Paraiso Round 2!!

June 23, 2014

Hello everyone!!!

Well, it’s been yet another great week! It was a nerve wracking week as well... the week of CAMBIOS! On Wednesday night we got te dreaded phone call... and were excited to learn that Hermana Lopez and I get to stay together here in Paraiso for another six weeks at least to bless this ward. :)

Last week, as I mentioned, was "the week of the family." We spent the week trying to be more diligent in contacting families in the street and looking for referrals of families. The week of the family didn’t turn out exactly how we imagined (I was imagining, for example, contacting a great family of four that lives in our area and would accept to be baptized in the first lesson), but I know that the Lord gave us exactly the families He needed us to contact. In the end, we contacted various couples and families that seemed interested, but none that live in our area, ha. That’s okay, though; Hermana Lopez and I talk a lot about how we have the blessing of having an area en el centro (downtown?) so we get to bless other missionary’s lives by talking to and contacting prepared people that live in other areas. For example, we found a fantastic part-member family that lives in another area, a family that is less active and talked to US because they want to go back to church, and also lives in another area, and other nonmember families that are interested and live in other areas.

But I know that despite the fact that we haven’t yet found our "golden family" in our area, the Lord is still blessing us a LOT, and with families - just not in the way we expected. For example, we felt prompted to visit a part-member family that we were working with a while ago but that stopped receiving us - and they are once again interested in making the gospel a part of their family! They have some work to do to be ready for reactivation/baptism, but they came to church on Sunday and we’re excited about that. :) We also met a new menos activa, Veronica, who wants to come back to church and wants us to teach her boyfriend that she lives with - another potential family! And we have seen lots of progress with other people we have been working with - Cristina and her boyfriend Grover, who I mentioned a few weeks ago, went to church as well, Cristina for the second time and Grover for the first time, and are progressing towards a baptism date. And another hermana Adriana came to church for the second time with her nine-year-old son, and are super excited to keep progressing. Another investigator also came to church, as did several menos activos - including one named Mauricio, who came for the first time in years! It wasn’t exactly the week we expected, like I said, but I know that the Lord is blessing us with tons of miracles.

Some other good news... it appears that after almost a month, the university in our area is now FINALLY open again! That means a lot of our investigators who left will now be coming back and hopefully we can start teaching them again. :) Also, if everything goes well with the interview, Esteban should be getting baptized this week! It was a huge fight he had to go through to make it to this point, but I am grateful to be here to see his example of firmness and patience despite all the trials he’s had to go through to get baptized.

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Barricading Tarija

June 16, 2014

Well hello everyone! This has really been a wild week, full of crazy moments and challenges, but also full of miracles. I’m loving it here in Paraiso!

To start off with some crazy news from here in Bolivia (Dad you’ll like this, I know you always want to know more about the culture here)... our area happens to include the biggest university in Tarija, el Tejar. That means that our ward has tons of university students and the YSA group is huge here. Also, the majority of our investigators are YSA. But, the student leadership group and the faculty in administration had some kind of huge tiff and two weeks ago the student leaders got so mad that they blocked off the university! Seriously... like 30 students took over the university and barricaded it off with furniture and stuff, and then fought off anybody that tried to take them over again! They literally fight with the faculty and the police and everything, and the really wild thing is that they win! They have now had control of the university for over two weeks now, and there is a group that camps outside it every day with signs and things making sure they can’t open it. It’s not like it’s been dangerous for us or anything, but it has been pretty inconvenient and killer for the people we’re teaching. The majority of the students here come from other cities, and especially from little pueblos, to study, so when classes are closed for over two weeks, they have just gone home! So we’ve been losing investigators with baptism dates, investigators who were really interested, right and left. They just all leave! Also, this happened just in the moment when we’re working harder than ever to pull up attendance to over 200, and attendance has definitely taken a hit. So it’s been a bit of a challenge for us here, but nothing kills my or Hermana Lopez’s spirit. :) We just keep working harder than ever despite the challenges!

It’s saddening to see that all these people can’t progress thanks to the university, but Hermana Lopez and I have felt that this is the Lord’s way of telling us He wants us to focus more on families and people who live here permanently in Tarija. Not that these university students aren’t important - they’re super important and, like I said, I’m really sad that we can’t teach them right now - but the Lord needs FAMILIES that can support this ward if it is going to stay open. With that in mind, we have titled this week "The Week of the Family" and we are praying that the Lord will grant us with a family to teach this week. I know that if we truly give this week everything we’ve got, He will bless us with a family to teach. But despite the challenges, we do have several people who really are progressing, and like I said, we saw miracles this week! One was that a girl, Lourdes, approached US in the street and asked us to come visit her! She said she has been looking for a church and feels like the Catholic church doesn’t have what she’s looking for. Unfortunately, she also went home since the university is closed, but we want to pass the referral to Yacuiba where she lives and hopefully she can start attending church there! Also, we started teaching a Christian woman, Adriana, and her son. They went to our church before and thought it was boring so they didn’t want to go back, but a member introduced her to us a few weeks ago and she went to church with us yesterday. I don’t know what changed this time, but she really liked the church and recognized that this is what she needs to come unto Christ more fully. We have also seen progress in the miracle investigators from last week, Cristina and Grover. Both of them really liked the message of the Restoration and feel that it is true. They continue to be interested in baptism. Unfortunately, Satan always puts challenges in the way of baptism, and Cristina is sick in the hospital right now so neither of them could come to church. But that’s one of the big things I’m learning in the mission - that the Lord often gives us the miracles we ask for, but He rarely gives them to us in the time we want them. I know that He wants me to learn patience, and I’m trying to do so. The important thing isn’t whether or not I’m there for the baptism, it’s whether or not they make it. And I know that I need to be more humble to be able to accept the Lord’s will.

