Come Unto Christ

Well, it’s been another interesting week here in Las Misiones. We continue to see both miracles and challenges in this area. I can tell that Satan is working hard against the people we have been working with, but we know that the Lord is stronger than Satan and He can do his own work. We found a fantastic family last week talking with a woman next to me in a trufi, and when we went to teach them on Tuesday, the husband cried when he heard the story of the Restoration and said he felt something really special upon hearing it. That was definitely a miracle for us; however, we could see that Satan is trying to impede their progress because they couldn’t receive us later that week or come to church yesterday because their baby got really sick. This is the interesting thing that we keep seeing; we keep finding families that seem really promising, and then something keeps impeding their progress. However, I really have a good feeling about this family and have faith that they will progress. 

Another miracle for us was that the 22 year old son of an active member of the church, Jorge, has come to church twice now and yesterday tentatively accepted a baptism date for the 15th of November! That really is a miracle, because he has listened to many pairs of elders before, but hasn’t ever taken it very seriously. He has very different beliefs than us; has a different concept of God and doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, but we can tell that even though he doesn’t want to admit it, there is something he likes about the gospel. He has come to church on his own twice now, reads his Book of Mormon, and prays, so he’s got all the ingredients to come to know that this is true. Now, he still isn’t positive that this message is true, but we can see that his faith is growing and we have had many powerful lessons with him. :) I know that the Lord can change all people and change all of our hearts, even those that seem furthest from Him. That is definitely something I have seen over and over again in the missio, and I know it applies for all of our lives. I know that this gospel is true and the converting power of the Atonement is incredible. Apply it in your lives on a daily basis, and you will see how the Lord can make you strong. I love the scripture Moroni 10:32   

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all  ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength,  then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be  perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect inChrist, ye can in 

 nowise deny the power of God.

I know this is true, that as we come unto Christ, He will perfect and sanctify us, and we will come to a perfect knowledge of the reality and the power of God in our lives.  

Love you all! Have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

Guided by the Spirit J

October 20, 2014

We have had a week of seeing how the Spirit touches people in Las Misiones! We are definitely seeing the Lord’s hand guiding us in this area, although our challenge continues to be getting people to church. That will be a big focus of our personal and companionship study this week and we hope to receive revelation from our study, and see the miracles from our fast starting this Friday.

Hermana Paz and I are progressing well together. After a meeting we had for the trainers on Tuesday, I put the goal to give her more responsibility and trust in her more and I have felt a huge difference. She is contributing more to planning, making suggestions more during the day, and I can really see how guided she is by the Spirit. The other day, for example, we were walking, our lesson had fallen through and we were looking for whom to talk to. I was talking on the phone when a mom and her adult daughter passed by, the daughter crying. I wanted to talk to them but was talking on the phone and just sort of let it go. But when I got off the phone, Hermana Paz looked at me and said, "I felt something SO strong when we walked by them. We HAVE to talk to them." But we didn’t know where they were, so I just sort of dropped it. We went to look for a contact nearby who wasn’t home, when we turned around and there they were entering their house. This family we had seen lived right in front of the contact we were looking for! Hermana Paz insisted that we HAD to go talk to them, so we went over and the mom immediately invited us in and said she had been praying for missionaries to come by right then!  Turns out it was the mom and sister of an antiguo investigator that we had actually been looking for because we found out that his dad had died two months ago and we felt that he might be interested again. So, we had the chance to start to teach them, and yesterday we met the antiguo investigator, Alan, along with the mom and daughter we met a few days ago. They said they would be willing to learn more formally about the church again, and I know this is a miracle. I’m grateful to the Lord for preparing people that way, and for giving me a companion who is such an example of following the Spirit. Hermana Paz is going to be a powerful missionary!! I’m very grateful for the chance to train her.

