Hola Family and Friends,
How are all of you? How did your week go?
We had a good week here! Hermana C had her 9 month mission birthday!! WOO! It's crazy how fast the time goes by! This week we've also found a few new investigators this past week who are great!
We went looking for an investigator but he wasn't home so we talked to the neighbor instead. His name is A and is about 30 years old. We spoke with him for a minute at the door and invited him to be baptized. He accepted and we set an appointment to return to teach him. We invited him to church and left.
Yesterday at our branch council, the President came in and said, "Sisters, A came! He is waiting in the sacrament room."
At first we were a little confused of who he was because we had only spoken with him for ten minutes days before. We weren't expecting to see him at church, but he came! We immediately had a member sit with him and he took care of A all three hours. So cool!
Later we passed by his house to try to teach him at home. His brother came out and told us that he wasn't home. We spoke with him about the church and he said, "Oh, you're from the church that he went to today? He was in a hurry to go this morning but I didn't know where he went to."
We set a return appointment to come and teach him. What a champ! We are excited to start teaching A soon. After church, Hna C and I were talking about how that showed us that the Lord is in charge of this work. He knows who's ready, and we are just a small part of helping them understand the gospel.
We met another man this week who is the best. O was sweeping outside his house and we were close by, waiting to meet up with a member. We felt like we should talk to him.
We asked if we could help him sweep up, and he said (almost without break), No thank you, who are you? We introduced the church to him and that we are missionaries. He told us that about 10 years before, two elders gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, but that he didn't have it any more. We gave him a copy right then and invited him to read from the beginning. He asked many questions about it.
Omar then sat down right next to us and told us about how he is struggling currently with a lot of anxiety. It was a problem that he struggled with for a few years. He sought treatment from psychiatrists and had controlled it for some time. A little while ago, he was let go from work without reason. That triggered his anxiety again to the point where he is constantly restless. He can't rest, and he says that he hasn't been able to find peace. He wants to learn more about God. He has heard much from many different religions throughout these years and he says that they have all left him confused. His biggest question has been about God.
I really felt for him. And I am so excited that we can begin teaching him soon!
L [the investigator that was hesitant to marry her boyfriend in last week's email] is progressing, but we have run into this divorcing problem. Her boyfriend has to get a divorce before she can marry him. We talked about her situation with a few ward members, two of which are lawyers; one is a judge. They have all said the same thing. R and his separated wife have to be in agreement to get a divorce, and it is expensive to do so.
Normally, the absolute lowest rate someone can get to start and complete the divorce is 20,000 pesos. That is a LOT of money. And it takes a lot of time. :(
This is beginning to seem really complicated and this is hard for us because L is so ready for baptism. Her next decision would be to separate from her boyfriend and live alone - but they have a child together and she doesn't work. That is also extremely complicated. I was just wondering if you could all keep her in your prayers so that this situation can work out. IT IS POSSIBLE! :)
When we were talking about this whole situation, I remembered what Laman and Lemuel said after seeing the angel in 1 Nephi. How can we get the plates from Laban? He can command 50 and can slay 50, then why not us? Then Nephi replied "And it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands? Therefore let us go up."
It's just cool. With faith and a little effort, this divorce isn't impossible even if everyone says it is. If L really does need to get baptized, it's possible. The Lord will provide a way.
And J is just the greatest kid ever. We taught him this week and he told us that he is currently in 2 Nephi. 2 Nephi people. Only after two weeks of teaching him. He told us that he prays three times a day: once before reading the Book of Mormon, once after reading, and just before going to bed at night. He's had several dreams at night that explain to him what he doesn't understand while he's reading. He came to church again on his own. He's going to be baptized the 29th of November. :')
He has a nose ring too that the elders were concerned about. The very next lesson they wanted to tell J before they were transferred was about removing it. But they didn't. They were special changed and had to leave asap. Well, when we went to see J this week he said, "I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but I have a nose ring. Well, every night when I pray, I promise the Lord that on the day of my baptism I will take it out."
Whhaaaa? We didn't even say anything about it. He already knew. It was something really small and maybe insignificant, but it showed his faith and desire to change.
We had a great week!
Sorry this letter is short. I tried to send a few photos to make up for it. Life is well! Please keep our investigators in your prayers and also Sister Guevara and Sister Salazar. We love you all and pray for you everyday. Thank you for your prayers and love and support.
Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Fernelius
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| See! The bread is so special that I took another photo with it at a members house for comida. |
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| This photo is one of my favorites. Hermana C was looking at my scriptures one morning during our studies and asked how long I have had my scriptures. If I remember right, I think I was about 10 or 11 years old. She was surprised that when I was younger I took pretty good care of it. She then went to pull out her scriptures. When she was younger, Hna C thought that Joseph Smith's first vision was the cat's meow, so she decided it would be important to highlight THE ENTIRE SECTION. heehee. Then she showed me some other priceless side notes she's included through the years. Her scriptures are truly awesome. |
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| This is around the time of the day of the dead. They are serious about this holiday! |
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| This is a special bread that they only make this time of year. |
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| Got pictures with some of my favorites!! And no, I don't know what's on my skirt either [in the next photo]. |
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| Meet Hermana Guevara and Hermana Salazar! They are currently living with us in our home and are supporting us here. They are awesome! We are grateful to have them here in our area. They make a difference. |
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| ...then we have another beautiful reaction after seeing a softball sized spider. Not really. But it seemed that big. |
Funny story. So Hermana C and I are fascinated by all things creepy crawly slimy and weird (if you couldn't already tell). Yesterday we met a very nice gentleman in the street who presented us to his grandchildren so that we could share the gospel with them. Well, they weren't interested, so we left them with a folleto and walked back out of the alleyway. Where HE AQUÍ [BEHOLD] we found a gorgeous spider on the way out. Okay, that spider was seriously pretty and scary at the same time.
We decided to check it's "Spidey" reflexes, and we put a leaf in it's super strong web. It lightning fast ran and attacked it, and it gave us the chills. haha.
So we let it hang out and we were about to leave when all of a sudden we hear someone come out of the house right behind us. There was a very angry man that told us to leave the spider alone. He said, "Can't you see that it's special?!"
Us.... O.O
"THAT is not from around here. It's Japanese."
We felt very very uncomfortable. We apologized and tried to soften the blow by asking him questions about it. Like, "wow, that's amazing. Sorry we didn't know, how did it get here from Japan?"
"I dunno".
"It seems like you take interest in this kind of thing, have you studied a little bit about it?"
We made him a little more defensive: "I have taken the initiative to care for it myself, and I have cared for it for a while y lo cuido BASTANTE."
.....
I still feel bad about the whole thing. As we left, he said, "and if you couldn't tell, its spider web is golden."
It was. It was beautiful. Every time we pass that alleyway, we have a moment of silence to remember the day we offended Spiderman. Seriously. When we're back home from our missions, if you ever want us to squirm a bit, remind us of this story. haha
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| Before getting my hair cut - the after isn't so great, so we'll just leave it at that. :) |
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