Monday, March 10, 2014
I now know the meaning of "endure to the end...." March 10, 2014
KIDDOS.
Such a
good week, guys! Let's just get right to it! I'll try to be as quick as I can
because there's a lot to say.....
Okay
so for starters, we went to ChiChi again, and the poor old lady just gets so
confused. We've tried explaining prayer to her 3 trillion times but she still
tries to give one of her Catholic prayers.But she is so cute and always gives
us a Bon a Bon (delicious chocolate candy) right before we leave. We'll keep
going and we'll just have to be reaaaaaally slow with her.
We
also went to this lady named Elsa. Elsa was a contact we had made the week
before, and we finally managed to catch her at home. The poor woman lost her
husband 3 years ago and she just kept talking about how sad she still was. None
of her daughters come to see her, and one of them even lives next door but
doesn't talk to her. She just kept talking about this "sadness"
inside of her. We read Alma 40 with her and talked about the purpose God has
for each of us. By the end, she had said "I love you girls. You are the
first ones who have been able to help me, and I think you can see this sadness
I hold in my heart. I want you to keep coming back." People like that are
just so prepared! We only got to go once to her last week because after that we
had......(drum roll please)
ZONE
CONFERENCE. Normally, zone conference is just within the zone in one of the
churches. But President Smith has decided that it's important for us to be able
to receive revelation from the temple, so now every zone conference we go to
MONTEVIDEO to be able to go to the TEMPLE! Holla! I hadn't been to the temple
since my first day here. I was so homesick for the temple, moreso than I've
ever been for home (no offense guys haha.) We got to Montevideo on Thursday
night and slept over, and I couldn't even sleep I was so darn excited! Which is
how the temple should be. I hope you peeps at home take advantage of living ten
minutes from like 5 temples haha, because I miss it so much! I already want to
go back.
In
Zone Conference, our focus was ALL about the Plan of Salvation.. We learned a
better way to teach it, and President Smith went more in depth to some
scriptures before we went to the temple so that we would be able to understand
things better when we were inside. I learned so much! Like for instance: Eve.
President talked about how the belief is that Eve was tricked by Satan, but
it's more like this: Eve was given two commandments: multiply and replenish the
earth, and not eat from the tree. But they could only keep one commandment at a
time. So what did Eve do? She chose the greater commandment, to multiply and
replenish the earth. It hurt her to do so, but she did it. Then President goes
"how awesome is Eve?!" Yeah, I agree. Eve is pretty rad.
I LOVE
THE TEMPLE. i don't think I can say it enough.
Haha
okay so funny story. The way we learned the new way to teach the lesson was
that the Assistants would teach a part of it to a fake investigator, then we
would stop and talk about what was good about it, then we would practice it
amongst ourselves for a few minutes, then President would call a companionship
up to practice it in front of somebody. (my comp and I had to do it...yikes.
but we survived :)) So anywho, Elder Toledo from Chile and his "son"
(greenie) Elder McKinlay, aka the funniest human on earth, get called up. Elder
McKinlay says a couple sentences, but then Elder Toledo does most of the
talking. But THEN he looks at Elder McKinlay to talk. Elder McKinlay gets about
three words in, then stops and goes "okay, yeah I have no idea what I'm
doing." we DIED. I have never seen President laugh so hard! Haha so
great.
I also
said goodbye to Hermana Smith (President Smith's daughter that's my age :() She
is going back to school and then at the end of the year she'll be leaving on a
mission too, so it'll be a good while before I see her. I LOVE HERMANA SMITH. I
mean...Audrey haha. It was fun though because for a few minutes we hung out in
the mission home before getting on the bus to say goodbye. I loved chillin'
with the Pres and his fam. And all of his kids are crack ups in the way they
talk to their dad. His 16 year old son Jerry was like "MAN LOOK AT THE
CAMERA, POP" when he was talking a picture of the zone. Haha. Too
good.
Speaking
of, if you go to the page "President and Hermana Smith" on Facebook,
that's the mission page. They post a bunch of stuff on there, like that zone
picture! But anyway, zone conference as always was amazing, and as always I
LOVE President Smith. he is amazing and so is his wife. They really are my
parents here in the mission (and they're a lot like my parents too), and I love
them! Zone Conference and the temple were just exactly what i needed.
