Hello Hello everyone!
Wow, new week, new transfer, new companion, and we´re in a trio! And still in the same area! Woohoo!
So our new companion´s name is Hermana Kelemen! Kate Kelemen :) She´s from Provo, Utah and is super sweet and cute :) I really like her! She is tall, played basketball in highschool, and she´s just like I was in the beginning here....doesn´t know any Spanish! But, it´s all good :) I can totally relate, it´s hard! She is really great though, she has already learned alot within this last week and is very diligent and dedicated. She wants to work hard and is obedient, I think it will be a wonderful transfer.
Within the last week and a half, we have been finding so many really good potentcial investigadors! I think I told you about Paulina from Ecuador! She was a reference from the non-member son of a member named Rosa. We visited Rosa like 2 months ago and her Evangelical son was there, he was super nice but didn´t have any interest in the church. But, it turns out that his girl friend´s mom had listened to the missionaries when they lived in Ecuador. The girl friend gave us her mom´s number, Paulina....we finally got ahold of her, had a lesson with her, lost contact with her for a couple of weeks but had another really great couple lessons with her in the past 2 weeks. And she came to all 3 hours of church last Sunday! And she agreed to be baptized on Feb. 21! We were so excited! She expressed to us that when her daughter had given us her number and we had called her, she was kind of hesitant to accept the visit. But then realized that maybe we were an answer to prayer. Every time we´ve gone by she has expressed how she has been in a really weird state of trying to figure out which church is right for her and her daughter. She also feels strongly that she wants her daughter who is 7 years old to be able to choose for herself which church she feels right about. Paulina was forced to be Catholic all growing up by her mother and she has specifically talked about that everytime we´ve met with her since. She doesn´t want that for her daughter and she has expressed that she has felt the Spirit touch her heart and is so grateful that she can go to the source of all truth to ask for answers. But, she just told us also that she is officially moving! Like in a week! So, we are just really hopeful that she will continue to stick with her fecha to get baptized even though we won´t be able to be there. We´ll find out this week about everything.
We also have met the CUTEST Dominican Mom and her 2 daughters, Maria and Yelissa (8 yrs.) and Yelani (4 yrs)....wow, they have got some real potencial also! They are a good family that live by good principles and values. And you can tell when you walk in their house. Maria is honestly seeking for truth in her life and we´ve only been able to meet with them twice really quickly, but we know that they have felt the spirit and so we´re hoping to get a member to come with us to them this next week. We will see!
Also, Doli has been progressing little by little....she said she would talk to her supervisor this weekend to see if she could come to church. We have a lesson lined up with her tomorrow so we´re hopeful that she´ll be able to come. Doli also took a leap of faith to accept a fecha to get baptized on Valentines day! But, she needs to come to church in order to really progress. We´re hoping that she can see that and really have the courage to follow the Spirit she is feeling. She has such a good heart, has desires to change, and help her family make good choices. We´re really hopeful for her also.
Also, Madaii and Vivian....they are the Cubans that we´ve had the privilege to teach a little bit along with the Elders. They are planning on getting baptized Feb. 7 for Vivian´s Birthday. I am seeing just how much Satan works on those who are preparing to get baptized, who have a unshakable testimony of the Gospel....so many obstacles and challenges just get in the way and that is what is happening with Madaii right now. Vivian´s father, who is Spaniard, may or may not be making it difficult for giving permission to Vivian to get baptized as her dad. Madaii has been beside herself and trying to keep her head above water....she works 10-12 hours a day and is just in survival mode all of the time. She is a wonderful mom who wants the best for her daughter, but has just been working so hard, trying to make everything work out, trying to pay for everything that they have to pay for, being a single working mom. Satan is just really working hard on her. We had the opportunity to teach them the other night and we introduced them to The Family: A Proclamation to the World. After we read it together, Madaii began to cry and expressed that this document was an answer to her prayers. She has been feeling like Vivian needs her Father more than ever, but also has had a really bad relationship with him, because he´s not responsible and doesn´t understand his relationship with God. For that, she seperated herself from him. So, reading The Proclamation, it just gave her a clear guideline about the manner in which God wants us to live with our families and in our relationships in our marriages. My heart was full of gratitude and humility. Sometimes I don´t know how it is that Heavenly Father lets me witness or even just be a small part in someone´s life to help them. But, that was just a really sacred moment for me. To see Madaii´s conviction of the Gospel and testimony become even more firm and strong after reading the words and counsels of our living prophet and leaders of the church who speak for God. She has made an impact on my life while I´ve been here, and I hope that we can continue to help her in the way the the Lord needs for her to be helped. I feel so privileged to know her and be apart of this in seeing her progression and conversion.
I learned something really neat the other day. When Christ was crucified, we know that not only did he suffer the pain of nails in his hands and feet, but they also thrust a sword through his side to make certain that he was truly dead. To the people in the ancient Americas if anyone had a wound in their side, it was a real symbol of suffering and sacrifice. Noemi, the girl that accompanies us all the time, told us something that a member of the 70 shared with her reciently when visiting a group of young adults here during a fireside. In 3 Nephi 11:14...we read that Christ specifically told the people to "14 - Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world."
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