We also had another sweet experience yesterday at church. So Saturday night, we had four people with baptism dates confirmed to go to church the next day, all of them referrals from members, and with all of them the members confirmed that they would pick them up. But Sunday came, and all of them, one by one, fell through. That was hugely disappointing, but the Lord gave us a surprising miracle... Jorge, the adult non-member son of an hermana in the ward, came to church out of nowhere, even though his mom didn’t come! He is an interesting person, has been through about five sets of missionaries before us, but has a very different way of seeing the world, isn’t a Christian and doesn’t have the same concept of God as we do, which is unusual here in Bolivia. But at church, he said that he "felt very peaceful and calm there" and said, "I think I’m going to keep coming to church. I like it." We also learned that he has been reading the Book of Mormon and a General Conference talk that we left him, so that was exciting! We really feel that this is his moment to come unto Christ and learn the truth for himself. I’m grateful, once again, for the miracles we are seeing in this area!

This Wednesday I’m going to start my last transfer in the mission. The time has gone by way too fast. I know this mission has changed my life permanently and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for giving me this wonderful privilege to serve Him as a missionary for a year and a half.

Love you all! Have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

The Fourth Missionary

October 13, 2014

Wow, was this a totally different week from last week, and I loved it. It all started from last weekend with General Conference. Hermana Paz and I both felt prompted to fast for conference to be able to receive additional help from the Lord in our area and receive the revelation we needed for our area. Well, as I mentioned last week, we received revelation to become better missionaries and to help some investigators, and then we also saw miracles this whole past week. We doubled the number of lessons we had with members, taught 11 new investigators, 5 people accepted baptism dates, we found some new menos activos, and we taught a total of 28 lessons. It was a great week, and we know that we are being richly blessed by the Lord. I know that there is great power in fasting, I have seen that many times in my mission, and the Lord confirmed it again by pouring out the blessings and the people to teach this week. 

And then Sunday was a great day as well. As you might remember, I mentioned last week that since Sunday was elections, no one is supposed to leave their house except to vote and then come back. So, we were in the house until 6 pm when we were allowed to leave to proselyte until 9 like normal. And to use the time effectively, President gave us a schedule of things to study, including a talk called "The Fourth Missionary." I love this talk; this is the second time I read it and just like the first time, I felt super inspired. I took some time while reading to really reflect over my own life and my mission, and I am extremely grateful to be able to honestly say that although I haven't been perfect, and I know that there were times when I served a lot more with my might and strength than my mind and heart, I have honestly tried to follow the Lord's will and give up my will. I sincerely feel at peace with myself and with what I have accomplished in my mission up til now. Something I have prayed for almost my whole mission is to become the type of missionary - and person - that the Lord wants me to become, the type of person that my patriarchal blessing describes. And as I read my patriarchal blessing yesterday, I felt the Spirit testify to me that although I still lack a lot, I'm on a good path and I have made huge strides in my time in the mission. I will always be SO grateful to my Heavenly Father for pushing me to go on a mission, even when it wasn't something that was in my plans. He has literally given me everything, and I owe EVERYTHING to Him. The Spirit also testified to me that I need to make sure that I don't get content with what I've done up til now and think that I can just sort of back off, that I've done enough. I need to keep myself 100% focused on the mission til my last day, and I need to continue to work to be more humble. Hermana Paz and I made several goals to develop more charity and humility and to keep our minds even more focused on missionary work. I know that no matter what happens in our area, we will continue striving to be 4th missionaries. :)

And then when we left the house, we had a great experience as well... we met a 20-something year old, Rodrigo, who told us he has investigated lots of churches in the past and really wants to learn more about our church. Felt very sincere, we're excited to teach him and see what happens. :) And then la familia Chamon, who are a fantastic family, the family where we eat lunch every day, took us to meet close family friends of theirs, a young married couple in desperate need of more hope in their lives. They agreed to learn more about the gospel and the Spirit was incredibly strong as we, and Hermano Chamon, testified of the reality of life after death and the hope we have that families are eternal. It was fantastic, and I really feel like this family is going to progress quickly. 

I'm grateful to be a missionary and loving this work! Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Chelsie Faulk

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

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