We
talked to this lady named Graciela in a bakery the other day. She asked us what
church we were from, then said she wants us to come talk to her because she
thanks we may have the answers that she's tried to ask God as to why she is
suffering. Holy prepared! That was Saturday. We'll go to her today.
We
decided we have to drop Guadalupe this week....she started to avoid us and even
hide from us. I know she'll get baptized someday though, so it's okay. It just
isn't their time.
Saturday
night the Elders had a baptism of this total stud named Leandro! Finally, a
baptism in Centro! It was so great. And, Brian and Angela came! We could tell
they really felt something. We (the 4 missionaries) played ping pong with Brian
afterwards and I totally kicked their trash....haha sike. Did you know latinos
are almost as good at ping pong as they are at soccer? I need to practice.
So
SUNDAY. First of all, the average sacrament attendance at the beginning of the
year was in the twenties. Now, we have worked so hard and it has gotten up to
consistently being in the 45 and up range and sometimes more! Some real
miracles. This branch has come such a long way since we got here.
But
the BEST PART of Sunday was that Brian and Angela came again! We asked to do a
lesson in the church afterwards, and taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ. And
guess what? We gave them baptismal invitation. And guess what? THEY ACCEPTED.
March 22, homeslices are gettin' dunked! Please pray for them! It was a really
powerful lesson, and even though he tried to hide it, Brian cried a little bit.
He went from saying he didn't believe when we met him, to accepting fecha.
Miracles! I am so blessed to be a missionary! Please pray for him!
Haha
okay so now for the meaning of my subject line...we go to this member in her
branch named Ilda last week. She is this cute little old lady, with a few
missing screws if ya know what I mean haha. But anyway, this day is HOT. Like,
super hot. But we get there, and she says "queridas! (dears), I have cafe
de malta for you!" It's like this coffee type stuff that isn't really
coffee that members are allowed to drink. But it is nasty.....and super hot. I
had to put pretty much a bag of sugar to get through it all. So I'm halfway
through my first glass and I'm just thinking "endure, endure...."
because I'm about to have heart attack from heat. Then I finally finish,
but she says "do you want some more?" And I had to say yes....so I
got an even bigger glass of this hotter than satan's spit nasty coffee stuff.
We came out afterwards and i told hermana zumeta "i finally understand the
meaning of endure to the end." So there you have it.
Okay
so that's all, folks! Not much deep spiritual insights. I had a bunch, like
always, but there's just no time to share them. Just know that I LOVE it here
and I love being a missionary! I love my President, I love fellow missionaries
(the ones in my zone are a hoot), and I love my Savior! And I really love this
work!
And.....I
love you, I love you, I love you!
Hermana
Dolan
Saturday, March 8, 2014
one third down, two thirds to go! March 3, 2014
Hey, friends!
So first of all, guess what? I hit my six month mark on Friday. Six. Months. Where did that time go? It freaks me out. What's even weirder is that Elder Trucolo keeps telling me he thinks I'm going to train after this change, and he goes "just think Hermana, once you finish training your daughter, it'll be June." Whaaat? Time is going so fast, and sometimes slow at the same time. But still, mostly fast. I'm getting so oooooooooold. In the mission.... Oh and also, no worries you guys because uh, I'm not going to train.
Well I can't say this was the best week of my life, but the Lord always rewards the bad days in a week with miracles. There are miracles everywhere.
So remember Chichi, the cute spunky little old lady we contacted last week? Well, we went to her house this week. On Wednesday she let us in and said she would listen because she thinks it's good to hear about other religions, but said up front "I'm Catholic and I don't plan on ever changing." We got to know her and found out she wasn't ever married, has no grandkids, all of her siblings and close family members are dead. She just has one nephew who lives on the other side of the country. She is really alone, but told us "God helps me through it." And she is still spunky and with this cute smile always on her face. We gave a brief message about the love of God and then asked if we could come back. On Saturday we taught the Restoration, and at one point it was so sad because we asked her a question and she said "I'm sorry dear, can you ask it again? The thing is I've had a lot of things happen to me in my life and they all just barely filled my head." Poor lady. :( But then we continued and really focused on prayer and how this Gospel helps us overcome our trials. Then at the end, she goes "You know what? I believe you girls. You speak purely and you're far from home and I don't think you would tell a lie."
Ummm, GOD LIVES.
