Bolivia Bound

Buff Boys and Dead Men Can Be Interested In Baptism, Too

 

August 18, 2014

Hello everyone!

It’s been yet another great week here in Paraiso, and definitely another week of learning. It’s interesting how, like I’ve mentioned before, I feel like as I’m trying harder the work is getting harder, but I guess that’s just the Lord’s way of trying me. We had an investigator, Mariana, who was supposed to get baptized this past Saturday. We were very excited for her, but she sent us a text Friday saying that she no longer wanted to do it for family problems. We were shocked and very saddened, especially since this is the fourth time this has happened to us in our time in Paraiso - someone progressing, with a baptism date and lots of chuch attendences, has suddenly out of the blue called us, texted us, or in person told us that they no longer want to receive us and that they’re going back to a different church. I’ve never had this happen so much in my whole mission, and we honestly don’t know why it keeps happening here. But I have faith that the Lord is simply testing our patience and our faith - how are we going to react when bad things happen and we can’t control it? I continue to learn a lot about that and I’m trying to keep applying the lessons I learn to become what the Lord hopes I will become. And we have faith that although Mariana is scared right now, she will come back soon because she had a strong testimony and was very excited. We pray that it is her time.

However, despite that, Hermana Lopez and I are always trying to see the positive, and we know we have been richly blessed this week as we have found many new investigators, and in particular two families that are interested and excited to progress! One of these families came to church yesterday for the first time and loved it, and the other family is going to come to a family night with a member friend tonight, and we’re excited.

The family that came to the church yesterday, la familia Terceros, is excellent. We first met the son when we were looking for a referral and knocked on the wrong door accidentally. This 20 year old kid came out, EXTREMELY buff, and started chatting with us. Well, we invited him to church and he accepted the invitation, but we weren’t too sure if he accepted because he was interested or because we were girls, ha. But just in case, we came back another day looking for him and his mom came out - and she was DEFINITELY interested. We taught her and her daughter, and the two of them are super excited about the church. They came to church yesterday and even invited a friend (or boyfriend?) of the mom, who came and accepted the invitation to listen to us as well! They are a very prepared family, loved church, and I know that they will soon be progressing to the temple, and we’re happy for that. :) The other family, la familia Arnez, is also great.

We had lots of exchanges this week with hermanas in the zone with the intention to help them get more referrals from ward members and work more effectively with their wards, and when we visited one family and asked for referrals, she actually gave us one for la familia Arnez in our ward! Not exactly what we planned to help the hermanas, but we are very grateful and know it is a blessing from the ward. They are the ones that are going to have a family night in our ward tonight, a great family of five with desires to change. I’m so excited for them!

Another blessing this week was that we officially rescued a menos activo we were working with, Jose. He was sustained for a calling yesterday and we’re so proud of him. :)

We have also been really working on putting baptism dates in the first lesson a lot more, even if they don’t always accept them, and we have been working more with our members - we received more referrals than usual, had more lessons with members than usual, and we have a lot of good things happening in the ward.

I know that even when tough things happen in the mission, Heavenly Father still blesses us abundantly and continues to work with us. We just have to put our faith in Him and not get discouraged.

I know this is the work of God and I love being a part of it! I invite you all to participate. Invite your friends to church! Be bold; you’d be surprised how many people are willing to listen if you just invite with courage! Love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

 And some other random stuff:

Just something fun to show you all... last week we ate lunch with a fantastic family in our ward, la familia Montaño. They are a wonderful family and while we were getting ready to eat, Hermano Montaño pulled out something to show us... his dead father in law that they keep in their house well-preserved. Ha, can you believe it? We were all shocked but loved it! It totally brought me back to my old anatomy-studying days haha. (And pay close attention to the picture they put there with his skull. He wasn't a member of the church when he died, but it sure seems like thanks to the invitation and the temple, now he is!)