It really has been a crazy week, and there’s tons more I could mention... a man with a monkey who tries to attack us, a possessed investigator, an attempted robbery with a hero who came at just the right moment, stomach problems, stomach problems, and more stomach problems... ha, we got everything this week, but the Lord always keeps us safe and protected. I know that the mission is where the Lord needs me to be and I LOVE IT!

Just a few more things... first off, shout out to Dad! Happy Father’s Day yesterday! Also, keep Esteban in your prayers... he’s supposed to get baptized next week, but he’s still having problems with his wife. Looks like the decision might come down to get baptized or keep his family intact, despite everything we’ve tried. We’re praying that the Lord opens up a solution!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Happy one year!

June 9, 2014

As the subject indicates, I officially reached a year in the mission this past week, and it has indeed been the happiest year of my life. Six months more to keep loving it! We started off the week, as I mentioned in my last email, in Santa Cruz. Hermana Lopez and I flew up there for the consejo de lideres and it was great; we learned a lot about new instructions to lift us as a mission and help us to be more obedient. As part of these new instructions, we as hermana capacitadoras have much more responsibility and are in a lot more constant contact with the hermanas we work with since the elder leaders can’t be in so much communication with the hermanas anymore. It’s great; it means we’re sacrificing a lot more of our time since we really are now acting basically like lideres de zona for the hermanas, but I like being able to serve in that capacity. I learn a lot from the hermanas we work with and I learn a lot as I try to think creatively and work with Hermana Lopez to lift the hermanas.

I also had the chance to talk more to Presidente Willard one on one and he really pushed me to give the mission everything I have for the last six months I have. I am extremely grateful to have such an incredible presidente de la mision who knows exactly how to say what the Lord needs me to hear to push me to realize my full potential. Well, that totally changed my week and, I believe, it will change the rest of my mission. As I have striven to be more diligent and 100% obedient, I feel the Spirit much more in my life and feel so much closer to the Lord. And we have seen miracles as a result of it. For example, we had an investigator, Cristina, who liked our message and was interested in going to church, but was afraid of her boyfriend. He is in the police academy and only comes out on weekends, but she is here in Tarija waiting for him to leave the police academy so they can get married. (They are both from Santa Cruz, but he came to Tarija to be in the police academy and she followed him here to wait for him the two years he has to be in it! That, my friends, is true love.) She told us that she’s interested in religion, but he really isn’t so she was worried about being able to progress or get baptized. Well, we got her to agree to a lesson with the two of them on Saturday when he was out of the policia for the weekend. Before the lesson we were a little nervous, but we said a prayer before the lesson and the impression came to Hermana Lopez strong: "Have faith." When she shared that with me, I remembered and felt strongly that the Lord works with us, that we have His power and authority to teach and invite others to come unto Christ, and that He would help us with this lesson. In the lesson, we talked about the importance of following Christ in our lives and I contemplated inviting Grover, the boyfriend, to baptism but although I usually do in the first lesson, I was a little bit uncertain this time. But those words, "Have faith" echoed in my head and I just had to do it. I invited him to baptism and a miracle happened: he said instantly, "I would really like to, when can I?" And both of them accepted a baptism date for next month! It’s going to be a little bit complicated with him since he only comes out weekends, and not even all weekends at that, but he said that when he does come out on Sundays he wants to come to church, and this week Cristina came to church with us and loved it. It was marvelous to see the Lord’s hand working in our lives and in the lives of our investigators.

Well, we had lots of other great experiences this past week and we keep working hard. We’re getting Esteban, one of our investigators, ready for baptism in about a week and a half and we’re so excited for that. The challenge is still his wife; we’ve been able to meet and start teaching her, but up to this point she hasn’t given him permission to get baptized. We’re praying that her heart will change and that she will give him permission and then, even better, join him!

Love you all! Have a great week!!!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk 

The love that changes us all

June 2, 2014

HELLO EVERYONE!

