Hey
guys! I hope everyone had a good week! This week was kind of a weird
one...mostly because not a whole lot happened. But every week still has
something.
So
first of all: Teresita. She is the aunt of Adan Aquino. I don't know if
anybody's been paying attention, but la familia Aquino are total bosses about
giving out references. Evidence: the 3 baptisms we have had in our branch in
the past two weeks (Leandro, Angela and Brian) were references from them. I N C
R E D I B L E.
Anyway,
we went with them one day to her apartment so that we could meet her with them.
The poor woman has been through SO much. She came to church last Sunday
(holla!), and afterwards told us even more about stuff she's been through. But
she has a real desire to be baptized. We gave her a tour of the church and
promised her the blessings of the Gospel, and how her life really can and will
improve when she accepts it into her life. That's when she said "so when
is the next baptism?" She's ready. She just talks a loooooooooooot, so we
take the lessons more slowly with her. Plus, we want to make sure she
understands that baptism isn't a magic pill that will fix everything. But the
desire is there, and that's what's important. So we'll see how it goes!
Satan has
been working hard on some of the menos activos this week. For example, Daniel
Alvarez is a really good singer, and some band here in Uruguay offered him a
spot. But the thing is, he would almost never be able to go to church, and he
would be traveling a ton. Elehem called us really worried because they got in a
fight because of it. He is so close to receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood and
they are so close to being sealed as a family! So please pray for them, and
especially for Daniel that he can get his head on straight before I knock him
into the next week.....haha, broma. Sort of.
Also
pray for Veronica, Mary, and Marita....they are all going through some really
hard things individually and could use some prayers.
On
Saturday, we had a "Super Activity" combined with the branches in El
Real y El General. It was the first activity of this size that the branch has
ever done, and it was a huge success! It was mostly geared towards youth. It
started with hot dogs for lunch as people came. The point of the activity was
to find new people to teach, so as people came in they had to
"register": put their name, address, and phone number if they had
one. Then they could go play soccer, then basketball, then volleyball, then
ping pong. Except nobody wanted to stop playing soccer (shocker, we're in South
America) so we played that almost the whole time. I of course played....and the
good news is i played better than I was expecting to, but the bad news is that
that is still awful. Haha it was fun though. Maybe in a year I'll come home
playing semi-well. :) The funny part though was that everybody was making fun
of me (only Gringa playing soccer...duh)....until we played volleyball. Then I
showed them.
So
there were two cute little 10-year-old boys who were there the whole day. One
was the son of an investigator of the Elders, and the other was his friend,
Alex. Alex was on my soccer team the whole day (even when he was team captain,
he chose me to play on his team.....and didn't choose me last! Haha miracle).
Well that night after the activity, my comp and I were walking in the
street, and there's this woman sitting in front of her house drinking mate, and
she asks us "hey, are you guys from the church over there?" So we say
yes, and it turns out she is Alex's mom! She thanked us for the activity and
said that Alex came home super happy and excited, having had a lot of fun. She
said there just isn't a place around that does activities like that. Her name
is Karina, and besides Alex she has two other kids, a girl who's 11 and another
boy who's 14. Her husband travels a lot for business, so she's alone a lot. We
of course talked to her a little bit about the church, and she said she had
talked to Elders in the street before but hadn't ever seen Sister Missionaries
before. Well, here we are! She was SUPER receptive and said we could come back
any day after 5:30, because she wants her kids to meet us and that's when
they're home from school. So we're going today. Woooo miracles!
I was
studying this week a question in Preach My Gospel, that says "why should
we seek divine light?" One of the references it gave was in Doctrine and
Covenants 11, which says:
11 For, behold, it is I that speak; behold, I am the alight which shineth in darkness, and by my bpower I give these words unto thee.
12 And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your atrust in thatbSpirit which cleadeth to do dgood—yea, to do ejustly, to walkfhumbly, to gjudge righteously; and this is my Spirit.
13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my
Spirit, which shall aenlighten your bmind, which shall fill your soul with cjoy;
So,
why should we seek divine light?
Because
it is only by seeking the divine light (by study of the scriptures), that we
can receive His power, according to v. 11. We can seek that light through
diligent study, and, like verse 12 says, trust in that Light (in Jesus Christ.)
That trust will lead us to be able to do all the things that verse 12 promises:
do good, do justly, walk humbly, and judge righteously.
But my
favorite is verse 13. Our minds will be enlightened and our souls filled
with joy. And why will our souls be filled with joy? Because our minds
will be enlightened to the giving of a greater knowledge of God's love for us,
and the words necessary in the moment to share the Gospel with someone else.
Those two things are life's greatest joys!
So
basically, READ YOUR SCRIPTURES. Because they're awesome!
Funny
story for the week:
So on
Tuesday, they cut our water in our apartment (haha such a blast.) The people in
the mission who pay paid a little late, so the water got cut for a day. So I
asked the Figares (senior missionaries) if the next day we could shower at
their house (they live right across the street from us.) So Hermana Figares
goes "of course, and then we'll send you home with some pitchers of
water." But ALL of us heard "of course, and then we'll send you home
with some pictures of water." So we all start laughing but she
just looks at us like "what?" Then I realize what she ACTUALLY meant
to say, and I explain to her what we all thought, and she just starts laughing
and then goes "I wish I was that witty!" ....also don't worry guys,
we showered in their house the next morning and then that afternoon the water
was back on.
Hahaha,
there's always a funny story to be told.
Sorry
this was kind of a scattered email, I'll do better next week!
But
for now,
I love
you, I love you, I love you!
Hermana
Dolan
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