Coming Unto Christ

September 29, 2014

Hello everyone!!

Well, welcome to another Monday Pday! This past week was a challenging week in a lot of ways. But let’s start with the good news. We had a lot fewer lessons than we were hoping for, although the lessons we did have were great. They were very powerful, and we found another new family to teach. Just like the family we found a few weeks ago, they commented that they could feel a difference between our message and the messages of other churches - they felt something different, accepted baptism dates, and the husband cried when he said the prayer and thanked us profusely for coming to visit them.

The majority of the lessons we have had in this area have been powerful like that. I know that it is because Hermana Paz and I are trying to truly live the gospel in our lives, not just teach it - we have the Spirit with us more and people can feel it. Unfortunately, the bad news is that despite these powerful lessons, none of the 11 investigators and only one of the six menos activos we committed to come to church, actually came. We also had other challenges with members who committed to help us with certain things and didn’t, lessons falling through, and lots of other things. That was hard for me to see so many people feel the Spirit, commit to do something to come unto Christ, and then choose not to act on it, but I know that the Lord is teaching me a lot about patience. That’s the blessing from trials - we get the chance to become much more like Christ.

I pray that these people can progress because I want them to find the happiness I have found in the gospel, and I will keep giving all I can so they can feel it. But even if the people we teach choose not to progress, I am learning that I just need to be grateful to the Lord for the chance to learn to be more like Him.

I feel like in this area, even though I’ve only been here a few short weeks, I am learning more than I learned in any other area. I feel like in the other areas I started to form the base of a converted, Christ-like servant, and now Heavenly Father is letting me learn to put it in practice to see if I can really apply what I’ve learned. I don’t know if I’m explaining myself very well, ha, but I can tell you all I have felt the Spirit more in this area than anywhere else and I feel like my mind and heart are much more focused on Christ. He is just always in my thoughts and always influencing my decisions in a way He didn’t before. I don’t really know what changed, but I’m grateful for the change, and I will accept whatever circumstances I need to experience to become the person that the Lord needs me to be.

I invite you all to put the same principles in practice. I finished studying the book of Helaman this week, and the words in Helaman 5, "remember, remember" have been on my mind a lot. Helaman invites his sons to REMEMBER all that they have learned because it is SO easy to forget. We so often have powerful spiritual experiences with the Lord, or receive incredible blessings from Him, but as soon as a challenge or a distractions comes, we forget and start to pull away from Him. If we could just REMEMBER Him always, we would always strive to make good choices and always be focused on becoming more like Him. That is my goal in these last weeks of my mission: Remember the Lord in everything I do so that I can really become like Him. Strive to do the same and you will find the source of true happiness, no matter how bad your day is, no matter how hard the trials are, Christ permits us to find peace. We just have to REMEMBER. :)

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Here is a picture of Hermana Paz and me at an activity we had with the other misioneras in our stake from last Pday. We made ice cream sundaes and played some games. :)

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

Las Misiones!!!
September 15, 2014

Well everyone, here I am... in my new area, with my new companion! Yep folks, I was changed this past week and it looks like I’m now in the area where I’m going to die (finish my mission in mission lingo). My new ward is called Las Misiones, back in the city of Santa Cruz (bye Tarija!) and I am here with my new companion, Hermana Paz. We are opening an area of hermanas here and I’m TRAINING! This means that after being an hermana capacitadora for almost my whole mission I no longer am, which is a little weird, but I’m so excited to be able to train. I can’t really explain why, but I felt such a strong desire to be able to train to finish off the mission. I obviously was willing to do whatever the Lord wanted me to do, but I wanted to train so badly. I’m very grateful that Heavenly Father gave me that chance one more time, and I know that Hermana Paz was meant to be my companion. When I saw the two new hermanas that came to the mission, I saw Hermana Paz and knew instantly that she was going to be my companion, and she was! I haven’t had that happen since when I first trained Hermana Lopez, and my time with Hermana Lopez was so special, so I know that if Heavenly Father helped me feel beforehand who would be my companion again, we are going to have a very special time together. Hermana Paz seems to be adjusting well to the mission. She has a lot of strengths - she isn’t afraid to talk to anybody, she’s full of faith, determined to learn, positive, and she has such a powerful testimony. Every time she shares it in a lesson, I feel the Spirit so strong. Her faith really is an example to me and is making me better. I know that with a little training, she will be one of the most powerful missionaries this mission has ever seen. I’m so grateful for the chance to train her and learn so much from her!

