December 22, 2014
Hola Family!
May I have a drum roll please.....introducing my new
companion, BABY VILCHEZ!!!!! She comes all the way from PERU (which in
reality isn’t that far from here). I absolutely ADORE mi hijita linda [my beautiful little daughter]!!!!!
She has taught me SO much within these past 5 days, she is incredible.
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| With my new hijita Hermana Vilchez |
So let me tell you the quick story of how I met mi hijita...after
Hermana Perez left on Tuesday, I was in a trio with Hermana Alcazar and Hermana
Velasquez until Wednesday morning. On
Wednesday, we needed to be at the temple in Guayaquil at 5:45 am to attend a
session there at 6 am. (This was just
for the new missionaries and the trainers.)
Well, thinking like the smart missionaries that we are, the
night before we called a taxi (Raul – the driver who loves the Titanic song? Yeah,
him.) and asked him to come by our house at 5 so we could be there on time. And of course, we set 4 different alarms so
we would get up on time. So 5:10 rolled around and Raul was at the door. We still don’t understand why, but he never
knocked on the door or rang the doorbell he just sat in the car until 5:25 and
then left. At that same exact time, we all sprung up and yelled WHAT TIME
IS IT?! NOOO!!! We have exactly 15 min to shower, get dressed, and
look cute for the first picture with the baby!!! AHH no.
Our Heavenly Father blessed us with time and a member Alan (we
woke him up with the billion calls we made to his phone) and he took us to the
temple and we got there at about 6:25 am. But luckily President Riggins was
still there waiting for us. Let’s just say we will never get up late
again!!!! I walked into the temple waiting
room and looked at the room full of new missionaries with their faces beaming with
both excitement and the nervous looks of apprehension that would surely last
throughout all the day. Can I just say that I love the temple and I am so
grateful for the peace and guidance I received that day!
After the temple session we all went to the President’s
house and on the drive there, I had three sweet new American missionaries in
the taxi with me. We all got to share
our testimony with the taxi driver, and it reminded me of what it was like when
I had just arrived in Ecuador and didn’t understand anything that people were
saying! Good times!
At President’s house we sat and talked, and talked, and
talked about all the rules....then it was time to be introduced to which of the
new missionaries my new companion was. BABY VILCHEZ!!!!!!!!
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| The trainers with our new companions |
We both
could not stop smiling and hugging. She is the absolute greatest.
Oh I hope she will come to love me as much as I love my mamÃ
Hermana Toledo and as much as I already do love her.
One day this week, we were studying together and I noticed
that something was bothering her, so I asked her if everything was ok.
She began to cry and of course just needed a mommy hug. She then
explained to me that her mother tragically passed away 5 years ago, and that now
her father is very sick and she was worried that something would happen with
her dad. I was at a loss for words.
With tears in both of our eyes, we both went up to our bedroom and knelt
down by our beds and she asked me to offer the prayer. The power of
PRAYER is real. We both felt comforted and our testimonies edified that
truly our Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us and that familias are
eternal. We ended the prayer with puffy eyes and tear stained faces, and she
told me, “I don’t have my mom right now, but I am SO grateful that you are my
mamà for now.” AWWWW!!! I can’t wait for you all to meet her!
So last week I told you about our fundraiser for Familia
Leon’s marriage license. The good news is
that we raised enough money! The bad
news is that they couldn’t be baptized because they weren’t able to get
married. Long story short, they are waiting for a few more legal papers
to be processed. We are hoping and
praying that they can get married this week, and have rescheduled their baptism
for this coming Saturday. They are an amazing family and they are so anxious
for their baptism.
But great news....DANIELA WANTS TO GET
BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! She was at the beach all week so we couldn’t teach her,
but she came home so she could attend church!!! YAY! We went to her house
with the plan of teaching her how to recognize her answer that this is the true
church AND we were planning that Hermana Vilchez could invite her to be baptized.
When we arrived she tells us...“Well, I made my decision. I have been
praying ALL week and I have felt it is true and when I was with the young women
today in church it just felt right. I want to be baptized this week!”
WAHOO!! (I literally raised my arms up in the air, I was so happy) :) Afterwards, mi hijita was joking around and said
that Daniela was just waiting for her to come here so she could be
baptized.
Enrique couldn’t come to church because he was still out of
town with his family, but he will be back next week!
Well, honestly training is HARD but it is SO
rewarding. This work, and seeing all of these families progress toward
baptism is what makes me SO happy.
I have so much more to tell you all, but we will just have
to wait until Christmas!!!!! I can’t wait to see all of your bright shining
faces. Just know that mine will be
brighter - not only because I am so happy, but because the sweat will be gleaming
off my face! I love and adore you all so much!
HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
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| Feliz Navidad! |
Con Amor,
Hermana B
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| Eating Fish for Sunday Lunch!!!!! YUM! |
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