March 23, 2015
“In his own time, and in his own way, the Lord will bring
about his miracles.”
Another week has passed, WHAT?!?!
Well let’s just say that I am IN LOVE with Buena Fe and
everyone in it!!! I truly feel the love of our Savior for them and I just
want to hug everyone once I meet them...well girls only of course! Here they call it “the Hermana Bartolomé hug.” When the time comes to leave this area it
will be called “the hug that Hermana Bartolomè gave me, and she almost squeezed
me to death!" ;)
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| He was flirting up a storm with my comp. Haha parrots! |
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| BLAH-CUT and BartholoME-OW |
Last week I introduced you to Andreina and Jairo. Familia Romero are seriously THE
greatest. We assigned them to read in the Book of Mormon from 3 nefi 11,
just until the end of the chapter, but they loved it so much that during the
week they kept reading and have read all the way to Ether chapter 3. They
will probably finish reading the entire Book of Mormon before they even get
baptized. This week we made a Baptism
Plan with them - a calendar that shows when we are going to teach them, activities
in the ward, General Conference, etc. (It
is so weird to think that a year ago I was in the CCM in Mexico City watching
General Conference the weekend before coming to Ecuador...sniffle sniffle.)
We also planned on this Wednesday to go and talk to the
notary `peeps to see how much money it is to get married and WHEN. Pray
for Team BLAH-CUT and Bartolomè that we can soften the hearts of lawyers and
the people in the government marriage office.
This past weekend we had stake conference and we had a special
meeting with the Stake President and President Riggins with all those who were recently
baptized or who are investigators, and they all LOVED it. Afterwards the
stake had stacks of Liahona magazines from the past year available for everyone
that wanted them. All of these recent
converts and investigators definitely took one from each month. They were all like kids on Christmas morning
with the pile of Liahonas.
OH and I forgot to tell you, Andreina and Jairo work at a
banana plantation where they send bananas to ALL different parts of the
world. Jairo does all the heavy lifting of picking bananas off the trees
and sending them on the cart, and then Andreina puts the little stickers on the
bananas that say FROM ECUADOR. They gave me SO many stickers, each one is
different depending on where in the world the banana is being sent. Next time you are eating a banana look at the
little sticker and just know that our investigadores made it possible for that lovely
fruit to be in your hands. ;) .
I don’t think I told you all about Mabel Bermeo?! No?!
Tranquilos, les explicarè. [Relax, I will
explain it to you] Mabel is the most eager investigator I have ever
had, which I love. She always has a question about what we are teaching,
not in the matter of doubting but of wanting to know more. She has 2
kids; Leonardo is 5 years old and Domenica is 1. She really wants to get
married and her fiancé does as well, but sadly he is hardly ever home because
he is always working.
The first time we met Mabel she expressed concern for her
daughter Domenica, who now has been sick for a month with a cough, sore throat,
and fever. Not wanting to eat is the
daily routine for poor Domenica and the medicines that the doctor has
prescribed are too expensive for their budget (she was also diagnosed with
anemia). Long story short, Mabel was never able to attend church because
her daughter always woke up on Sunday mornings with a fever. :(
One day we felt impressed to share the following scripture
with her from the Book of Mormon...
“For if there be no
faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he
showed not himself until after their faith….Yea, and even all they who wrought
miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also
those who were after.” Ether 12:12,16
We promised Mabel exactly what it says in this verse.
Miracles exist today, IF we have faith. We told her that IF she would
come to church on Sunday, her daughter would get well. After making her
this promise, I could see that something was troubling her and she looked like
she was on the verge of tears, so I asked if she felt alone. She just
looked at us and started to cry as she expressed how hard it was to practically
be a single mom with her daughter SUPER sick, etc.
I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. In that moment I had the privilege of bearing
testimony to Mabel that we should never feel alone. God is always with us. We then invited
her to kneel in prayer with us. With
tears in her eyes, she said a beautiful prayer and pleaded with ALL her heart
that her daughter would get better. She
added at the end, “if it be your will.” An
Apostle once said something to the effect that faith is real, and there is
nothing more powerful than the prayer of a faithful mother, pleading for her
children.
Our ward mission leader, Brother Loor, who had accompanied
us to our lesson, offered to give Domenica a priesthood blessing and also give
Mabel a blessing of comfort. Domenica started screaming and crying when
Hermano Loor pulled out the consecrated oil to anoint her head. She thought it was a needle, and from the
sound of her screams she really doesn’t like needles. But after she
realized it was just a little oil on her head, she smiled and sat on her mom’s
lap quietly during the blessing. The
spirit was SO strong, and we each received the confirmation that Domenica will
be ok.
Afterwards Mabel thanked us with empanadas and some herbal
tea. At that moment, the beginning of
the miracle was manifest when Domenica smiled for the first time in weeks and
ate a whole empanada and wanted another. Mabel was SO grateful and
overwhelmed that her daughter had been healed.
She had witnessed a miracle.
On Sunday, Hermana Blacutt and I also witnessed a miracle. As we were on our way to the church, Mabel
called us asking where we were, telling us we were going to be late to
church. She LOVED church, but was super
bummed when she couldn’t take the sacrament because it was Stake Conference and
not a normal sacrament meeting. She also
stocked up on Liahonas and is very anxious to attend church again next
week!
Family I know with all my heart that...“In HIS own time, and
in HIS own way, the Lord will bring about his miracles.”
Jesus was once approached by a man with a son who had been
sick since childhood (with an evil spirit possessing him). The man said to Jesus, “if thou canst do any
thing, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to the man, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believeth.” With tears, the man cried out in reply, “Lord, I
believe, help thou mine unbelief.”
There are BIG miracles and small miracles, but they all
depend on our FAITH and they all come from HIM. If you ever think your
faith is too insignificant to receive a miracle in your life, start by letting
the desire work in you, so you can ASK for Him to help you believe.
Miracles will never cease because the heavens are open to all those who
believe.
May we all recognize the miracles in our lives.
I love you all SO much, have a miraculous week!
Hermana Bartholomew
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| Yes - the BEST brownies EVER |
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| Brownies and Ice Cream!! |
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