Week 48

RECORDINGS and JOURNAL: [I hope you can follow...it's just too much trouble to transcribe it grammatically correct with proper punctuation...so, good luck y'all!  And fyi, some things she doesn't actually say to people, but is just thinking in her cute little missionary head.]

Monday 17th--This week and transfer I've been starting to understand when Michael said that ya pray 20x/day.  My prayers and the depth of them have definitely increased.  I think I'm getting to know Heavenly Father and the Savior more.  There's more conversation and need for humbling, love, patience, and guidance.  I feel the need to think of the Savior always and wait on the Lord.  

Tuesday 18th--Today we cleaned and organized!  Smells good!  Feels good! We got to know a super awesome and receptive couple Alex and Andrea who have 2 kids (or one?).  They like the 'good vibes' the mormons bring.  Sweet!  But we're not just going to bring 'good vibes', we're going to  GIVE YOU JOY!!  In the end, all was well and they gained more interest in the message.  Visited Johnny and kids and Victor.  In our lesson with Alex, Thomara was calling us so many times.  Finally, Hna returned the call and she said, 

'A PO, hna, we've been waiting for an hour here with food!  Come on!!  Hna laughed so much...we didn't have an appt with them so it was great that she's just got so much excitement to learn the gospel :).  Victor came with us to teach a less-active Pilar Espinoza who turned out being so awesome.

Hello, good morning!  It’s Sunday! which means we have a little bit more time before we have to get up, because we don’t do exercises, because it’s the Sabbath day…que bueno!  But I’m so tired [and she sounds like it...She's talking super slowly...so, we get to hear her wake-up process].  So I’m just lying here in bed, avoiding falling asleep again, cuz that’s NOT ok. But we can rest in our bed.  Just gonna let’cha know how it’s all going. 

Yesterday morning we went to autos deportes and we wanted to go for Leon and Carmen, and she’s like, “I can’t invite you in today, so chow no mas”,  Well, ok then… that’s great! Let’s go to the vicino [neighbor], because we had passed them already and I thought that we should talk to them.  And it turned out that they were less actives.  We talked to the daughter first who said that her ‘dad was a member too, and my mom and my sister!’  The dad comes out and gives us a handshake, and the mom enters all happy.  So how is your family…and why are you not active?  He had been the branch president unos anos atras [some years ago].  What the heck!  What happened to you??  He’s like, Well, I’m working…always.  Ok now, Hermano, God does miracles.  He can give you another job IF you want it…Because your salvation is more important.  If you don’t have money, pay your tithing and the cielos will be opened unto you, says Malachi.  So, we will see you on Wednesday.  That was great! 

Then we started contacting in the neighborhood close, that we’ve always wanted to get to know better.  By the way, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were close, contacting where we were. I do NOT have patience with them, so I avoid talking to them, cuz I know I will not be have the spirit.  But, I’m gonna work on it…all they like to do is attack and prove their point (with a smile on their face), and I’m def thinking,  Hey now, let’s not be fake here…you know you think we are paid, that we’re just volunteers from this organization and such, but let’s be real here, please repent.  Anyways…Yesterday morning was AWESOME…by following a prompting. The past branch president's family wants to be active again. 

Also, we went by another street, started contacting, but nobody was answering.  After having listened to Elder Uchtdorf's talk about missionaries enduring to the end of the building's last floor, last door, we decided to be a lil' adventurous and just skip to the end of the street. What do you know, they answered!  It was weird...usually we introduce ourselves, but I just asked if we could help her with something.  She said we could pray for her son who's without work.  We said YEAH!  She invited us in, turns out she had been taught in the street by Hna O and Hna Lindsay.  Hna O was like, Woah! crazy that we found her house...miracle because our sector is SO big.  But here's where the story changes to be not so Elder Uchtdorf-like...she pulled out her Jehovah's Witness bible because she couldn't find her BOM (as if they're the same :D) and started talking about Christopher Columbus and a whole bunch of other things that I did NOT get at ALL because she talks so so fast and asks 'got it?' every sentence.  Boy, I hadn't felt so lost since my 2nd day of training talking with Michel.  Holy Cow!  Hna O afterward asked, 'how'd it go?' and I'm like, 'No gache nada!' [I got nothin!]. But Hna, you gotta have patience.  You're right! But I LITERALLY CAN'T TEACH HER IF I DON'T GET ANYTHING THAT SHE SAYS!'  lol!!!  Hna let me know that she probably has a mental disorder so we'll be careful about visiting her anyway.  