And as for the ward, it’s great. There is a strong missionary spirit in the ward, and lots of people have given us referrals and have made plans to introduce us or do family nights, etc, to introduce them to the gospel. They are fantastic! We’re still getting to know the area and had a disappointing day yesterday since the investigators we had found and taught in these few days didn’t go to church, but I know there is a LOT of potential in this area. We have already seen miracles - yesterday we got to the house of a part-member family with the bishop right when there was a big grassfire that was getting out of control, about to reach their house, so we were able to help the family save their things, find people to help put out the fire, carry lots of buckets of water (don’t worry family, we didn’t get too close to the fire) and then talk to the family. Two of the three nonmembers in the family took this moment as a sign from Heavenly Father that they needed to change and come closer to Him, and they accepted baptism dates! So I know that the Lord is working in this area. My goal here is to maintain myself pure, pray powerfully, and study focused on the needs of the area so that I don’t impede the Spirit and Jesus Christ can work His miracles here through us. I’m excited to be working here!

Love you all! I wanted to send some pictures today but I don’t have too much confidence in this computer, so hopefully next week I can send a picture with Hermana Paz. Have a fantastic, missionary experience-filled week!!!

Lots of love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

 

 

MIRACLES!

September 8, 2014

Well, as always, it’s been another FANTASTIC week. I seriously love being a missionary and I love this ward. First off, we continue to see lots of miracles in Paraiso. After a long time with trials and disappointments, things are really coming together. Gustavo, a true golden referral, is getting baptized this Saturday and is super excited about it. We love seeing him integrate himself so well into the ward; he goes to all the activities, has lots of good friends (including a recently rescued member and a converso reciente) and is really excited about the church. Also, I don’t know if you remember Mariana from a few weeks ago, she was going to get baptized but the day before her baptism said she didn’t want to. Well, we have been working with her again for about a week now and after getting in a disagreement with family that stopped her from getting baptized the first time, she has been reading her Book of Mormon, praying, going to church and going to the activities, and has decided more firmly than ever that she wants to get baptized. So, she will be getting baptized the week after Gustavo. And then another investigator who was progressing slowly, Lidia, suddenly sped up her progression and is a lot more excited about the gospel and the Book of Mormon, and has a baptism date for the week after Mariana! AND we found a new family to work with, and the husband is full of referrals. He already introduced us to one friend and is excited to introduce us to lots more. This ward is truly being blessed right now, and I have absolutely loved being here for the hard times and the blessings here. Tomorrow night we will get our calls to let us know about transfers, so we’ll see where I’ll be next week! If I have to leave the area, it’s definitely going to be sad to leave a place that I love so much, but I know that whatever happens will be the Lord’s will.

I also was extremely happy to hear about an incredible miracle. At consejo de lideres one of the hermanas gave me a picture from Hermana Hincapie of an investigator we worked with for a long time, that got baptized right before Hermana Hincapie left the area. I don’t know if any of you remember, but I wrote a long time ago about someone we contacted in the street in Braniff who lived in La Colorada, and I passed on the referral but somehow it didn’t make it to the elders there. Then I got moved to that area, being the only person who was going to be able to find Mikaela, the referral, since it had never gotten passed on. Well, when I was there we had TONS of miracles with Mikaela, including some miraculous circumstances that saved her baby’s life during a lesson with her, but she never really progressed, which saddened me a lot and left me wondering what the point was of all those miracles. Well, now she’s baptized! I was so grateful to hear that she made it in the end, and I know that Heavenly Father does everything He does for a purpose. Maybe she didn’t get baptized when I was there, but I had the privilege to participate in her conversion process in the beginning, and it was thrilling to hear that she made it in the end. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and almost never in the timing that we want, but I KNOW that He is working here in this mission.

I love you all!  

Here is a picture of the baptism of Luis from last week.
 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

President Chelsie?  I think not…

September 1, 2014

Hello everyone!

