Dear Family,
So just a quick shoutout to the Birthday Girl of the week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKLYN! I love you so much and you are growing up so fast! I hope your birthday is wonderful and all you hoped it would be. I will be with you in spirit. Stop growing up please. I love you girl!
So this week was a week of firsts...
First of all, imagine this. We were sitting on a bench waiting for a lady to bring us our clothes (we didnt have time to pick them up the day before) and I am sitting there, looking at my nails, I look up, and see a man dressed completely in a full body devil suit walking past. He stops abruptly, right in front of me, turns to face me and does this pose where his legs and arms are squared... then keeps walking. I was in shock for about 3 seconds, then was like, "Hermana where is my camera!!!!" ... we anxiously waited for the clothes and then when we got them we hurried off to the park (because Hermana Barraza was pretty positive that is where he would be) well, we got there and there were 2! It was so cool.. they just went around dancing in front of people and they also had whips and they were whipping people too (which is not cool)... so we stayed pretty far away, but we were able to get some pictures from a distance...
So, we were supossed to leave for David this past week, but we decided that we would do exchanges instead. So my companion left for David and I stayed in our area with Hermana Hendley... so right after we exchanged we left and started walking to a lesson and it began pooring rain, and actually got a little cold... then later that day within 30 minutes I went from completely fine to a headache, inflamed throat, and a fever of 103.1. It was horrible. Hermana Hendley and I had no idea what happened, but when my companion came back she said that I had something called "resfriado" and I have no idea what that is, but apparently its common here and vitamin c helps a lot with it. So I havent felt great the past few days, but its getting better, no se precupe. Also, when I was with Hermana Hendley I was able to direct the taxi and the bus for the first time which was so much fun! and people told me that my spanish was perfect! I think they were all just suprised because I am super white...
Also, we have this investigator named Dinora and she has a son that refuses to smile at me.. every time we visit them he just gets super silent and yesterday he SMILED AT ME! Day=made.
So I am always trying to think of new, fun ways to teach doctrines and scriptures to investigators and members, especially those who are younger, and I have one called "Bury you Sword". I use Alma 24 to explain the story of when the Anti-Nefi-Lehis burried their swords as a convenant to God that they wouldnt kill anymore and the faith that they had to keep their convenant, then I give them a piece of paper and ask them "what is your sword?" or the thing that is prohibiting you from coming closer to God. It could be a sin, a bad habit, maybe an excuse they have to no go to church, who knows, but I have them write it on the piece of paper (no one but them reads it) and then we go outside their front door and literally bury it in front of their house. Then I tell them, "this is your covenant with God that you are not going to do this thing anymore" and also its in front of their house so they cant forget about it. I would like to challenge each one of you to read the chapter and do the same, you would be suprised how effective it is.
We had a super spiritual lesson with a recent convert that we have. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and how everyone has a purpose on this Earth, it was going great and the spirit was super strong, then he asked us, "Should Judas Iscariot be punished for what he did?" At first we were like, huh? But he continued, "Jesus had to be crucified and the purpose of Judas was to betray Jesus, so, if God gave him this purpose, should he be punished for fulfilling that purpose?".... well, we were both a little thrown off, but we decided to explain to him that we all have a purpose, someone God wants us to become (he never wants us to become something bad), but we can use our agency to choose differently. This didnt satisfy him, so we told him we would study it and get back to him. If yall have any insights on this, I would love to hear it.
This week I also studied a lot about trials. I was in 2 Corinthians chapters 1 to 3 and I came to a realization that God puts us through trials to bring us closer to him. When we get comfortable in life we can see through the scriptures that people start to forget about their Heavenly Father, I think that he gives us trials to help us grow closer to him and learn to rely more on him. It gives my trials a new meaning when I think about it like that. I can honestly say that, yes, I am grateful for the trials he has given me because I know that they are what are going to help me stay close to him. He never gives us something we cant handle, but I think sometimes its just hard enough that we need his help and comfort so that we can be strengthened through him and be reminded that he really is there. And I absolutely know that he is there.
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