After, we went for Silvia.  We wanted her to be reminded of the Restoration video and treasure the BOM more.  Even though she reads, she always claims 'there's so many WARS, ayyy.'  So we watched it and it was SWEET.  My testimony definitely strengthened and I was reminded of those times I'd been to Nauvoo and had gone to Carthage Jail and the Kirkland temple and had felt that all of it was really true.  I LOVE it!  When we finished, my comp and I were crying and I was excited to testify because I felt so much love and peace.  Silvia liked it a lot, too (even though there was still 'talk of war' haha!), but she started to get upset asking us why we were laughing (because when we were crying during the movie, we would laugh a little because we were such babies).  She went on for a couple minutes about how 'THESE ARE SACRED THINGS, are you laughing at me? My house? Curtains? I don't get it' and she was getting a little too fired up.  So I actually had to get her attention and spoke LOUDLY, 'SILVIA, listen!  LI-STEN!'  She finally stopped so I could explain what was REALLY happening and talked about the sacredness of the Restoration of Christ's gospel and, wow, I felt so much strength and tenderness as I said, 'This gospel is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME, and I LOVE IT WITH ALL MY HEART...IT's EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE!' Bam...she understood, we all apologized for the misunderstanding.  In the end, she said that she appreciates the BOM and gospel so much more now.

We were touching [knocking] doors, calling out ‘haaaalo’, and there was a lady that was sweeping for quite a while in her front yard, and I’m like, we’re just gonna go to HER, not waste time on these houses that the people are obviously home but not answering.  At first she was quiet, not very involved in the conversation, so I asked her if she was tired, can we help you with some of the sweeping? No, no, I’m fine.  Are you sure?  Ok…Do you believe in God?  Yes…then she came over and started talking more…not making eye contact or anything yet, but at least she stopped sweeping.  She ended up saying that her son died 3 years ago and she had kids still and she is interested in the gospel, because the spirit says that she should be.  Hey is your neighbor home?  I don’t know, why don’t you go check…

So we went next door, but they ended up not answering, but in the end, a girl came out.  She’s got a piercing in her lip.  She’s got purple lipstick all smeared, in her pajamas.  She apologized and said she had been sleeping because she’d been studying. We learned that she was studying kinesiology and anatomy, which I took recently.  'I loved those classes…Well, we’re missionaries and would love to visit you. Do you believe in God?'  She said she was agnostic and starting explaining a little what it is, but very calmly and mature, not trying to prove her point or anything...I loved it so much!  We ended up talking in her door for a few minutes and told her, Hey we wanna visit you!  Can we pass by now?  Claro que si! [of course].  It was so cool.  She’s got a big house, could actually feel more of the spirit knowing we didn’t have to deal with any contention with other people or other distractions…it was just us and her.  Her name is Tamara, 18 years old.  She explained so many things about her life.  I repeated what she said as I was trying to understand her beliefs correctly. In the end, I asked her, would you be willing to listen to our message and ask God if it’s true.  Yeah.  Can we pass by again and share a little bit more? Oh my gosh, it was so cool!  It was so so so cool!  We would ask her questions, but even though she doesn’t have the gospel in her life, she says a lot of thoughtful things... in her belief that all religions are good, but then has concerns about the Evangelicas.  We asked her, So what would be the ideal religion for YOU?  She talked about all the problems she had in her family (she and her brother seem to be the outcasts a little bit), but she said that, in the end, she would not trade her family for anything.  And that was really sweet!! We talked about God and trials…she said, I KNOW that He puts trials in my life, but I also know that he never, never leaves us and that it’s just our problem…we just need to learn from them .  Yes, YES!  We started to talk about baptism.  But she said it would be ‘dificil’.  Why?  Because I feel like you can’t put a date on it because it depends on one person…me!  I’m like, I LOVE YOU!  So I asked, how much are you willing to find out if this gospel is true?  Well, I’m willing.  So she agreed to follow through with assignments to read and pray, attend church, and now has a baptism date for Nov 27.  Anyways, the lesson just took my breath away in so many ways.  She’s so awesome!  And she’s willing to know…I hope she can realize that there’s ONLY ONE true church.  I think with her humility, she WILL figure it out.  She’s planning on going to church with us today, even though she lives pretty far from the church.  After that, she gave the ending prayer, and it was perfect!  So PERFECT!  I was literally in my mind thinking, Oh MY GOSH!  Again, she took.my.breath.away! 

So, the point is, I know that the mission is more of a mission when my thoughts go more toward His will, and His will is reflected by my internal thoughts (ex: oh, let’s talk to them, maybe we shouldn’t rush too much to our next appt right now)…listening to the Spirit…we cannot teach without the Spirit Alma says in D&C…and I’m completely in de acuerdo [agreement].  I know it’s true, it’s amazing. 

