Monday, December 14, 2015

Dear Family,

Okay! Everyone relax. Ya I am better. I was better by Tuesday. I didnt have to go to the doctor. Everything funcions exactly as it should.

Other news, my companion got sick this week. Ha! iorny. (is that how you spell that?) She got sick with a stomache bug and has diarrhea and has to go to the bathroom a lot... The nurse put her on a diet of ONLY SOUPS. NO RICE. That means, for the both of us. Woohoo! I have a chance to get skinny again! She hates it, but I love the soup here... so I am chill. 

So, I dont know if yall have noticed by my emails, but we really dont have a lot of stuff going on here in our area... We have been working our butts off trying to find people to teach and activate members and talk to EVERYONE. We talked to more than 100 people this week in the streets... Well, after much work, we finally have an investigator that is progressing! His name is Luiz Rodriguez and he has had problems with everything! He was involved with selling drugs for awhile and he has a daughter and the mother of his daughter lives with him, but they arent together... just live in the same house for the daughter... He has had a lot of questions about God and when we passed by he was thrilled and invited us over and has been progressing ever since.. He has gone to church twice now, and he loves most of it, but the 3rd hour he is having problems with... The men in our Branch are a little special... we hope that he can look past it and that he will keep assisting. He accepted a baptism date for the 9th of January! Everything with him is going really well! I have thanked my Heavenly Father for being able to find him, and then I have asked him to help us find more people! I realize that I dont have a lot of time left, and it makes me sad, but I have this HUGE determination to go out with a bang if you know what I mean. My once in a lifetime experience is coming to an end... and right now we dont have nearly any investigators... please pray for us... I really just want to help people accept Christ and his gospel. 

I have been reflecting a lot on a story that I have heard called "Aguanta un poco mas" Its a story about a potter who was making a piece of china... and the story is told from the its point of view. It is put through all types of torture and keeps asking the potter to leave him alone, but the potter just keeps saying, "aguanta un poco mas"... 

"It is said that once in England, a couple who liked to visit the small shops in central London existed. One of those stores where they sold was an old china.
In one of his visits to the store they saw a beautiful cup. "May I see that cup?" Asked the lady, "I've never seen anything so fine as that!" When he had in his hands the cup, he heard the cup began to speak.
- You do not understand - I have not always been this cup you're holding.Long ago I was just a pile of mud. My Creator took me in his hands and hit me and molded me affectionately.
Then came the moment I panicked and shouted: "Please" ... You leave me alone ...
But my love just smiled and said ... "Hold on a little longer, it is still not time."
Then I was put in an oven. I had never felt so hot ... I asked my master if would burn, so I knocked on the door of the oven.
Through the oven window I could read the lips of my master who told me: "Hold on a little longer, it is still not time ..."
Finally the door opened, my master took me and put me on a shelf to cool me.
"That's much better" .. I told myself, but I had just refreshed me when my creator and I was brushing and painting. The smell of paint was horrible ... "I feel it drown me" ... .. "Please stop ..." I shouted to my master; but he just shook his head making a negative gesture and say, "Hold on a little longer, it is still not time ..."
At last my master stopped to paint; but this time he took me and put me again in another furnace ... It was not an oven as the first; but it was much hotter ...
Now I was sure I would suffocate ... I prayed, and I prayed to my master to take me ...
I screamed, I cried; but only I watched my creator saying "Hold on a little more, it is not yet time"
At that moment I realized there was no hope ... never would survive the oven ... Just as I was about to give up the door opened and my master took me affectionately and put me on a ledge that was even higher than the first. There he left me a moment to refresh me.
After an hour of leaving the second furnace, my master gave me a mirror and said, "Look" "This is you"!
I could not believe it! That could not be me! What I saw was beautiful. My master told me again: "I know it hurt being beaten and molded by my hands; but if I had left as you were, you would have dried. I know I caused a lot of heat and pain be in the first furnace, but not have put you there, you probably would have crashed.
I also know that you paint fumes caused a lot of trouble, but not having painted your life would be without color. And if I had not put in the second oven, you would not have survived long, because your hardness would not have been enough to subsistieras.
"Now you are a finished product!" "You are what I imagined when I started to form! Only. Now you will enjoy life more. "
It might have a few errors, because it is translated to English, but this story is adorable to me. 
I think about the video that the church made about the gardener.. how he cut him down so that he could become more... but this story is a little different. The little china piece was put through so much, so that he could become something beautiful. Sometimes, we dont see how the trials in our lives are affecting us, sometimes, we cant see the good that comes from them, but the Master does see it all. He knows it all. He starts with the end in mind. If we trust him, we will become something more beautiful and precious than we have ever imagined, definitely more than if we were to try and do it ourselves. During this Christmas season we can all reflect on how God makes us better people, if we do what he asks, trust in him, and hold on, we become His. We become what he wants us to be. 
I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful week and that you can enjoy every moment. You are always in my prayers. May the spirit of Christ touch you all this Holiday Season! 
With all my love, 
Hermana Eardley

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