Bolivia Bound

Life-Changing Experiences J

Hola familia!

Once again, we’ve had another great week. We had a conference with Presidente Willard on Wednesday and learned a lot about the importance of personal study in the mornings. I loved a lot of things that President taught - for example, about how sacred personal study really is. For example, if the prophet called us to give us guidance, how would we react? We would take it very seriously, treat it as something sacred, and follow what he said exactly. And yet, every day when we study the scriptures we have the opportunity to have a meeting with the Holy Ghost, where the Holy Ghost, a member of the very Godhead, can come to us and give us guidance for our personal lives. We have this privilege whenever we want to study the scriptures, and yet we all too often take this privilege lightly and don’t really search the scriptures seriously. Well, I have been trying to improve on that, and I feel like this new focus on really studying with a purpose, looking for the company of the Holy Ghost, is changing my life. I feel like my understanding of the importance of the Holy Ghost is deepening, and I have the goal every day to not do anything that will force the Spirit to leave my side. I want to be able to preserve the Holy Ghost that I feel during personal study all day long so that others can feel it and recognize the truthfulness of this gospel. I invite everyone who reads this to do the same, to start your day with a sacred time of personal revelation, starting with a sincere prayer to your Heavenly Father, followed by a scripture study time looking for the companionship and guidance of the Holy Ghost. I know you will feel the same results I feel!

We also had some positive results this week, with two new families we are teaching. We had powerful lessons with both of these families; the Spirit was very strong in both lessons, they both accepted the invitation to be baptized, and the husband in one of the families, Jose Manuel, commented that he has talked to many missionaries from many churches, but he said that there is something different about this message, the sincerity, the emotion, the way it makes him feel. We were grateful to hear that because it meant we were doing our job - testifying and then letting the Spirit teach. But it seems like Heavenly Father is still helping me work on my big weakness, patience, because neither of the families could come to church yesterday. However, I have a lot of faith that both families will progress. And some more good news - we had several other investigators come to church, including one named Maria, who is the mom of a recent convert. She came, stayed the whole three hours, said she wants to go again, and agreed to go to a ward activity this Wednesday with a ward member who invited her! That’s the importance of friendshipping, people!  And a less active member that hasn’t come in about a year, and a recent convert who hasn’t come since she got baptized, also came to church. :) We know that we are being blessed in this area.

Things with Hermana Paz are progressing well too. She continues to have this powerful spirit with her that I just love. When she testifies, everyone can feel the power of the Spirit. I continue to learn a lot from her and hope to be able to improve to the point that I have the Spirit with me that much. Mom, you asked where she’s from... she’s from Honduras! But she’s from the south of Honduras, a departamento called Chuluteca.

Anyway, have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk