Just
so it's out there.... I'M HALFWAY THROUGH MY MISSION!!!!!! Who knew
this day would come? (rhetorical question, thank you! =) ) AH! =D I
CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!
Ok, now that that's out, ¿qué pasó esta semana pasada?
What happened this past week?
The most exciting news for me is that we put two people on date!!! On our first day here, we met a woman at a relief society activity who seemed very nice and I just really liked her, so I struck up a conversation. I asked her a few basic questions like ¿de dónde es usted? (where are you from?) y ¿cuántos años atrás conoció la iglesia? (how long ago did you join the church?) She laughed a bit and then said that she's not a member. The other women in the room also laughed because they knew that before I started a conversation with her. One woman commented "she's not going to be baptized any time soon" and I kinda went "Hmph! We'll see about that!" in my head. For me, I believe firmly that our attitude strongly affects our actions and if we think like that then we are not going to act as resolutely to help this woman.
Anyways, we finish speaking with this woman, Alina, and head about our week. At church on our first Sunday here, we decided to divide and conquer after sacrament meeting and talk to as many people as possible. (Of course we stayed in sight and sound =) ) I went off and spoke with a few members and set up appointments with them and then went to look for my companion to see how she was doing. (Now, we also did this so that she could practice her Spanish without me there for her to rely on; a little brutal? Maybe. Extremely helpful? Absolutely!) She had found her way to the woman we had met that past Wednesday, Alina, and her family. They were talking when I approached and Hna. WiRepa had just finished setting up an appointment with them. Apparently I'm not the only one who enjoys a challenge =)
I believe we had set up the lesson for Tuesday and all four of us missionaries went to their house so that Alina and Maria would be comfortable with us. We decided then that all four missionaries would come back to teach the Plan of Salvation on Thursday. As such, Thursday came around and all of us were there to teach together one of the harder lessons (it's harder because it has multiple parts). As we got started, you could already feel the Spirit; the room was filled with His presence. We started teaching, taking turns teaching different parts, asking lots of questions, all the good stuff until we got to the last part about after this life. My companion taught the 3 different degrees of glory (please see lds.org for an explanation of the Plan of Salvation) and stressed the importance of being baptized to enter into the best kingdom, the Celestial kingdom. We asked Maria, the daughter, to tell us what the Celestial kingdom means to her. She said that that's where we can be super happy and that's where she wants her dad to be. Earlier we had taught about temples and what they are and what they mean, so she knew about baptisms for the dead. This little one started to cry because of how strong the Spirit was and because of how much she wanted this for her dad.
I went over to her and hugged her, letting her cry for a bit, and then said thank you, promising her that we would help her to enter this kingdom and her dad. Elder Juarez, one of the Elders we work with, then invited both of them to be baptized. Maria agreed right away. Alina sat there for about 5 minutes, just thinking. During that time, when I would normally try to talk, I sat and prayed for her, asking that she would be open to the Spirit and accept the invitation. After the quiet time, she asked us how she can prepare for baptism. We answered her questions about baptism and then left her and Maria with a pamphlet for the next lesson.
This lesson was AMAZING!!! Our goal as missionaries is to teach people, not lessons by listening to the Spirit and testifying of truth. We accomplished this goal in this lesson. As a missionary, it was one of the most satisfying and joyful moments for me. As a daughter of God, I couldn't stop smiling and giggling because my sisters have chosen to enter into the strait and narrow way; they have chosen the path for exaltation!!! Oh! I am so happy!!!!
This whole week has been an extremely happy and spiritual week for; I have felt myself become more converted to the Lord. I write a lot in my journal about my emotions because I am just too full of positive feelings! I want to burst and so I do; sometimes it's in song, sometimes in tears, other times in lots of words (everyone who knows me knows I like to talk =) ). I love my mission because I love my Savior. These past 9 months have been the hardest, most amazing, most satisfying months of my life. The price may seem steep - living and working with strangers, being away from home, learning a new language in a short amount of time, etc. - but I would do it again in a heartbeat, and I'm going to! I have 9 more months to complete consecrate every second of my day to the Lord! I rejoice in the time I have left and eagerly await the months to come.
Lindhs work hard, and we do it with love, and this Lindh is going to keep working hard! I love you all and I'm so grateful for the support you have given me. You are my dear brothers and sisters and I am so grateful to have you in my life. Please remember who you are and rejoice in the truths we have.
Ok, now that that's out, ¿qué pasó esta semana pasada?
What happened this past week?
