Wednesday, June 5, 2013

June 4, 2013 - No es facil, pero vale la pena!



Our Zone at Temple Day!

Our district-Seattle Temple Day-Washington is so beautiful!

Hola Todos!!
Okay, so I apologize ahead of time, we had a temple trip today, and so our p-day is even more crunched than usual.
Wow, once again, this week has been packed full of miracles. That's a word that we use A LOT here in this mission. And I honestly don't think I ever appreciated the meaning of that word as much as I do now.
This past week has been all-together exciting, stressful, emotional, hard, exhausting, crazy, long, humbling, eye-opening, and as always so rewarding.
We found so many amazing, prepared people this week. We had several lessons that were awesome, and then of course there was Justina's baptism.
I'll start by saying this. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, (the person to fill the font forgot, no one from the branch was there until 8:30, we didn't bring a towel, two people from the program forgot, and more) but she had no idea, and so in her eyes it was perfect, and that's really all that matters. Thursday was the day before her baptism, and she wanted to go on a tour of the font. So we took her to the stake center, but there was a last minute baptism going on. So we decided to stay for that. It was in English, but we figured the spirit and seeing how it's done would be helpful. So, it turns out that the girl being baptized is Terrified (that's an understatement) of water. So getting her in the font was total chaos, and then, her leg came up because she was flailing, and so she had to do it again....well, you can imagine how that went over. It was so bad. AND it was in another language, so she had no idea what was happening. I was sitting there just praying that Justina would have peace, and still want to be baptized. Well, the church is true.... because she was baptized on Friday night, and it was one of the coolest experiences. She was a little jittery, but as soon as she came out of the water, she was GLOWING. She started crying, and we sat there and hugged her as she just explained that everything was perfect. She bore the greatest testimony afterwards and the spirit was incredible!
She was confirmed on Sunday, and is already the cutest little new member ever! She's already making plans to go to the temple and do work for her family.
OUR FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!
(although she rarely smiles for pictures, but she is literally the happiest "abuelita" ever!!)



All this week, the only thing I could think of was how lucky I am to be a part of this work. I literally feel like I have done nothing. I know that I haven't. This is the Lord's work, and that's the only way anything ever gets done. I'm just the "mailman". I deliver the message in my simple way, and then it's between them and the Lord what happens next. I know that's true without a doubt, people tell me all the time "Oh, your Spanish is so good!" and I know that sometimes it's members lying to me, but more than that I know it's the spirit. I was reading in Preach My Gospel about Brigham Young's conversion, and he said something along the lines of "Hearing it from educated, eloquent men would not have convinced me of the truth. But when I heard it from a simple, faithful, humble servant of the Lord, it made all the difference." I know that sometimes the Lord really does call the weak things to confound the wise. I'm a living example of that. I have so many "disabilidades" and things I need to work on. And it amazes me that fresh-out-of-high-school boys, and young, sometimes immature young women, can be given the tools they need to become effective teachers of this gospel. THAT, is a miracle. 
I still haven't heard anything about visas. It's hard going day to day not knowing where I'll be tomorrow. But I'm working hard to make my time here count. I know that I was meant to be HERE, in Kent, WA. I have so much love for the people here. The stories I hear and the people I meet, whether they decide to accept the gospel or not, have changed my life. Every day is such a blessing, and when I really take the time to kneel down and name them all it amazes me. I don't deserve everything that I've been given, but I'm going to work my very hardest to show my gratitude. It's hard, and there's no way I can ever even attempt to "repay" my Heavenly Father and Savior for all that they've done for me.
No es facil, pero vale la pena! (it's not easy, but it's worth it.) It's my catch phrase :) and I believe it with todo mi corazon. it WILL be worth it. 
I love you all so much. I hope that all is well. You are in my thoughts and prayers constantamente. 
Con Mi Amor,
Your Hermana C



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