Here I am, currently writing you all from President Willard’s computer and desk! :) I feel like the next mission president! We had an exciting past couple of days; for various circumstances we had to come up to Santa Cruz a day early for the mission leadership conference and as a result, had no place to do our internet since we normally would do it in Tarija before flying up to Santa Cruz. So they invited us to the oficinas and sat me down in President Willard’s private office. I feel so exclusive!

Ha, but anyway, we had another great week! We continue to see progress with some great people we found a few weeks ago, Gustavo, for example, who came to church for the second time and is super excited about his baptism date on the 13th, and Maria Lourdes and her daughter Maria Angela, who came to church for the third time.

We also saw some progress in a referencia we got from the presidente de quorum de elderes, who gave us the referencia of his brother. His brother was really busy and didn’t seem that interested at first, but we passed by after not having gone by for a long time and he told us he was reading his Book of Mormon every day and committed to go to church this Sunday! And when we told the presidente de quorum, he got so excited that he gave us another referencia!

And the biggest blessing of all was that we were privileged to see Luis, one of our investigators, get baptized on Saturday, and rescue a menos activo, Pablo. The interesting thing about both of them, Luis and Pablo, was that we did minimal work with either of them. We have been working really hard with lots of other people who kept falling through and not progressing, and then all the sudden out of nowhere Luis moved into our area with all the lessons and wanting to get baptized, and then Pablo, who had the lessons but wasn’t really going to church, came to church, asked for an interview, and got rescued!

This got me reflecting a lot on how necessary the Lord’s hand really is in our lives and in the mission. We try and try and try with minimal results, and then just because He loves us, He can bless us with baptisms or rescatados completely different from the ones we expected to get. So I know that the Lord is blessing us in huge ways, and I have been very humbled by what He has done for us in Paraiso. 

Well, I don’t have much time this week, I have to get off but next week I’ll try sending pictures of the baptism and everything! Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,Hermana Chelsie Faulk

--Note from Chelsie's mom:  this picture showed up in my Facebook feed from a friend of Chelsie's in Bolivia, with the caption:

"My dear sisters love u first peanut butter sandwiches"

Milagros!!!

 Hello everyone!

This week was a GREAT week, for lots of reasons!  First off, it was a great week because of all the progress we had. It started off a little rough, since Tuesday started with a surprise: a sick day due to something bad that I apparently ate! But the good news is that despite that loss of time, we still had a great week!

We are finally starting to see some really solid results with our investigators, which I know is a blessing after a long string of disappointments and people deciding last minute to quit investigating the church. But now, the investigators are progressing and just pouring in.

A family that went to church last week came again yesterday and although they haven't accepted a baptism date yet, they are sincerely interested and excited about the change that the church can bring them.

Another hermana, Elsa, came to church for the fourth time and this time brought her son for the first time! We're excited that, although she won't accept a baptism date yet either, she is also progressing well, reading the Book of Mormon daily and going to church, and now her son is willing to do the same.

Also, we were blessed with a golden referral of an hermano, Gustavo, who read the pamphlet of the Restauracion and said, "I read the pamphlet and I know this is true. I want to be part of this church." He came to church for the first time yesterday and liked it a lot, and is excited to keep coming.

And then an hermano, Luis, moved into our ward after having listened to the missionaries and gone to church for a long time without getting baptized. He just came to church and said, "I want to get baptized now" and so this Saturday he is going to get baptized!

And apart from all of them, we had another hermano, Daniel, come to church for the first time, and a menos activa, Veronica, come for the third time, and a lot of really productive lessons with some really good people. AND we found Mariana! That's the hermana that last week announced that she didn't want to get baptized the day before her baptism. We talked to her and she just cried because she wants to get baptized, but is scared since her parent's don't approve. We are going to start teaching her again so we can build her faith and help her continue to come unto Christ, despite the obstacles. We are excited about all of them, and as I said, I know the Lord is just blessing us like crazy right now. :)

Apart from that, it's been a great week because I have been doing a lot of reflecting as I start coming toward the end of my mission. I can feel that I have fundamentally changed, and I'm SO grateful for the change. I put some goals to really forget about myself in these last few months I have as a missionary, and I can testify that as we forget about ourselves and try to look outward more, we truly find happiness. I know that the Lord's promise, that if we lose our souls for His sake we will find it, is true. I know that this gospel is true and I love it!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Chelsie Faulk

 

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!)