January 12, 2015
MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!!! Not sure if you all knew this,
but your life story is written in the Book of Mormon. But don’t worry
because mine is too! Our life this week can be summed up in reviewing the
story of Nephi and his brothers going back to Jerusalem to get the Brass
Plates. Just like the saying, “the third
time’s the charm”, it was on the third try when Nephi fulfilled his mission in
the scriptures, and that was also true in the life of Hermana Bartholomew and
Hermana Vilchez this week.
FIRST TRY:
In the scriptures: 1
Nefi 3:13 - “And behold it came to pass that Laban was angry, and thrust him
out from his presence and he would not that he should have the records. Wherefore, he said unto him: Behold thou art
a robber and I will slay thee.”
In the Book of the Hermanas - Bartholomew & Vilchez:
And behold it came to pass that the lawyer was angry, and thrust the
missionaries out from his presence and he would not that he should have the
Leon family’s documents of divorce and identity. Wherefore he said unto them, behold ye art
representatives of Jesus Christ and strive to help others, but I will not give
you the documents. (Luckily, he didn’t tell us that he would slay us! Thank heavens we live in a different time
period, que peligro! [how dangerous])
Nefi´s response: 1 Nefi 3:15-21 “But behold I said
unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto
our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord
hath commanded us…And behold it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these
records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers….And
it came to pass that after this manner of language did I persuade my brethren,
that they might be faithful in keeping the commandments of God.
Hermana Vilchez y Bartholomew´s response: But behold we said
unto them that as the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go downtown to
write letters to our fathers in the cyber café next to the ice cream shop,
until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us…that is
to help Familia Leon get married. #keepingthelawofchastity And behold, it is wisdom in God that we
should obtain the documents of their divorce that we may preserve them, and
carry them unto the registro civil [civil
register]. And it came to pass that after this manner of language did
we persuade Familia Leon that they might be faithful in keeping the commandants
of God, especially the law of chastity.
SECOND TRY:
Nefi´s second try: 1 Nefi 3:22-26 “And it came to pass that we went down to the
land of our inheritance, and we did gather together our gold, and our silver,
and our precious things….and we went up again to the house of Laban. And it came to pass that when Laban saw our
property and that it was exceedingly great, he did lust after it, insomuch that
he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our
property. And it came to pass that we
did flee before the servants of the Laban and we were obliged to leave behind
our property and it fell into the hands of Laban.
Las Misioneras´second try: And it came to pass that
when the lawyer saw how much it now costs to get married, and that it was exceedingly
great, he did lust after it, insomuch that he sent us to find money, and his
buddies at the registro civil did also, that they might obtain the amount of
money needed to obtain the marriage certificate. And it came to pass that we did flee before
the members of the ward selling cupcakes and we were obliged to leave behind
our earnings and it fell into the hands of the lawyer.
THIRD TRY:
For Nephi – 1 Nefi 3:29 - After fleeing into the wilderness,
dejected and ready to give up, an angel appears to Nephi and his brothers and
says, “Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again and the Lord will deliver Laban
into your hands.”
1 Nefi 4:1-7 Nephi then said “And it came to pass that I spake
unto my brethren saying, let us go up again unto Jerusalem and let us be faithful
in keeping the commandments of the Lord, for behold he is mightier than all the
earth then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea or even then his tens
of thousands? Therefore let us go up;
let us be strong like unto Moses…now behold ye know that this is true, and ye also
know that an angel hath spoken unto you, wherefore can ye doubt? Let us
go up, the Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy
Laban. And I was led by the Spirit not
knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth.”
For the Hermanas – There was a long night with many tears
and praying unto the Lord for Heavenly Aid....And it came to pass that we spoke
unto Familia Leon, and we convinced the zone leaders to let us go up again unto
the registro civil, and to let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of
the Lord. For behold, He IS mightier
than all the laws in Guayaquil, then why not mightier than the lawyer and his
fifty people that told us that Victor and Jessica can’t get married without
this ONE document? Yea even mightier
than the tens of thousands of dollars that they asked for (OK, it really wasn’t
that much, it just seemed that way to the poor missionaries :)).
