have
a great week,
Hermana
Chelsie Faulk
Oh
yeah, and a few photos: we have here a photo with the family of the bishop,
where I eat lunch every day in La Colorada.
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