Sunday, December 8, 2013
Thanksgiving
Our thanksgiving:) Turkey sandwiches with pie and vegetables. And pizza in the evening with a member family. Ha. I was full, but it was the littlest amount of food I've ever eaten on Thanksgiving. The part that really mattered were the seven lessons we were blessed to teach that day:) Francisco, a recent convert, is happy as ever and can't stop talking about how he tries to share his belief in God with his friends at work. Marietta has been going to the Relief Society activities and finally invited us to her house to teach her. We went with a Sonia Cancino (who visited you in Utah!) and Marietta asked the perfect questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here in the earth? Where will we go when we die? I'm so grateful to know of the plan of salvation. I love teaching it to those who don't know. It's so simple and perfect! I think it surprises people when they realize that we, young women in a strange land, are so sure of the simple answers we can offer them.:) Also, Daniza approached us on the street one night last week and said, "Something inside tells me that I need to talk to you two. Call me so you can visit me." This week she came to the Relief Society activity and we taught her two times, calming her broken heart by teaching her of the healing power of Christ's Atonement. She came to church yesterday, too! In my email for the blog I talk more about Jimena's miraculous baptism yesterday.
We're working and praying hard to help our ward meet the goal of 12 baptisms this year. Counting Jimena we have 9. It's a miracle, because for the last two years, Ñuñoa 1 didn't have any baptisms at all. And like a wave, this year we've had 9! But it's not the number that counts, it's the people. And we have this goal to help us stay motivated and really do our best to bring souls unto Christ. In this final month it will be a complete miracle if three more people enter into the waters of baptism in this ward. The more specific our prayers, the more easily we can see the Lord's love and His answers. Can I ask you and the family to pray this month?for Valentina (Jimena's daughter, who said she will be baptized, she just doesn't know when), Daniza (who needs to be healed by the Atonement) and Silvana (an investigator of the other sisters in our ward, who's husband is a member and she is so close to baptism but just doesn't want to take that step).
Alma 6:6
We believe in miracles! Heavenly Father wants to bless us with them if we just have the faith and the actions to bring them about!
This was our Thanksgiving Dinner!!!!!!
With Daniela, Jimena's daughter. She's wonderfully sweet and caring! Reminds me of my little sister, only a bit shorter:)
If There is One Thing
If there's one thing I've learned on my mission it is that the Lord has it all planned out.
Everything.
For seven months we have been teaching Jimena Navarro, 45, and her two daughters. They were referrals from a member in Los Plátanos. Daniela, the 15 year old, decided to be baptized in August:) But, despite our prayers, fasts, and efforts to read the Book of Mormon with them every day, her mom and sister stopped progressing as investigators. It was a struggle to get them to come to church consistently and they always forgot to read the scriptures. So we only visited on occassion, and our enthusiasm especially diminished when Jimena told us she had decided to wait until April 20, 2014 to be baptized. She wanted give her younger daughter time to prepare and be baptized alongside her. Ok....great.
This week, while Hna. Araujo was here with me on a division, we went to teach Daniela and ended up focusing more on Jimena. Her health had improved drastically (from basically blind to seeing, from hardly walking to cruzing around without her cane) and she had come to church the Sunday before. I read a few verses in Alma 5, Hna. Araujo spoke of the protection of making covenants with God, and before we knew it Jimena exclaimed, "Yeah..¡me voy a bautizar este domingo! No voy a esperar más." If only I could recount the many moments that lead to this miracle---including Jimena's desire to be baptized at age 18, a desire which was squashed and distorted into rebellion due to her father's disapproval; a member's close frienship and doctrinal teaching all these years; Daniela's baptism and activity in the Church; answers to prayers that Jimena had received in the Gospel Principles class; the member who retiled their floor, which pleased Jimena's father to the point that he finally agreed to let us Mormons into their house; and the chance encounter of our ward mission leader in the park where he spoke to Jimena very boldly of the urgency and blessings of baptism. I'm sure this summary don't make sense, but it is proof to me that every child of God has a personal lesson plan. Each will come to know the Gospel in the special way that the Lord has planned it. I can't force it. I can't predict it. But I can be part of it. And for such a blessing I am grateful.
Isaiah 55:9"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."
In the photo: Jimena, with her daughters Daniela and Valentina, us,and the members that introduced her to the Church.:) Who do you know that could be receiving the blessings of the Gospel? Bring them to church, won't you? I promise they'll be grateful that you did. Who knows? You may end up with a picture in your scrapbook similar to this one.:)
Love,
Hermana Sharp
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