May 5, 2014
FAM
BAM!!!! Less than a week now and you get to see and talk to your favorite
missionary!!! J I am so so SO excited! We planned it
out this week and determined who has the best internet connection and not too
many kids so we can actually hear each other! Hope you are getting
excited! We only have 40 minutes
though, but it is better than nothing, right?!
Also, be prepared to be amazed at my companion’s English! She is preparing her testimony in English to
share with you guys!
Every
Tuesday we have our district and zone meetings and we always take a taxi
because the church building where we meet is quite far from our house. So
we always go to the main road to catch a taxi. But for some reason, EVERY
Tuesday we just struggle to try and catch a taxi. During the week we
ALWAYS have taxis honking at us and wanting to give us a ride. But not on
Tuesday mornings. One of the other
Hermana’s in our district – Hermana Teo, and I were discussing this
phenomenon. The taxi drivers only have
ONE job – to pick people up and drive them where they want to go. But on Tuesdays it seems like we always see 5-10
taxis that ignore us and continue driving.
This
last week on Tuesday, one lady finally stopped for us and she must be a new
taxi driver because she took us to the WRONG church building. Haha – just our luck though! So we were a good 20 minutes late for our
meeting, and that did not go over too well with the Zone Leaders. This next Tuesday (as a punishment) we are in
charge of treats!
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| Part of our district - the day we were late! |
Aldo
is 17 yrs old. His mother, Karina is a
recent convert. The past few weeks he
has had no desire to read the Book of Mormon or attend church. But we didn’t
give up on him. Through continuous
efforts to visit him and through frequent bearing testimony of this wonderful
Book and the importance of the Church, Aldo is now reading every day and he attended
church on Sunday! So if everything goes
smoothly he will be baptized on 17 de Mayo.
However,
this past Sunday we were worried that Aldo would not attend church. Here
is what happened: We passed by
their house to wake them up for church! As we were outside of their fence
calling "BUENAS! Buenas!" There was no answer. My poor
companion was super discouraged because antes [before] we had passed by several
other houses and none of our investigators were able to come to church.
We sadly and silently left their house and started back towards Babahoyo.
I was
broken hearted that they didn’t wake up to come to church with us. As we were walking away, I said a prayer in
my heart that one of our investigators would be able to come to church.
After ending my prayer I had the strongest impression to go back and try to wake
them up one more time. I hesitated because it was a long walk and we were
both tired from walking around and pretty much inviting the whole world to come
to church with us. J I finally stopped and told my companion we
needed to go back and try one more time to wake them up! She doubted for
a moment, and told me they didn’t want to come.
But I
was determined to have them come, so I convinced her to try one more
time. As we approached their house...MIRACLE...the door was open. This
time as we yelled “BUENAS” it was followed by Karina coming to the door and her
church clothes in hand listo [ready] to get ready for church. My cute
companion said (in English) "I LOVE YOU, Seriously!" She thanked
me for listening to the prompting to go back one more time, and gave me a huge
hug and her smile was back! She loves these people with all her heart so
when they can’t or don’t come to church she is so discouraged.
Next,
we have Familia Jaramillo - Tamara and Alfonso, who are the cutest couple
ever! Hearing they could live with their family for eternity and have the
example of faithful church members in their life brought tears to their eyes and
has given them the desire to learn more. We hope to place a fecha
bautismal [baptismal date] for 24 de Mayo.
Then
finally we have Narcisa. Narcisa had actually not been progressing, and
we were even contemplating stopping teaching her. One day this week we were sharing a
scripture with her, when out of the blue she interrupted us and asked,
"Hermanas when is my baptism?" WHAATT?! In my mind I’m
saying, “Well Narcisa, we weren’t sure if you wanted to get baptized, but it is
scheduled for the 10 de Mayo.”
