Bolivia Bound

CONFERENCIA GENERAL!

Hello everyone! 

Wow, was that not a great Conferencia General (or for you English speakers, General Conference) that we got to listen to these past couple of days? Mom, you asked me what my favorite talk was. I’m not sure how well I could pick just one favorite, since there were tons of fantastic talks, but I can talk about one of my favorites... I loved the brother that talked about how our small decisions can change everything, and asked the question, "If you continue to live the way you are now living, will you receive the blessings promised in your patriarchal blessing?" Such a profound question; and such an important one. I remember before my mission reading my patriarchal blessing and wondering how I would ever become the kind of person described there. For a long time on my mission, I have prayed for just that - to become the person described in my patriarchal blessing, and I know that I have come a long way, but I still have a lot more to improve. I want to remember that counsel always and work to become all that Heavenly Father knows I can be. I invite you all to do the same! I also loved the calls to make daily prayer, scripture study, family home evening, temple attendance, and family history a priority. Any of you who aren’t doing it, do it! I know that as we give heed to and live the words of the prophets, we will be richly blessed. :)

Well, we have had some challenges in our area these past few weeks losing investigators right and left. But despite that, we are still working with a great, promising family, Adriana and Carlos and their three children. They are intelligent and hardworking people, would make for great future church leaders, and acknowledge that they need a change in their lives and family. Unfortunately, they have commitments at their church that make them HAVE to go, morning and afternoon, for the month of October before they can try out a new church. We’ll be praying for them! We also continue to work with some great menos activos, for example Hermano Karin. He was baptized more than a year ago and almost immediately went inactive, but now has come to church twice in a row. My goal is to see him bless the sacrament before I leave. :) And we also were blessed with a miracle the other day on the bus. President has taught us many times that we should talk to everyone we possibly can, and that includes when we are in the street, buying something in a store, on buses, anywhere, because the Lord puts people who need us in our path! So I struck up a conversation with a woman in the bus, and when I asked her if she had heard of our church, she said, "I used to go there." I said to her, "Hermana, were you baptized there?" With a sheepish, "you caught me" type smile, she nodded and accepted our invitation to visit her. I’m grateful for the way the Lord puts people who need us in our path. :)

Well, this weekend should be exciting... they are holding national elections here on Sunday! Here it’s the law that you HAVE to vote or they put a hold on all your government-related or bank-related actions, so everyone votes, haha. And on top of that, you can’t leave your house on voting day except to vote and then come home. You can’t drive any kind of vehicle either, no cars or public transportation to speak of, and it is illegal to congregate in big groups the day of elections. So, we can’t have church on Sunday, or even leave our houses. Should be an interesting day; I’ll let you all know how it goes!

Love you all lots! Have a great week! I’m praying for you!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk