I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!
permiso... haha. So it was just an incredible week. I'm exhausted, sunburned, sore and happier than i have ever been ever. haha. Such is the life of a missionary. :)
So... first of all, Alicia who is going to be baptized on Sunday (AH!) is just the perfect woman ever! She's in the middle of the picture with the family. :) So, last week, we went by on Wednesday to give her the second to last of the two lessons we needed to finish up. And when we walked in, the environment was just really gloomy and sad. We found out that Teresa's daughter, Pia, who was born 3 months early, is like 6 months behind in her development. She's a year old, and by now should be crawling, standing, and even talking a little. She's going to need some therapy to be able to catch her up or she'll be behind forever. Teresa was just heartbroken. :( And exasperated. she didn't know where to even start looking for the kind of therapist that does this kind of stuff. So we told her that we would start a fast with her on saturday so that she would be able to find a doctor and that Pia would get better quickly.
Then we finished up the lessons in the next 2 days, and on sunday we went to pick them up to take them to church with us. Teresa's husband wasn't ready to go, and he didn't want to come. (he's a less active member, but they're not for real married, so she has just been waiting so that she will be able to get baptized.) But she was like, well i'm going and im taking the kids with me. so she got all of the kids ready to go, and when we got there, they all just looked so beautiful and i was just beaming. As we walked to church, and I held both of her little kids' hands, I was just bursting with joy. I don't remember a time when i was that happy in my entire life. Just to be able to know that this family is going to be eternal. yeah, Jose is going to take some more work. But they know what they want. And we are the tools to be able to give it to them.
Then, we passed by later to take a picture to be able to put in the program for Alicia's baptism, and they told us that the kids LOVED primary and that they never wanted to leave and are so excited to go back next week. :) And then, the most incredible part of the story... Teresa told us that she found an old friend in our ward named valeska that she knew from years ago. Valeska has a son who was born 3 months early, and has the same problems as pia. so she gave teresa all of the information she needed and all of the doctors she needed. I started to cry. It was just so incredible to know that Heavenly Father had answered our fervent prayers. We hadn't even finished our fast when our prayer was answered. I love this family so much, and I am going to do everything possible to help them become an eternal family. I have never been more committed to someone in my life. haha. ah. i love being a missionary. :) pray for them for us, will you? The Chandia family.
I also got to go on splits with hna nielsen this week. :) it was one of the best days i've had on my mission. It was a really needed night for both of us, because we talked about all of the trials and struggles we've had so far on our missions, but also we talked about the ways that we've grown and the strengths that we've discovered within ourselves. She told me that if I could only see the missionary that I am, I wouldn't be worried about if I'm doing my job. she always makes me feel so good. .) And then as we both shared our testimonies, we just realized how incredible it is to be here on missions. She helped me realize, once again, how incredible this work is. And how much I truly love it. And how much I love my savior. I was so grateful to have had the chance to be with her for a day. I hope we get to do it again. :)
We found 2 incredible new investigators this week. Mariana and Rodolfo are a family that moved here from brazil about a year ago, and they've been contacted by the missioanries a few times, but they could never get ahold of them again. The questions they asked us were like the ones written in preach my gospel, and as we shared the message of the restoration with them, and asked them questions about what they are searching for and if they've ever wondered why there are so many churches on earth, they just ate it. I've never seen someone so hungry to know the truth. We invited them to be baptized, and they said that they would. :) And they were so excited to start reading the book of mormon. :) the only bummre is that they didn't end up coming to church yesterday. but we have another appointment with them on wednesday, so we'll help them. :)
And then simon, who was a street contact about 3 weeks ago. I actually didn't remember his face at all. But our plans fell through, so we went to pass by his house to see if he was there. before asking if we could come in, he buzzed us up. and we taught the restoration to him too. the spirit just flooded the room as we started to talk about joseph smith. and when i invited him to be baptized, he was so sure that that was what he wanted to do. we told him that if he reads the book of mormon, he will find the answer to his question of if this church is true. he told us that ever since we talked to him the first time, he has been anxious to continue investigating because he feels like this is the right path. I left the lesson absolutely awestruck. He even said a perfect closing prayer. wow... the lord truly prepares people for his gospel. we just have to be diligent in searching for them. :)
we also did a service project to help someone build a house this week... well, we started to anyways. it crumbled in the earthquake, so we just cleaned up all the trash in the dirt and tried to smooth our the floor and stuff. Then we found out that he doesnt really own it... so we couldn't stay and help him actually start building the house. i was so bummed. i have been waiting my whole mission to be able to build a house. haha. it felt like fake service. oh well. i love helping people. so even if it was fake, i still felt good. haha.
anyways, those were the great events of the week. :) I hope you enjoyed them. I did. We're working crazy hard here. And just seeing miracle after miracle. Our ward is increasing, our investigators are progressing, our less actives are trusting us and starting to come back to church... I just love being a part of this work! haha.
sorry that your week won't be as cool as mine... but enjoy it anyways. eat lots of stuffing for me. and gravy. that doesn't exist here... haha. i love you all so much!
hermana spencer.
ps, i also got to see hermana fuentes this week. :)
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