That same day, we had a SUPER awesome lesson with Brian and Angela. They're the couple where the husband has a hard time believing in God. But the thing is, when we went last week he told us a straight up "no", that he doesn't believe or have faith. But then he actually read Ether 12 which we had left for him, and Angela had read 2 Nephi 31. So we kind of ended up talking about a lot of things. We talked about repentence and how baptism is the first step (because of what Angela read), and we said that any guilt that they could be feeling, they can be free of through the love and Atonement of the Savior. and then we talked about faith (because of Brian.) This time, when we asked him if he has faith, he goes "I don't know...maybe." So it's gone from a no, to a maybe in a week! But he's reading the Book of Mormon, so obviously he does. And then, I asked him "Do you know how you can find that faith?" He was looking away when I said that, but then he looks at me and goes "...how?" And I held up his Book of Mormon and said "todo lo que quiera en la vida, puede encontrar en este libro." "Everything that you want in life, you can find in this Book." Cool enough, just that morning I had actually finished the Book of Mormon for my second time in the mish. I don't think I ever had a sure testimony of the Book of Mormon like I have gained here on the mission. It really is everything. As I testified of it, I could see the change in his eyes. We gave them the "soft" baptismal invitation (which sounds better in Spanish but basically is something like "If the Lord answers your prayers and you feel this message is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?") Angela said YESSSSSS. And Brian said he would think about it. HE WOULD THINK ABOUT IT. That is huge. Going from not believing in God to thinking about baptism. Aaaaand they c a m e to c h u r c h.
M I R A C L E S.
Haha okay so story time. So on Friday, like always, we had our weekly appointment/dinner with Maria and Miguel. We figured it would be really great to have the testimony of Elder Figares and his wife, so we invited them. But then his wife (the most gringa of all gringas in this world haha) says she's not going to go. So, okay, we'll just go with Elder. But then it's 7:20 and we call him and he's just barely on his way to another appointment with the Elders, but then he leaves them and comes to us. So we get to Miguel and Maria's. And let me just add, Hermana Zumeta and I had planned a SUPER boss lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going all day imagining Maria crying and the Spirit being so strong. But then, what happened?
....old people happened. hahaha.
Because we get to their house, and they say they've already made dinner for six because they had planned on Sister Figares. And Maria's daughter is in town and trying to call another country and Miguel and Maria don't know how to work their telephone, so I help them. So Elder calls Sister and says "I'll come get you." So it's like, 8:20 now when they finally come back. And then, those four blessed old grandparents of mine need to go outside to look at the garden. (also keep in mind that I am translating for SIster Figares with Maria.) So we're there for like, another fifteen or twenty minutes. So then, Hermana Zumeta and I decide it's not the right time for the lesson and we just share a scripture about faith. And then the four oldies start sharing the "back when I was a kid" stories that old people love to tell haha, and at this point it is 9:15 and we know that, like always, they have dinner waiting for us. So we tell them, but Elder Figares goes "Nahhh, you're fine." Haha, um, coo'? So then we eat the always delicious meal, but eat it in 2.5 seconds and get home late at 9:45. So long story short, that lesson didn't work out. Hahaha. But there's always next week. Maybe that isn't even a funny story to anybody but me, I just can't help but laugh at big, planned lessons that turn into disasters. It's like a tragically funny story every time.
Also, I forgot to tell this, but a few weeks ago when we brought Elder Figares to meet Miguel and Maria, at the door Elder Figares makes the joke "do you know these two chicas?" And Miguel goes "ellas son mis nietas!" Which means "they're my granddaughters!" If that doesn't just tug on you're heart strings, I don't know what will.
Also, let me just share the undying love I have for the Alvarez family. They are so close to getting to the temple! Daniel got the okay to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood! He just has to wait for the District President to interview him. But he was so excited! Also, fun fact: he is a chubbier version of my brother. And he's even a policeman. I showed him a picture and he was amazed. Haha I love him. And Franco is my little buddy. He knows my name know, and while he was running around the chapel yesterday, he caught sight of me and went "Hermana Nonan!" And climbed over everybody in the row to get to me. I love him. My biggest wish is to be able to be here when that beautiful family becomes beautiful and eternal.
So there you have it, folks! I love the Book of Mormon, and I so much love my Savior. I love my family here in Uruguay, and my family and friends back home! ARe you sharing the Gospel? Are you praying? Are you reading? Good. I hope you're all doing just swell.
I love you, I love you, I love you!
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