Dear
family and friends,
I´M
BACK IN RIVERA AND I AM SO HAPPY.
So I
bawled my eyes out when i left Artigas. i mean, it`s me....not really a
shocker. Especially saying goodbye to the Buenos. Man oh man, that killed me.
And Flor, Bruno, Gabs. But I have made everybody commit themselves to go to
Disneyland when I`m home, so call Disneyland and tell them to prepare
themselves; Uruguay`s comin`.
But
you guys, I AM SO HAPPY HERE.
It`s
like a blast to the past! I have only seen one member so far from the other
ward that I started in. She recognized me at the bank my second day here, and
just said "you came back?!" Haha. Everything about it is like a blast
to the past, except that I actually speak Spanish now! So that`s a nice
bonus.
My
area! I seriously fell in love the first day. We have SO much to do! It`s
amazing! We have a gazillion people to teach, my first sunday in the ward was
one of the best Sundays I`ve had in my mission, and the members here are
seriously fantastic. We are finding ALL the time!
Hermana
Barrios is a CAPA! Like I said last week, she`s from Argentina. I`m her second
companion, but it doesn`t even seem like it because of what a great missionary
she is. And no one else believes me, but she also talks like Jennifer Lopez. I
mean, if I heard J Lo speak Spanish, that`s how she would talk. Or in other
words, if I heard Hermana Barrios speak English, that`s how she would talk.
Apparently, everybody told her before I got here that she`s the "Latina
version of me" so we were going to get along just fine. Also, Hermana
Zumeta is the Hermana Leader Trainer here, and so we`re going to get to do
divisions together! It was so good to see her. She also told me she has plans
to go to BYU, which means she`ll be living in Utah! I don`t know what came over
me you guys....but I LITERALLY cried tears of joy when she told me. And
everybody thought I was crazy. But I just love her! And Hermana Barrios and I
are going to get along REALLY well. She has a ton of excitement and animo for
the work, and she works really hard. So it`s gonna be a good change!
So the
AREA! The whole area is hills. Hills, hills, hills. I might die in summertime.
But on the plus side, my legs are going to be reaaaaally pretty. But there are
so many prepared people here!
There
are two little boys, Marcos and Lucas, who are 10 and 11. Normally, President
Smith tells us to be really careful with baptizing kids, because a bunch of
less actives in Uruguay were baptized as children and then went inactive as
soon as their missionaries left. But THESE boys, they`re capos. Marcos started
going to church with his friend Alejandra who got baptized last month. He`s
gone 6 times now, but the hermanas just found out last week that he wasn`t a
member haha they always thought he was. And through Marcos, the past 2 or 3
weeks Lucas has gone. We just had our first lesson with them together
yesterday. We asked them if they liked church, and they said yes. So we asked
them why, and Lucas goes "because it`s important." and we said
"why do you think so?" And he said "because that`s where we can
look for God." YOU GUYS HE IS ELEVEN YEARS OLD. Capo. We`re planning on
both of them for the 23 of August. We`ll be giving them the invitation for that
date today.
Yesterday,
while we were visiting a member, Brenda, and her boyfriend Antony, who just got
baptized last week, Brenda`s neighbor Rodrigo (13) was there, so we asked him
if he wanted to join. We taught the story of Enos to keep animating Antony with
prayer, but we also taught Rodrigo at the same time. Turns out he had listened
to the missionaries before almost two years ago when Brendo got baptized, and
even went to church a few times. But as we`re teaching and asked him if he
feels that prayers are answered, he said "sometimes when I`ve prayed, I
don`t really know, but I feel like God is giving me more faith." And then
he started ripping out the most profound questions I`ve ever heard a teenage
boy ask about the Plan of Salvation. So, we set up an appointment with him for
this week and we REALLY hope things go well, because he seriously seems so
prepared.
There
are two teenage girls, Valentina and Belen, who got baptized with their mom and
little brother 2 years ago. Only their dad isn`t baptized. They LOVE going out
with the missionaries, and we had an actual lesson with them this week,
apparently the first they`ve had since they got baptized, and we talked about
their desires and what they need to do to get them. Somehow, we started talking
about fasting. Turns out, they`ve never really done a REAL full fast before. So
we told them that for fast Sunday we could all fast together for their dad, so
that he can open his heart to the Gospel so that they can be an eternal family.
In testimony meeting yesterday, Valentina got up and bore a really powerful
testimony about fasting. She said "I don`t know what`s going to happen
with my dad, but I do know that now I know about the power of fasting, because
I felt closer to God today than I ever have: even in the temple." And then
she and Belen came up and hugged me afterwards and said "hermana dolan
thanks for supporting us!" I seriously fell in love with them the moment I
met them. They are capas! And we are going to do everything we can to help
their dad. But I too have a really powerful testimony of fasting, and some of
the most rewarding experiences of my mission have been to fast with somebody
else for something they need. Maybe something didn`t happen right away, but
just like Valentina said, it`s something that can fill us with a real
peace.
So
long this week, I know. I just have so much to say! This ward is amazing, this
area is amazing, RIVERA IS AMAZING.
It is
so true that while we`re in tribulation, it almost always means that Heavenly
Father has got something GREAT waiting for us, if we can just stay obedient and
endure. I have seen the truth of it here on the mission! This ward, it
seriously is the best I`ve been in. We`re finding literally EVERY day, and the
members always want to go out with us.
I am
back in the fatherland and I couldn`t be more excited! The work goes well here
and there is a lot to do.
I love
you, I love you, I love you!
Hermana
Dolan
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