December 1, 2014
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!" and a few
"HALLELUJAHS!!!" and "AMENS!" were repeated many times throughout
my prayers this week. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, because there are
so many things to be thankful for. HALLELUJAHS, well you will see why in
the story with Liliam that follows, and AMENS because, of course, that is how
you end a prayer.
For starters, HAPPY HAPPY (belated) THANKSGIVING!!!
Thank you for all of the cute photos of you all blowing kisses to me. Just know I caught them all the way from here.
;) Since, of course, we HAD to celebrate Thanksgiving, eating and all, we
had the most delicious dinner with la familia Bustamante. Liliam made a
RICISIMO [DELICIOUS] turkey and
mashed potatoes on the side. Enrique
made the salad, and we brought the Sprite. But what is a Thanksgiving meal
without an APPLE PIE?!?! Right... it just isn’t right. So the day before, we swung by their house to
whip up a graham cracker crust apple pie, which turned out DIVINE by the
way.
OK so back up a little to 2 days before Thanksgiving. We had asked yet another time if Liliam and
Enrique would prepare to be baptized this December 13th...and again,
our inquiry was followed by, "I still don’t know!" But Enrique
did say that he would talk with Liliam and see what they wanted to do.
So now back to pie making day. As we were welcomed by BIG bear hugs from mis
ñañas, Liliam slyly asked, " Hermanas when is my baptismal date?"
We just froze. And then I said,
"December 13th, why?" She just smiled and said,
"Because it IS my baptism day! AHHHHHHHH!!!
My companion and I literally leaped and squealed for JOY!! This is where
the "HALLELUJAH!" comes in to play. She is SO excited to be
baptized on the 13th, which is the day before my comp leaves to go
home. I am still smiling....SHE SAID YES!!! Best day ever. This year I am SO grateful for the
overwhelming joy that we experience when we witness ONE SOUL come unto our
Savior.
Oh, just wait, this week gets even better...so on Wednesday,
after the hallelujah moment with Liliam, we receive a call from Gregorio
Jara. Still smiling, I answered the phone and he excitedly explained that
his best friend that he had while he was in jail, just got out and was coming
to their house. "Hermanas you need to come and teach him about God.
I have been talking to him all day, and it is amazing with the gift of the Holy
Ghost and my priesthood, when he asks me a question the words just come."
SO cool right? #convertforlife.
So on Wednesday night we entered into la Familia Jara’s
home, to find Gregorio with all of the pamphlets that we had ever given him and
his family, and of course his hymn book and his Book of Mormon sharing with his
dear friend Enrique. Enrique, like Gregorio, was wrongfully accused of a
crime and had been in jail for 6 long years.
Enrique is the most amazing 63 year old you will ever meet in your
life. Although being locked in jail for 6 years is long and lonely, he
was a beacon of HOPE to all those who lived with him in the extremely crammed
room full of those slowly losing hope.
He was especially that HOPE for Gregorio Jara.
Enrique has 2 children who are both married, but he has
minimal contact with them, and sadly his wife passed away about 5 years ago, so
it would appear like he has NO ONE. But he has never felt that way. For one, Familia Jara have taken him in like
one of their own. They have even made a
small room for him with a bed and all, in their cleaning room on the side of
their house. And two, because he is
filled with SO MUCH FAITH. He LOVED what his dear friend Gregorio shared
with him so much that he wanted to learn even more.
During our first lesson with Enrique, there was a moment of
silence, and as I was about to break it, Wendy started bearing her
testimony. She recounted that during the day she was having a hard time
with patience with her kids and with her husband. She recounted how she had humbly knelt down
and asked her Heavenly Father if she really was following his plan for
her. Wendy testified with SO much power as she declared that our prayers
can be answered, and that Enrique had said something that was an answer to her
prayer.
I LOVE seeing Gregorio and Wendy testifying and sharing the
gospel with all of their hearts. Just as Enrique was a response to Wendy’s
prayer, in turn the Familia Jara is an answer to Enrique’s prayers. When
we extended an invitation to Enrique to be baptized on the 20th of
December, we started to qualify things telling him that he could PREPARE and
when he knows that it is true, da da da....when he interrupted us and said,
"Hermanas, I am CONVINCED that this is true." WOW!
We left the little pamphlet with Enrique about the Plan of Salvation,
and he carried it around with him ALL day long…and he and Gregorio were
continually reading it ALL day long. He absolutely loved church on
Sunday. He repeated everything that was
said, not in an Evanglica [Evangelist]
way, but just to internalize everything that was said. "THANK YOU,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU" Heavenly Father for allowing us to be the
instruments in your hands to help Enrique remember who he truly is.
Prior to our life here on earth, as spirit children of our
Heavenly Father, ALL OF US, chose
the plan of our Savior Jesus Christ and we were ALL, ALL OF US taught about His gospel. We were all born with the
LIGHT OF CHRIST in us. How we act and
what we choose to do, either amplifies that light or diminishes it. As a
missionary, I truly know the power of amplifying this light. During one
of our lessons, Enrique said, "The things you are teaching me are
something I have known for a long time, aren’t they?" YES! The
Light of Christ that is found in each of us, helps us to remember who we are
(what we learned in the preexistence) and why we are here and where we are
going. The LIGHT OF CHRIST is real.
This Christmas season, I challenge you to AMPLIFY THE LIGHT
of CHRIST. This LIGHT is something that can’t be found on Pinterest or won’t
be captured in a cute vintage photo on Instagram. The Light of Christ and
THE GIFT to REMEMBER is something you can only feel with your heart. This
Christmas season help that one family AMPLIFY their vision of an eternal family. Help that one friend REMEMBER who they truly
are. It is the greatest gift that we can
give HIM this Christmas. It doesn’t matter what religion they belong to,
they were all very familiar with Jesus Christ, the Plan of Salvation and His
gospel at one point before they came to earth - they just don’t remember
it!
When you pass light from one candle to the next, the wick
will ALWAYS burn. Share your LIGHT with others and I promise you their
LIGHT will burn as well. There is no greater feeling than helping people
like Enrique, Liliam and many others AMPLIFY their LIGHT and REMEMBER who they
are. Family and friends, I am talking to you. ;) This is a call
from a representative of Jesus Christ. This
is serious. I promise this will be the greatest Christmas ever if you
will use your light to help amplify the light of others. It will be a blinding Christmas! (haha get
it? Light...is blinding!)
I adore this work. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ALL
for all of the love and support. Your love for me is truly felt every
day.
¡CHAO!
Hermana Bartholomew
Funny Story of the
Week
Hahaha. So a funny,
laughing moment for this week was when my companion and I were invited to join the
other Hermanas in our area at a FHE lesson with the guy named “Elder” and his
family, who all are named Elder, remember him? Yeah, so we were watching
the new video that the church just released "El es la Dadiva" or
"He is the Gift", when Hermana Velasquez asked a super inspired
question, "So what will you give “The Gift”, Jesus Christ this Christmas? After she asked the question, silence filled
the room and the Spirit was testifying to each one of us what we should give. Just then, our dear fellow miembro [member], Alan Caludett (who was talking
earlier about how he hates turkey) sticks his hand up and says...."I will
not kill the turkey." All four of us missionaries, and Elder´s
family just looked at him with the strangest looks - like why in the world did
that come to your mind in this spiritual moment? He quickly realized that he hadn’t received
the response he wanted, and awkwardly laughed and said "BROMA (Joke)"
and then tried to recover with a more "spiritual” answer. HAHA. Now every time we see Alan (almost daily), we
remind him of his wonderful, inspiring answer. :) Oh good times!
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