Another good week in the mission. I'm so very happy!!
We've got a baptism coming up this week! Perhaps I should back up and tell you how we found her. It was a couple weeks back, on one of those crazy days when we knew we'd be running all over the place trying to make all our visits on time. We finished one, and thinking we were late, we rushed to the other población to get to our other. The visit fell through, so I glanced at my watch to see where that put us with our schedule. I was surprised to see that we were really on time, in fact, we were early!
We went to our backup plan, but she wasn't there either, so we thought of all the people that we knew there close. Guess who came to mind? Ana Maria. We'd found her a couple weeks before, but we'd never been able to find her in her house after that. To our surprise, there were lights in the house, and there she was, just waiting for us! She accepted a baptismal date, agreed excitedly to come to General Conference, and has been so very good. She is 20 years old, has a 2 year old son, and she works and studies. She's as excited as can be for her baptism. Woohoo!
The crazy thing was that after leaving Ana's house that night, we went calmly to our next visit, knowing that we'd only spent 30 or 40 minutes with Ana. Calling at the next house, we were surprised when the woman opened the door and said "Why are you working so late? Can't you come back another day, a little earlier?" We thought to ourselves, Óh come on! It is only 8:30!" but agreed to come back another day. I glanced down at my watch, and had to look again. What?? It was 9:45!
I was more than surprised- I never read my watch wrong, but apparently that was what had happened. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways, though. It was because of that little time warp that we found Ana Maria, and also our other progressing investigator, Ana's best friend. Nicol is the only nonmember in a family of pure less actives, and she has been totally anti-missionary her whole life. She's 19, and is studying and working, and she just happened to be in Ana's house one day when we passed by to pick up Ana for a Family Home Evening. She was a bit startled at first, but we chatted with her, and she eventually agreed to come with us. Nicol is a bit dramatic, but she's very smart, very fun, and we're really good friends.
We also found a family!!! Angel, Lucy, and their grandchild/daughter Valentina. The first time we passed by for them, Angel and Vale were the only ones who talked with us- Lucy didn't want to come near us or even saludarnos. The second time, however, we brought Juntos Por Siempre ( a sweet, cheesy, Church family video. WATCH IT.) and invited Lucy to watch part of it with us, and she accepted! Their son passed away a couple years back, and she actually left the room sobbing during the video. The Catholic religion has been pretty hard on her, telling her that because her son committed suicide, God would never forgive him, and she would also be condemned as a mother for not stopping him. She and Vale came to church, but Angel was feeling sick and didn't come. We'll work on committing him better this next week! We're really excited to work with them, and we're going to put a baptismal date with them tonight.
I'm just so grateful to know such a loving Lord. I had some big prayer moments this week, and I know that He is aware of us and always answers our sincere prayers. I've been striving to know the scriptures better, and I'm always so touched by the spiritual power contained in the Book of Mormon. He is willing to forgive, He wants to show us He is there. Do the little daily things, and each week you'll find yourself a little better than before. He takes us step by step through the pathway to eternal life, and little by little, I know we'll make it there. I love you and and pray each day that you are well.
Be joyful! It is why we are here-
Hermana Oldroyd
There we are, in the office early Thursday morning. Did I mention that the bus we were going to take to Conce on Wednesday night broke down? We had to rearrange all our plans, travel to Chillan, sleep over there, and take another bus early in the morning. Whew!
Hermana Peterson has a dentist Dad that sent us vampire teeth candies! You can't really see them, but we intented to take a vampire photo after a group study session.
Want to hear about our little Sunday fiasco? Last week after church we found quite the commotion near the back of the chapel. Lo and behold, we found that a sneaky mother cat had pried open one of the windows to a supply room and given birth to three kittens amidst the folds of a Boy Scout tent. Fast forward to Saturday, when we're cleaning the church. The kittens are still there! Pondering the distraction, and a little bit of irreverence for having kittens in the chapel, we gloved up and took action.
The little trash can home that we made for them... Don't worry, we put them right outside the window and the Mom found them
No comments:
Post a Comment