HOLA Family and Friends!!
FIRST OF ALL. Happy Birthday to my sweet Benjamin!!! I didn't forget this week I promise, I just forgot to write that in my email. I can't believe you're already 15!!! I love you bud and I love hearing about your basketball stories. They crack me up. I look like a lunatic in the cyber cafe because I just randomly laugh. But anyway, you're awesome and keep being awesome. <---I realize how inspirational that was. haha.
I'm losing English and struggle with Spanish. It's hard to think of something witty in either language so bear with me. As I read your emails this week, I nearly cried (okay, I did cry haha) because I just felt such happiness and love for each of you. I am so grateful for our family and I am blessed to have amazing friends. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel really close to home even though we are thousands of miles apart. It is so special so so so great.
P.S. I hope no one that reads this has intense OCD because the keyboard I am writing on today has a really sketchy 'shift' key and it's really hard to capitalize the first letter of the sentence. and the keyboard is weird with keys that are stuck. again bear with me...
TUESDAY: Hermana "P" and I went to the mission office in the morning and waited in the back room with 20 other trainers for our new companions. We waited for two. hours. in the heat. super anxious. really tired. really hungry. not pleasant. Our future companions were in the main room in the mission office. and I guess (to add to the suspense?) we weren't allowed to see them right away.
The new missionaries went first to the nearby chapel and then we followed behind. Cool. So we finally got into the gym and all the new missionaries were gathered there with President and Hermana Kusch. The trainers all piled in and got in line, super anxious to see our new companions. I was kind of delirious and in denial of what was going on, so I started zoning out when, BOOM! President Kusch called my name and asked me to step forward and then called my companion out from the crowd of new missionaries. It happened so fast and it was all so awesome.
Hermana "C" is super awesome. I just love her. Her last name took me two days to learn how to say it. That day as we were walking back to the offices with other missionaries, I asked her where her last name is from. She said that it's from somewhere in Europe. Then an elder chimed in "someone's been doing their family history work..." Thanks elder. But she really is great. I miss Hermana P but change is good sometimes, and I have already seen how powerful of a missionary she is as we've worked this past week.
"This week was AMAZING. First of all, Hermana C is a fantastic missionary. She makes the effort to learn and progress in the language and adapt to the culture. Several times this week, she's taken the initiative to share scriptures, offer prayers, talk to people on the street and bear her testimony. She is very positive about her experiences here so far and is always looking how to help others. Tuesday afternoon when we first met, she told me 'I'm ready to work. I want you to push me.' I really love that she is willing to try new things, she isn't afraid to speak Spanish & say something wrong because she wants to progress. Hermana C has taught me many things this week and makes me want to improve as a missionary. She brings a very special and sweet spirit to this area.
'O' was confirmed on Sunday! He told us afterward that he felt the Spirit so strongly as soon as the brethren placed their hands on his head. He felt elevated to heaven--uplifted and edified. I thought that was tan lindo!!
We visited an investigator on Saturday afternoon named 'S'. It's difficult to teach her because she works all week in her family-owned paleteria. But with Heavenly Father's help, Saturday she let us into the salon of her negocio and we were able to teach the Restoration. When we talked about the apostasy, we read Amos 8. That people will wander with thirst and hunger--not hunger for bread and water, but for the word of God. Investigator "S"said that she's felt that spiritual hunger before.
We told her that there was someone else with that hunger too. His name was Joseph Smith. He asked God what he should do to find truth, bread of life and living water. As we shared the first vision with her, she seemed really drawn to his experience. We invited her to ask God if this church is true and to ask Him to fill her hunger. Hermana C then asked her to be baptized and she accepted!
Her baptismal date is set for the 10th of May. Our challenge with getting S to baptism is her church attendance. We invited her to church this past Sunday and she did not go, so that is one of our principle focuses with her. Helping her recognize the answer to her prayers, to keep her commitments and attend church. We are really excited for her.
'V' is another investigator who will be baptized this Saturday (29/3/14) at 12PM! She is an incredible person!! She is just radiant. I love the inspired questions that Alma poses in Alma 5. He says, 'And now behold, I ask of you, ...have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?' Every time I see V, I think of this scripture. She has truly received the image of God in her countenance. She has a purity and light in her eyes that I love!
I know that the gospel really changes people. The spirit of God purifies hearts and is the only way that we become converted unto Christ. It's a privilege to know V and see her conversion to the Lord.
We had a teaching appointment with her on Saturday and I felt prompted to tell her that at her baptism, there will be generations of her family present. Her family members who have died without a knowledge of the gospel will be there rejoicing along with V's future children and posterity. The decisions she has made now will bless her life now and in the eternity to come.
This week was full of beautiful experiences. I'm grateful for the spirit that Hermana C brings. She is really a great missionary and I know that she has a great work to do here on her mission. I'm grateful for the privilege to be a missionary in Cuernavaca. My heart is filled with love for the people here. I LOVE MEXICO :) I love the people. I love the culture. I love the language. I love the food, the quirks, the expressions, all of it. I am really happy and so grateful to be a missionary for the Lord! :)"
(Yes I actually love the food. HALLELUJAH ;) )
Last experience. I'm sorry if my letters are a bit long or scatter brained. But Sunday was definitely one of the greatest days of my mission thus far. It was the first time on my mission that I felt something really special as we visited and talked with others. I really felt love for the people we taught. I mean I've always cared about those that we teach. Many of them feel like family to me, but this weekend, I felt charity for them. And it changed the way we talked, taught, listened, and felt with each person. It was incredible.
We visited an investigator and her family (who are members) and talked with them about general conference. At the end, we asked them if they had anything they wanted to share or add to the discussion. Then they began to cry. They said they felt something really special with us. The hermano said he knew we were working hard because he could feel the Spirit as we spoke with them. I needed to hear that because so often it's easy to feel incapable or inadequate.
...I'm grateful that the Lord doesn't call the qualified to teach, but that He qualifies those whom He calls. He is so patient with me as I learn to be a better missionary and as I strive to be more converted unto Him. I am grateful for the privilege to work in Mexico among a people that I really love.
Le amo ustedes un buen!! :) Yo espero con todo mi corazon que ustedes pueden sentir el amor que nuestro Padre Celestial tiene por cada uno de ustedes diariamente. Y que pueden confiar en El siempre...especialmente en los momentos mas difíciles. Por que El siempre escucha nuestras oraciones. Yo se que esto es la iglesia verdadera. Y que la única manera que podemos encontrar felicidad y paz ahora y en las eternidades es mediante nuestro Salvador, Jesucristo.
Le amo ustedes un buen!! :) Yo espero con todo mi corazon que ustedes pueden sentir el amor que nuestro Padre Celestial tiene por cada uno de ustedes diariamente. Y que pueden confiar en El siempre...especialmente en los momentos mas difíciles. Por que El siempre escucha nuestras oraciones. Yo se que esto es la iglesia verdadera. Y que la única manera que podemos encontrar felicidad y paz ahora y en las eternidades es mediante nuestro Salvador, Jesucristo.
I love you all. And I hope I wrote that in Spanish right. haha.
Con Amor, <3
Hermana Fernelius
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