It has been another FANTASTIC week here in my personal paradise, barrio Paraiso, Tarija. :) First off, the ward is doing well. We brought up attendance by about 20 people this week (to 124 peope), which is definitely a step in the right direction. The news about the possible union with barrio Central has been a huge motivator for the work of salvation, and I love it. Our consejo de barrio is all focused on how we’re going to bring people back to the fold of God, planning activities (something that rarely happened in this ward before), making assignments to visit specific investigators and menos activos, and looking for ways to serve and lift the people around us. The missioneros del barrio are getting organized and are excited to work as well, as is our ward mission leader: he is 100% determined to change the situation in the ward and will do what it takes to get us there. We have a specific goal set: to have attendance of at least 200 for the conferencia de barrio the last weekend of July, and I know we can do it, with the misioneros del barrio, the consejo de barrio, the six missionaries in the ward, and most important, the Lord. We are more excited than ever to be working here.

The people we are working with are doing well! Belen, an investigator who is studying in the university here and living with her member aunt, is getting ready to be baptized, probably on the 14th of this month. She is so firm and excited about the gospel that she shares it with her friends and her dad and sister who aren’t members. Her dad isn’t thrilled about her decision to get baptized, but she is super excited about it and knows that this is the right decision for her life. We continue to work with Esteban as well - his baptism date on the 24th of June is getting closer and he is SO excited about it. He is truly converted to the gospel and an incredible example to me, as he has made huge changes in his life, abandoning alcohol and coca and going to church despite the major objections of his wife. We taught him about fasting and fasted with him for his wife this Sunday, and on Tuesday we are finally going to go visit her for the first time. We’re praying that the Lord can soften her heart at least to let him get baptized, hopefully to learn more about the gospel herself too. We are also working with a great less active family, la familia Avila, who are a couple with their new baby. We are just working to get this less active family married and on track to the temple! I love finding not just prepared investigators, but also prepared less actives who want to return to the gospel once again.

Finally, this has been a week where I’ve had the chance to learn a lot about God’s love for each of us, which is manifested through the Atonement. I had an interview with Presidente Willard this past week and I had the chance to talk to him about a few things that had been troubling me. He taught me a lot about just how deeply God loves us - something I am only just starting to understand here in the mission. And He manifests that love to us through the Atonement of His Son Jesus Christ. I love how Alma the Younger expresses it in Alma 36 when he finally understood and felt the atonement in his life:

 21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

 24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

I know that once we not only understand the Atonement, but also strive to apply and feel it in our lives, we will come to feel the joy that comes only from feeling God’s love. I invite you all to apply the Atonement in your lives, not just for big sins, but also for small errors and for mistakes that we all make on a daily basis. As we come to understand and feel the Atonement in our lives, we will come to feel the power of God’s love fundamentally changing us, AND feel a deeper desire to share this gospel with everyone around us. I love the gospel and I’m so grateful to be here as a missionary sharing it with the people of Bolivia!

Well, have a great week everyone! In just a few hours I’ll be flying off to Santa Cruz for the monthly consejo de lideres, so I’ll let you all know how that goes next week! Love you all!

Love, Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Accepted of the Lord

May 26, 2014

Hello everyone!

Well, we’re still working hard here in Paraiso! We had a kind of tough week with church attendance; a lot of the people we have been working with committed to go to church, but in the end, only one came. Hermana Lopez and I are praying to understand better what more we need to do to help these people come to church. We are also praying for our ward.  This ward, and Central, the ward I was in before here in Tarija, have pretty low attendance and the area has said that if we can’t pull attendance up to at least 200, and do so pretty soon, they will combine the two wards. Well, talk about motivation. All the members of the ward council, and us (the six missionaries in the ward) are really motivated to work a lot harder and get people to church! We are excited to bring more people unto Christ through His church.

This week I have been reflecting a lot on my spiritual progression over the course of the mission, and I read a fantastic talk from April 2013 General Conference called "Being Accepted of the Lord." I invite you all to read it - I think that many times, we focus too much on being accepted by other people. For example, I want to be accepted by my companion, by my mission president, by the bishop in my ward, by the hermanas and elders in my zone, by the investigators, etc. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s good to want other people to like and accept us, but the problem comes when we seek for acceptance from other people that we forget about what is truly important – being accepted of the Lord. I love the scripture that Elder Kopischke uses in this talk, D&C 97:8: “Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.” I know that this is true. We must reflect upon the condition of our hearts. Are we truly willing to sacrifice for the Lord? Are we humble and teachable before Him? Do we admit our mistakes readily and strive to repent? As I prayed about and considered this talk, I learned a lot about some ways in which the Lord still wants me to improve, and also received the sweet confirmation of the Lord’s love and acceptance of the progress I have made up til now. I invite you all to do the same, because while it’s great to be accepted by the people around us, there is nothing more special or more important than feeling accepted of the Lord.

Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week! And Mom and Dad, if the whole DC/NY trip one kid at a time is now a tradition, I’ll definitely be waiting for mine... :) Haha love you!

Love,
Hermana Chelsie Faulk