Although
we always visit Narcisa at her restaurant, Galaxys (where she sells papi pollo
(fries with chicken)) and are frequently interrupted by her customers needing
to pay, we have had many sweet experiences of feeling the spirit surrounded by all
of the distractions. And...SHE CAME TO CHURCH!! And she stayed ALL
3 HOURS!! She loved it and was touched by the sweet members’ testimonies that
were shared about their conversions into the church. We love Narcisa.
This
week in my training I am learning the principle of FINDING!!! I’ve
learned a lot about how to talk to everyone and anyone about the gospel and the
importance of finding members who have dear friends that they want to share the
gospel with.
On the
subject of FINDING those who Heavenly Father has prepared for us, Hermana
Toledo and I thought of the song “One way or Another” which describes finding
perfectly!
“One
way or another
I’m
gonna find ya
I’m gonna give ya, give ya, give ya, give ya,
The gospel
Maybe
next week
I’ll
meet ya, I’ll meet ya”
Haha,
my companion and I like to describe our lives through song! We have had the wonderful opportunity of
contacting the referrals from member of the church in this area and in the
sweet experience of sharing the gospel with those you love! The famous saying JUST DO IT, applies to
missionary work! Just pray about a friend that you have that needs the gospel
and contact the missionaries, JUST DO IT! J
In the
spirit of finding, my companion shared a sweet story with me this week that she
read in the Liahona [this is the Spanish version of the church magazine]. The story was written by a guy named Aaron
West:
I Will Be Found of You
At the conclusion of our Sunday School
lesson, Sister Hart asked us to turn to Jeremiah 29. She said she would read
verses 12–14 aloud, and she asked us to ponder the meaning of the words.
“Then shall ye call upon me,” she read, “and
ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your heart.
“And I will be found of you, saith the Lord
…”
Sister Hart went on, finishing verse 14, but
my thoughts lingered happily behind, savoring the promise “I will be found of
you.” I was reminded of the times when my wife, Emma, and I played
hide-and-seek with our young children. When it was our turn to hide and their
turn to seek, we always made ourselves easy to find. Sometimes we made noises
or left a foot in plain view so they would find us quickly. Sometimes we hid in
the same place repeatedly. We wanted the children to search for us, but we also
wanted them to find us. We looked forward to their hugs and their joyful,
unrestrained giggles of triumph.
This memory deepened my understanding of our
Heavenly Father’s love for us. He wants us to search for Him, but He also wants
us to find Him—He knows how happy we will be when we do. He does not try to
trick us. Rather, He does all He can to help us know where and how to search:
He gives us the scriptures, calls prophets, listens to our prayers, guides us
by the power of the Holy Ghost, blesses us with temples and priesthood
ordinances and family and friends. And if we have found Him somewhere once, we
are sure to find Him there again if we are willing to renew our search.
“I will be found of you, saith the Lord.”
What a comforting promise! In a world where trouble and temptations seem to
find us so easily, it is reassuring to know that our greatest source of
strength is so easy to find.
As I
read this story I too reflected on memories with my siblings of playing hide
and go seek and my siblings always saying "Make a noise!" Although my
sister and I always wanted to find the BEST hiding spot, we eventually wanted
to be found. This story deepened my understanding of the LOVE God has for
us. "He wants for us to search for HIM, he also wants us to FIND
Him."
Like
in the title of the game, I encourage all of you to SEEK HIM. There is much
comfort to be found in this phrase from Jeremiah, "I will be found of
you". Our Heavenly father is looking forward to our joyful and
unrestrained hug of triumph when we are reunited once again. "SEEK
and ye SHALL FIND." You came to earth to find our Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ again. May we continually SEEK Him and look forward to
the day when we are reunited with our Heavenly father. I promise there will be no joy as sweet and exquisite
as when will rejoice together with our Heavenly Father and older brother Jesús
Christ!
Well
family and friends, I love and miss you all dearly! I can’t WAIT for Mother’s
Day - it is going to be better than Christmas!
Con
amor,
Hermana
Bartholomew
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| Fruit Stands EVERYWHERE!! |
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| Rio Babahoyo - the river bordering Babahoyo and Salto |
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