Week 10! "Time to Train...'O' is Baptized!"

From Monday, March 17, 2014
 

Hola Family and Friends!!!!!!

INVESTIGATOR "O" WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY [the 16 year old boy we met my first week here]. YAYAYAYAYAYAY. See below for a watered down version of yesterday!

Also, last week my companion and I received a phone call from the assistants to the President. First one Elder spoke with my companion. After their conversation she was ready to cry. I was thinking, what in the...? What happened? She told me that this transfer she would be training a new missionary. When she said this, I was thinking a million things--and what would happen to me? :S 5 minutes later, the assistant called again, this time to talk. to. me. Our conversation went something like this:

**Awesome Nokia ringtone**
 

Me: "Bueno." (P.S. Here in Mexico, we answer the phone by saying 'Bueno', instead of saying hola, or hello, like you would say in the U.S. Moving along...)
 

Elder: "Hola Hermana. We have some exciting news for you. You are going to train a new missionary this transfer!!!!!"
 

Me. "......."
 

Elder: "Wooooo-"
 

Me: "....."
 

Elder: "-ooooooooo!!!!"
 

Me: "....."
 

Elder: ".......Bueno?"
 

Me: "Si Elder"
 

Elder: " How do you feel Hermana?!! Excited?!!!"
 

Me: "Si." O_O

He didn't tell us who our new companions would be (Latina or Americana) or in what area we would be training. We found that out in the new trainer's orientation in the mission home on Friday. SO NOW I KNOW :D 

I am going to train Hermana "C" from UTAH!!! 

Hermana "P" (my former companion) is going to train an American (again--to her great dismay haha) from ARIZONA. The funny thing is that my 'mother' is not going to be transferred too far from me. She will be in the same Stake/Zone that we are currently in. We are actually still in the same District! How crazy is that? We are still going to see each other every Monday! Yay! Supposedly our companions arrived today in Cuernavaca, and we are going to pick up our companions tomorrow morning. :) Please keep the new missionaries in your prayers. I hope that her first experience in Mexico is really wonderful because mine was! I am so excited to meet my new companion! I can't wait :))

COPIED. PASTED. :

"This week was so great!! 'O' was baptized yesterday!! WOO! :) The ward members helped us to get his baptism together quickly and were supportive of him. The reason the baptism was yesterday is because it was the only day that O's father could be present to see him be baptized. He came yesterday afternoon and was really supportive and respectful. After his baptism, O's father hugged and kissed him. We were so happy to see O make this eternally important decision to be baptized.

Next Sunday is his confirmation and his baptism will be complete! I know that he will bless the lives of many people, and his own family too. It was a miracle in itself that O's father came to his baptism, and we hope that this is only the beginning for O's family to get to know the church more. 

Another investigator ('V') has her baptism scheduled for the 29th of March. She is so special and already acts like a member of the church. V is 21 years old and was introduced to the church through her boyfriend, who is a returned missionary. She went with him to the temple visitor's center in Mexico City and felt the spirit really strongly during her visit there. After that experience, she decided to begin reading the Book of Mormon on her own and came to church on her own also. (She just finished first Nephi!)

We met with her two weeks ago to teach her the first discussion and she actually taught us! She has a great knowledge and testimony of the gospel already. Hermana P asked her if she knew that this was the true church of Jesus Christ. She suddenly became reverent and pensive and tearfully answered, yes! I know this church is true! She shared with us that she prayed to know if this was the true church and she felt a great peace and confirming feeling that it is. Hna P and I felt the Spirit so strongly when she shared that with us. We invited her to be baptized and she didn't hesitate to say yes. We are very excited for her!!

She is an incredible young woman with divine potential. She truly radiates the light of Christ from her eyes. This past Sunday she came to O's baptism and really loved it. Afterward a few members of the church asked her if she was a new missionary! haha. They were shocked to hear her say that she is an investigator and that it was only her fourth Sunday at church. We told V to tell her boyfriend that she wants to serve a mission. ;) She is really remarkable and we are excited for her. We know that she will be a strength to her family and friends also as she continues progressing in the gospel."

One thing I want to share this week is that being on the mission has taught me how to be a better member of the church. I'm learning more and more about the sacredness of our baptismal covenants. It's not just the missionaries' responsibility to find, teach, baptize, retain, and reactivate in our home wards and stakes. The great majority of that responsibility falls on the members.

I remember before coming on the mission how many great opportunities there were for me to share the gospel and give references to the missionaries that I never did because of my own fears. I also never truly made the effort to befriend and support investigators and less active members of the church. I wish I had dedicated even just a single day, or hour each week to go out with the missionaries to work with them as the Lord is hastening His work.

President Monson has taught us that NOW is the time for members and missionaries to work together in the work of salvation. Heavenly Father expects much of us as members of His church in the latter days. We shouldn't be content in letting the missionaries or leaders of the church do missionary work alone. As covenant, baptized members of the church, aren't we all missionaries?

 

This week, make a goal to set apart one day, or one hour each week from now on solely dedicated to help the missionaries, to talk to a nonmember, to visit a less active, to share the gospel with your family. I promise each of you that make this commitment, that you will feel heaven's help and divine guidance in your lives as you dedicate that time to the Lord to do what you covenanted to do on the day you were baptized. We can't be content in not sharing the gospel or living comfortably how we want to. Heavenly Father created us to be so much more.

 

One last challenge:

This Sunday, find the missionaries of your ward. Ask them how you can help, tell them what day and hour you have set aside for them to visit investigators and members with them. Offer support and offer references of those they can teach. Greet investigators and less active members at church, help them feel loved and welcome. And in this way, you can more fully keep sacred the covenant you renew each Sunday as you partake of the Sacrament.

I can promise that you will be blessed in great ways and that you will feel a great love and peace from our Heavenly Father. If you have trials right now, here is the solution to overcome them. If you are struggling in your testimony, here is the solution. If you want strength to change something in your life, here is the solution. If you are happy, there is yet greater, and unimaginable happiness and joy to be experienced. 

That is a thought I've had these past two weeks, and especially for my own mom and dad and siblings. To have two missionaries on a mission will hold our family more accountable for doing missionary work.  That is a strong feeling I've had this week and I had to share. 

Just know that I love you all. I think about you all week and you are always in my prayers. I am so grateful for the sacrifices that have been made for me to be able to come on a mission. There is such great joy in serving the Lord. It is the greatest privilege to serve Him and I am grateful for this opportunity to be in Mexico. I LOVE YOU ALL :)

 

Have a wonderful week & take the challenge to heart! :)

Con AMOR,

Hermana Fernelius

 

Investigator "O" gets baptized!

HOME SWEET HOME. (P.S. I am super burned)

This is a traditional dress from Morelos, MX. An investigator gave it to me :')

P-Day in Centro de Cuernavaca. (It is a major outdoor shopping mall. MAJOR. It's huge)



3/17/14 P-Day en las gallerias de Chapultepec

Don't ask. We try to disfrutar de nuestras misiones. :) The day we took this photo we both decided to get matching hats that say love. Because we are seesters, and that's what's up.