The most exciting news for me is that we put two people on date!!! On our first day here, we met a woman at a relief society activity who seemed very nice and I just really liked her, so I struck up a conversation. I asked her a few basic questions like ¿de dónde es usted? (where are you from?) y ¿cuántos años atrás conoció la iglesia? (how long ago did you join the church?) She laughed a bit and then said that she's not a member. The other women in the room also laughed because they knew that before I started a conversation with her. One woman commented "she's not going to be baptized any time soon" and I kinda went "Hmph! We'll see about that!" in my head. For me, I believe firmly that our attitude strongly affects our actions and if we think like that then we are not going to act as resolutely to help this woman.
Anyways, we finish speaking with this woman, Alina, and head about our week. At church on our first Sunday here, we decided to divide and conquer after sacrament meeting and talk to as many people as possible. (Of course we stayed in sight and sound =) ) I went off and spoke with a few members and set up appointments with them and then went to look for my companion to see how she was doing. (Now, we also did this so that she could practice her Spanish without me there for her to rely on; a little brutal? Maybe. Extremely helpful? Absolutely!) She had found her way to the woman we had met that past Wednesday, Alina, and her family. They were talking when I approached and Hna. WiRepa had just finished setting up an appointment with them. Apparently I'm not the only one who enjoys a challenge =)
I believe we had set up the lesson for Tuesday and all four of us missionaries went to their house so that Alina and Maria would be comfortable with us. We decided then that all four missionaries would come back to teach the Plan of Salvation on Thursday. As such, Thursday came around and all of us were there to teach together one of the harder lessons (it's harder because it has multiple parts). As we got started, you could already feel the Spirit; the room was filled with His presence. We started teaching, taking turns teaching different parts, asking lots of questions, all the good stuff until we got to the last part about after this life. My companion taught the 3 different degrees of glory (please see lds.org for an explanation of the Plan of Salvation) and stressed the importance of being baptized to enter into the best kingdom, the Celestial kingdom. We asked Maria, the daughter, to tell us what the Celestial kingdom means to her. She said that that's where we can be super happy and that's where she wants her dad to be. Earlier we had taught about temples and what they are and what they mean, so she knew about baptisms for the dead. This little one started to cry because of how strong the Spirit was and because of how much she wanted this for her dad.
I went over to her and hugged her, letting her cry for a bit, and then said thank you, promising her that we would help her to enter this kingdom and her dad. Elder Juarez, one of the Elders we work with, then invited both of them to be baptized. Maria agreed right away. Alina sat there for about 5 minutes, just thinking. During that time, when I would normally try to talk, I sat and prayed for her, asking that she would be open to the Spirit and accept the invitation. After the quiet time, she asked us how she can prepare for baptism. We answered her questions about baptism and then left her and Maria with a pamphlet for the next lesson.
This lesson was AMAZING!!! Our goal as missionaries is to teach people, not lessons by listening to the Spirit and testifying of truth. We accomplished this goal in this lesson. As a missionary, it was one of the most satisfying and joyful moments for me. As a daughter of God, I couldn't stop smiling and giggling because my sisters have chosen to enter into the strait and narrow way; they have chosen the path for exaltation!!! Oh! I am so happy!!!!
This whole week has been an extremely happy and spiritual week for; I have felt myself become more converted to the Lord. I write a lot in my journal about my emotions because I am just too full of positive feelings! I want to burst and so I do; sometimes it's in song, sometimes in tears, other times in lots of words (everyone who knows me knows I like to talk =) ). I love my mission because I love my Savior. These past 9 months have been the hardest, most amazing, most satisfying months of my life. The price may seem steep - living and working with strangers, being away from home, learning a new language in a short amount of time, etc. - but I would do it again in a heartbeat, and I'm going to! I have 9 more months to complete consecrate every second of my day to the Lord! I rejoice in the time I have left and eagerly await the months to come.
Lindhs work hard, and we do it with love, and this Lindh is going to keep working hard! I love you all and I'm so grateful for the support you have given me. You are my dear brothers and sisters and I am so grateful to have you in my life. Please remember who you are and rejoice in the truths we have.
I love you!
Hermana Lindh
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| Service at a place called Roads to Independence |
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| Ah man! I just wanted to bring you eternal happiness!...Your loss! |
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| The Elders were sick so we brought them meager "get well" food. Included is soup, corn and frozen readymade juice. |
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| Got to love working in the Spanish program =) (I love it so much!) |
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| Primary kids wrote letters to the local missionaries and we were included! |
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