So....some fun news! I´m training again! But....even better news! Hermana Toone is staying here with me and we´re training together! We are SO excited to get to stay together again for another transfer por lo menos! We´re going to be in a Trio! Never been in a trio...it´s gonna be really different, but we´re really excited! We´ve been working so hard the last day and half since we got the call trying to organize everything in the piso for our new comp! We had to move the desks into the living room area to create another desk space and luckily we had an extra mattress and Hermana Toone volunteered to sleep on the floor with the mattress..bless her heart...she wouldn´t let me volulnteer haha!....hopefully we can get a bed frame soon for her. But, anyway...it´s going to be fun! It feels so good to clean and get all organized....seriously.....I think that´s one of my hobbies....organizing things. I know I´m a weirdo :) haha! But really, it just feels so good to organize so it´s been a good day.
Wow....every week, so many things happen. I can only pick and choose what I should write about it. But, it´s also hard, because alot of times....people who we think are really good future investigators just fall off the face of the earth and disappear. We´re hoping that doesn´t happen with some of the people we found this last week.
First off....I keep forgetting to tell you about Noemi....well, actually maybe I mentioned her, but I can´t remember. Noemi is a Spaniard member here in Barrio 8 who is about to serve her mission in Washington D.C. in March. I have never met a member of the church who is more dedicated to missionary work than her. She has taught me so much about the Gospel. I am so excited for her to be a missionary....she is going to be incredible! She literally accompanies us almost every day of the week in lessons...she just drops everything to come with us, it is amazing to me. She LOVES missionary work! She has a younger brother who is autistic and her brothers have alot of health problems too....she is always helping them with everything so the fact that she comes with us to leave them is huge. Her parents are wonderful members of the church, they were converted years ago and then met eachother after they became members of the church. An entire Spanish Family! That´s not too common! They are so converted to the Gospel and the Gospel is everything to them. Noemi isn´t working or going to school right now before her mission, so it has been perfect. Her testimony and knowledge of the Gospel is incredible. One thing I will say about Spaniards....even though there are those really stubborn Spaniards who don´t want to hear anything or talk about anything that has to do with religion or God....I feel like there is the other extreme....the Spaniards who ARE members are INCREDIBLE. Spaniards just have alot of conviction in general (no matter what topic you talk about). I don´t just say that lightly either. Noemi is the perfect example of this. She has SO much conviction and her testimony and knowledge is unchangable and undoubtable. Every time she bears her tesitmony and helps us teach, I just feel so privileged to be in the same room as her, listening to her talk and feeling of her powerful Spirit. She could probably talk some sense into the President of the United States with all that she knows when she´s in D.C. haha! But, I am really so grateful for her for her powerful spirit and what she has taught me. I hope you get to meet her someday. She is the best! She makes me want to be a greater member missionary!
This week, the elder´s baptized this guy named Edison! He is such a cute man who has been through so much in his life and has changed so much. He asked us to cut his hair before he got bapitzed and so we did! NEver cut hair before...but we did it! And we thought it turned out alright :) He told us that he wanted to be his best for the Lord and that he wanted to change everything....it was all or nothing for him. And so we helped him! It was great and he looked so good!
This week we were SOOO excited because a lady from Ecuador named Paulina, who we met with like a month ago, finally came to church! And not only did she come to church, but she stayed for all 3 hours! We met with her this last week and she told us that now she doesn´t have a job....because she´s moving in a month and so now she wants to come to church! Everyone welcomed her and it was so great! She has a 7 year old daughter too that she wants to have come next time. It was just amazing to see how Heavenly Father prepared everything for her to come! Paulina has been investigating lots of churches for a long time now and hasn´t felt like any of them have been right. She was investigating with the Jehovah Witnesses and just didn´t agree with or feel right about them. It was perfect because the super cute Cuban lady, Madaii and her 7 year old daughter who we´ve been helping too) used to be investigating los Testigos de Jehovah tambien. She got to talk to Madaii and Madaii....is just incredible. She could relate so well with Paulina and we are just so excited that they are friends now! Paulina said that she wants to be baptized too! We haven´t set a fecha yet because she´s still not sure when she´s moving and all, but we hope that everything can work out so that she can get baptized before she moves to another area! We were just SO excited!
Speaking of Madaii and Vivian (they are the ones that are getting baptized Feb. 7, when the daughter Vivian turns 8). Every Friday we´ve been going to their house to visit with Vivian....Madaii has wanted us to help her understand the Book of Mormon stories better before their baptism and the Elders that have been teaching them have been so grateful that we would go over there to help them out (I think Madaii is just really grateful to have good girl role models for her daughters...it is such a compliment to us and we love being there with them, so it´s great!)....it has been so good and wonderful to help teach them and prepare them too! But, the other night we were over there with Noemi too and wow, I felt the Spirit so strongly. Madaii is so smart. She studies and studies and studies about everything about the church. She truly is an honest seeker of truth. She knows more about the church than we do! With all of her knowledge of the testigos de Jehovah and the Church....she is just a powerful witness of truth, because she knows, she has compared and seen the difference between so many religions and with the church, and she has clearly identified the difference...the spirit that she feels that testifies of the truth here. I wish you could have heard her talk and just tell us how grateful she is for everything that the Gospel helps her understand. And I was thinking....here is this lady from Cuba...CUBA! Scary Cuba where there is so much danger and really rough things going on. She grew up there. And she understands the Spanish culture....her ex-husband was a Spaniard and she had a really hard experience with him that didn´t leave off well. Can you imagine the perspective this lady has from the things she´s seen and heard in her life. This thought and feeling just came into my mind that Madaii is and will be an incredible missionary in proclaiming truth to the world throughout her life. I know this might sound really silly and cheesy, but I just envisioned her literally standing on the right hand of God, when the Savior comes again, and I just saw her proclaiming truth to all of these people who need to hear her and need to hear her perspective and need to feel her Spirit touch their hearts. And with her understanding of what other people think and believe, she is going to be such a powerful instrument in helping others come to Christ. I just have felt so privileged getting to be a little piece in the puzzle for her, helping her see who we are, what we stand for as members of the church, and what we know. I can´t WAIT for you to meet her! YOU HAVE TO MEET HER WHEN YOU COME! They are the best.
Anyway....I´m going to sign off for today. But, we´re excited for a new week, a new transfer, a new companion! Yay! It´ll be great:) I hope you have a great week and that everything goes well for yáll!
I love you! I´m so grateful to be a missionary. I know that God lives and loves us and that the only way to be truly happy in life is to live according to the teachings of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
LOVE YOU!
Hermana Carroll
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