The Hermanas then said, “Therefore let us go up. Let us be strong like unto Moses. Now
behold, we knew it was true, and we also know that the Lord has spoken unto us,
wherefore could we doubt? Let us go up, the Lord is able to deliver us,
even as other missionaries, to destroy the plan of Satan against marriage.” And the Hermanas were led by the spirit not
knowing beforehand the things which they should do. Nevertheless they went
forth.
THE MIRACLE
For Nephi: 1 Nefi 4:7 “Behold the Lord delivered him (Laban)
into my hands. Yea, and therefore I did obey the voice of the spirit, and
took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own
sword.” (And he got the Brass Plates.)
For the Hermanas: (FYI, no one was killed at the conclusion
of our story :)) Behold the Lord hath
delivered a nice clerk at the registro civil into our hands who had witnessed
our 1st and 2nd attempts.
Yea, and therefore we did obey the voice of the Spirit. And it
came to pass that angels were present that day.
The hand of the Lord was present and we were able to see the fruits of
our labors. The nice clerk told us, “I
have seen you all here now 3 times. You must
really want to get married, huh? You are missing a document, but I will
allow for you to get married on the 8th of January, as long as you bring me the last
document that is missing on Friday. Congratulations!”
WAHOOO!!!!!!!! We know that the Lord hears our prayers
and that MIRACLES do happen.
So family, the lesson here is that...THE THIRD TIME’S THE
CHARM! On January 8th at 4:30 pm, FINALLY, Victor and Jessica Leon
were married for this life only, BUT they are anxiously excited to add “and for
all eternity” to their marriage. Those
words will come in one short year when they are sealed in the temple.
Jessica even asked us to be her bridesmaids for her sealing!
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| Victor & Jessica Leon on their wedding day - January 8, 2015 |
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| LtoR: Hna B, Jessica, Domenica, Victor, Hna Vilchez |
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Mi hijita and I were the only ones that followed through
with the CRAZY PIC!!
We were just so excited, weirdness came out!
|
This HAPPIEST day of our lives was soon topped by their
BAPTISM DAY on Saturday, January 10th!!!!! Satan did
all he could to stop it - RAIN storm, NOBODY had keys to the church, GRASSHOPPERS
that filled the halls of the church, baptism clothes that DID NOT fit very
well, and to top it all off, the E string on my VIOLIN broke while tuning....OH
but we prevailed! Victor, Jessica and
their adorable 15 year old daughter Domenica all entered the waters of
baptism. Daniela Claro was also baptized
on Saturday, with HER MOM watching, who afterward thanked us for the happiness
that has filled their home with the spirit of LOVE and excitement for her
baptism.
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| 5 People - Rejoicing Evermore! LtoR: Hna Bartholomew, Domenica, Jessica, Victor, Hermana Vilchez |
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| THE cutest 16 year
old on this planet, who actually looks and acts older than I do, jaja. Baptism Day for Daniela Claro - January 10, 2015 |
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Our adorable converts with Bishop Ayala
Helping grow Barrio
Primavera one baptism at a time! :)
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The other Hermanas also had a baptism of a girl named Prisila
on Saturday, who was also truly prepared to hear this gospel. Sadly,
Hermana Valasquez and Hermana Alcazar BOTH had cambios [transfers] today so we are now in charge of our area AND
theirs! Bring on the stress. ;) Like our lovely neighbor Monica
said..."Families are eternal....companions aren’t." :( So we will be gaining even MORE investigators
this week, and some are even ready to be baptized. I will update you all on all the changes next
week!
One last update – the Jara’s friend Enrique couldn’t come to
church on Sunday, so his baptismal date has been moved to the 25th,
but he still carries his Book of Mormon, and ALL the pamphlets we have given
him, everywhere he goes. He won’t be a
Mormon Seco for too much longer. :)
Well to conclude our little Scripture-like story....
AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT WE REJOICED EVERMORE!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Hermana Bartholomew
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