In this ward they assign talks and because people usually can’t do it for various reasons, one of the missionaries is assigned to fill in.  And it’s me today, so I think I’m gonna speak about following impressions to act.  And even when I mess up and don’t follow, God shows me that He’s greater than my weaknesses. 

Yesterday was Hna Neilson/Escobar’s investigator baptism and we sang and it was beautiful.  I also played the piano… I was so scared because I haven’t played in so long, I really shake, it’s horrible…I need a piano to practice!!  Anyways,

Today was very very good.  This was a great start to a new cambio, and yes, I’m staying here with Hna O and we have put a lot of metas [goals] and are trying to achieve them, along with the Christlike Attributes…the test I retook this morning showed me that I lack in a LOT of areas.  So I decided to put goals for every part of the day.  We decided to both take initiative and be a support for each other, pushing each other.  We tried it today, and it WORKED!  Our goal was 15 contacts, and we got 17.  We had 5 lessons and 5 new people to teach and 2 baptismal dates.  Like numbers don’t matter, we try not to worry about numbers during the day, but when we come home from the end of the day, it’s a little bit of a surprise at what we accomplished.  In the morning we finally left to go do exercises in these plazitas [little parks] that have exercise equipment (Chile is soooo SPECIAL!). 

We met Maria Angelica a couple weeks ago as we found Veronica (old investigator) with her twin.  They told us they had a grandson who's a missionary in Guatemala, AH! And they're Catholic.  Their mom just passed away.  We gave Maria Angelica the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and she seemed excited and interested.  We've passed by many times, no answer. Veronica's told us about Maria commenting that we haven't passed by!  They have property, so I guess they haven't been able to hear us.  So we went yesterday, prepared to yell LOUD...which we certainly had to do, then we finally heard the door open and we closed our wide-open mouths and listened for someone getting closer.  a smiley old man asked 'what do you all offer?'  Long story short, we got in, Maria An was there and also 3 young adults.  She and her husband took us to another room for peace and quiet (there was a big rivalry soccer game going on) and for 1 1/2 we saw awe and light in their faces as they asked us those classic questions and they listened to the answers.  The first one from husband Javier was (yes, you guessed it!) 'And for you guys, which is the true church?'  Lol, well, let me tell you a little story with some scriptures from your bible and you can decide for yourself!  Now, the lesson ended up being more Plan of Salvation-based because of the questions but we explained and testified of the truth and wonder of the Gospel.  We put them with baptismal dates for Nov 27.  Maria is more receptive and faithful, Javier is more unbelieving and difficult, but we can't deny the spirit we all felt.  I know that a missionary in Guatemala's prayers are being answered.   

This week has shown me that Heavenly Father wants to strengthen me in so many ways. It was a surprise for all of us that only a few had transfers this time!  Nielson-Escobar and Ortiz-Moon will continue to rock PRIMER CRUCERO WOOOOH. LOL !  We're just going to shake things up a bit to keep us going strong.  It was Hna Nielson's bday on the 20th so we attacked her with a banner and balloons and made a gringa-style mango smoothie and just enjoyed time together.  The couple they'd baptized surprised us Wednesday with a huge birthday cake with cute candles and a bomb meal aww :).  Many wishes made this birthday.  We sang 'He sent his Son' and 'When I am Baptized' as a duet first, and then the 4 of us, then ending with Hna N and me again and it was a capella (so not perfect, ya know) but the spirit was there for sure :) So sweet that baptism. 

This week nothin new, hopefully we don't die on Halloween because many people here are scared of this ´devil holiday´haha. So maybe it's really horrible here or maybe they just don't understand that it's oh so very innocent.  I laughed and awwed at all the baby halloween pics mom sent.  Oh American festive people... I love them so much.  And speaking of love, HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!  My sister is a princess according to all the latinos, and I think so too!  I be singin feliz cumpleaños for you gurlfran. Anyways, the journal and reccordings tell it all! CHAO!   Sorry for no pics except journal.

I've recently felt an increase in my faith and belief that we CAN have many miracles here this transfer together if we give it our ALL.  With more spiritual power, we're working and it will surely happen.  I feel the responsibility of helping Hna O (and ME!) become a consecrated missionary, to experience a change of heart, desire an increase of faith and humility, submitting our will to Heavenly Father.  I would welcome any suggestions to help me do that. 

OH and I love you all :)  pray for me. 

Hermana Moon