Hey hey hey kiddos! I hope everyone is swell, because I sure am! And also dying a little inside. And also super swell! Mission emotions are so confusing, especially around times for changes.
So.....CHANGES!
Are you ready?
I am headed to (drumroll, please.......)
ARTIGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
I am headed back up north! Artigas is right next to Rivera, at the border below Brazil. And you guys, in our mission, Artigas is the promised land! EVERYBODY wants to go to Artigas. And Rivera. And I remember 3 months ago talking to my companion about those wingnuts who in their mission get to go to BOTH....haha, woops. ;) But yep, I´m also going to Barrio 2, which has 6 missionaries and the stake president, Presidente Bueno. He is talked about by everybody in the mission because of how awesome he is. And, the super cool part is that that´s where Elehem and Daniel got baptized before moving to Colonia! They told me "we´re sad to see you go, but you´re going to the best ward in the world so we´re not that sad." My comp is Hermana Sump. She just barely finished her training, so since she´s pretty new I haven´t met her yet. But I´m ready to tear it up with her in the land of Portugese and Guaraná! I am so excited!
Hermana Christensen is coming to be with Hermana Zumeta. I met her in Rivera and she is super awesome. I´m not worried one bit. She´ll do a great job of caring for my family here. I will miss Hermana Zumeta so much! We had some really indescribable experiences together, and she´s forever a sister to me.
It´s amazing how the Lord knows us. A few weeks ago, I remember making the offhand comment to Hermana Zumeta of "man, if I leave Colonia, the only thing that will make it bearable would be going to Artigas." And then I forgot about it until we got our calls for changes and they said Artigas! Heavenly FAther definitely knew that I would need that to make leaving my beautiful home here easier. I leave at 8 tonight. I am stoked!
Now for the more important things:
I said my goodbyes to the Flia Aquino last week. It was Uruguay´s version of Labor Day on Thursday, so they invited all of us over for asado. By the way, labor day is like, religious here. EVERYTHING closes. And a bunch of members were absolutely gobsmacked (shoutout to Rob) that we still had to work as missionaries that day. "But, it´s Day of the Worker! You guys shouldn´t be working!" Hahaha. But anyway, I love that family. Adán is seriously my hero. He is the most Christlike person I have ever known. He is so humble, hardworking, and selfless. He is ALWAYS looking for opportunities to either bring more sheep to the Savior or to rescue those who have fallen away. Besides references, he´ll sometimes tell us of some inactive that nobody knew lived here and takes us to them. He is amazing and I will never forget him. Or any of them. They are seriously my family!
We had our last hurrah with MIguel and Maria on Friday also. Maria is taking some small yet significant steps and i know that even if it takes years,s he´ll make it to baptism. And all of the missionaries who taught her, all of us "grandkids" of hers, will rejoice when we see her in Heaven. They´re the sweetest human beings on this planet, and I will miss my Uruguayan grandparents so much!
Brian and Angela are going to kill me when I say goodbye to them at the bus station tonight. Brian actually started crying yesterday. It´s the first time I have ever seen him get emotional like that. But I´m not worried about them one bit. They´ll stay on this path forever. They basically taught themselves!
I need to talk about the most life and mission changing person I have met so far, though. Carolina. I´ve talked about her before. Carolina has suffered a lot of things in her past that no 23 year old, or ANYBODY, should have to suffer. But it was something she was never able to talk about. She has a really hard time trusting people and always feels like she has to defend herself, so it makes it hard for her to tell anybody. Well 3 months ago, my companion and i meet her. And a little bit later, the Elders. And this amazing thing happened. Carolina started to change us without even knowing it, and without us even knowing it, we started to change her. It got to the point where she really wanted to talk about it to SOMEBODY, this thing that has happened to her in her past. She didn´t want too many people there though, so first last week, she started with the Elders. It was a miracle too, because her older sister happened to show up. The same thing that happened to Carolina happened to her sister, but her sister has never talked about it to ANYBODY, not even her husband. Yet, for some reason, she felt compelled to tell it to the Elders. All they needed was somebody to listen. Naturally, the Atonement of our Savior was talked about. Carolina said that night that ever since she met the 4 of us, her life has changed completely. She has managed to laugh again with us in a way she had forgotten how to do. She said that now, she knows there are people who listen. She knows there´s somebody (the Savior), who knows EXACTLY how she feels.
I´ll admit, it was a little hard for me to not be able to be there, but instead I decided to be so 100% grateful for the grace of God and that he helped us find her so that she can find some peace.
Last night, we had a little going away party for me and Elder Castellanos at Veronica´s house. I don´t know how it happened, but Carolina ended up alone with me and my companion in the kitchen. She started out saying how hard it was going to be for her to let us go. She said "All my life I´ve felt like I´ve had to defend why I am the way that I am. But with you four, it was different. It was like you saw right into me and into who I REALLY am. Of course I won´t stop listening to the others that come, because I know that this church that you´re teaching is true, but it will be hard for me."
Then she started to tell us about everything she told the Elders, and even one more thing, the thing that was TRULY holding her back from finding peace, but one that she didn´t feel comfortable telling at the time because she wasn´t sure she wanted her sister to know. She got it all out, right there in the kitchen. And I felt the strongest love for her, something I´ve never felt. And I knew it came directly from the Savior. And we told her that. And we stood there and hugged and cried, and she said "thank you for listening Hermanas. Thank you for coming into my life."
Then she said something that I will never forget "Until I´m old and gray, I will tell my children and my grandchildren what it was that the 4 of you did for me."
Here´s the amazing thing: the 4 of us don´t feel like we did ANYTHING. And it´s really because we didn´t. It was ALL the Lord. He worked through the four of us, and, more than that, he gave the four of US the honor of meeting HER. I´LL be the one to tell to my kids and grandkids about the amazing Carolina.
I think back to the day we found her. It was raining harder than it ever had in my mission. The water was up to our calves. Everybody told us to stay in the member´s house that we were at at the time. We had told Veronica we would be there that day to help her daughter with something, but we thought about calling and canceling. But we decided against it, and went anyway. And that was where we met Carolina. And if we hadn´t gone, we wouldn´t have found her. And i don´t say that to boast, I say that to say that God is SO. GOOD. I can´t even believe that he loves me so much that he gave me the privilege of meeting Carolina, and being an instrument in helping her feel the love of God and Christ, and to let her change me. My last goodbye to her will be tonight at the bus station. It will be so hard, but she is a friend for eternity. i am so blessed to know her.
God was good enough to help Carolina find her peace, and good enough to let the four of us find a love of the Savior even more profound than we had ever felt before.
Colonia will always have a special place in my heart. It has changed my mission and my life. I saw countless miracles here. I saw the hand of God manifest in ways I never imagined I would see. I have discovered and felt more love from the Savior as he picked me up in my hardest moments, and loved me in spite of all my imperfections, and worked through me to give the absolute honor of being an instrument in helping others feel His love. I am sad to go, but so excited for the future! Time is flying so fast and i want to breathe in every moment. There is absolutely nothing like the mission. it´s nothing I can describe. I love my Savior, and I love my family I´ve found here, and i love the Lord. They are SO. good.
I love you, I love you, I love you!
Next email from ARTIIIIIIIIGASSSSSSS!
Hermana Dolan
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