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| Zipline last week |
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| Baby Javier |
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| Games with the Polios. I love them! |
Mi Familia,
Another blessed week in La Esperanza. I love this area and feel so grateful to be here. One of the hermanas that gave us lunch this week killed a hen in her backyard and then started cooking the meet when we got there. She started pulling out the forming eggs and made me eat them. I almost threw up just looking at her pull them out. But they basically just taste like egg yokes. hahaha that is so sick. I eat the wierdest things... but I would do anything for these people. Crawl on the floor to explain a principle, sing a song to lift their spirits, clean out drains full of who knows what, and listen to the craziest stories and try to relate them to a gospel principle... I love it! I am so happy. And the best thing ever is that Michael sent me gummy eggs and Sister Bready sent me gummy watermelons and worms. It has been a happy snack week. Those spicy suckers weren´t doing the trick anymore. Thanks for all the notes and letters and love. You guys are the best! Hope you guys have the best time in Viriginia and swim and play extra hard for me.
I bore my testimony yesterday with some of the Polios that wanted to and it was the best. I talked about how important the members are in this work and what a blessing they have been for me when times are hard. One day when I felt so sick a little deaf girl gave me a bracelet she had made. Another day I was feeling a little tired and lonely and an autistic boy held my hand and laughed and smiled as he looked into my eyes filled with tears. I am so grateful for the different ways that Heavenly Father gives me his love.
One hermana named Maggi bore her testimony and talked about how ¨Jesucristo es el medico del alma¨. I loved that so much and started thinking about how when we go to the doctor we are diagnosed with all the things that are wrong with us. Sometimes it is something small and other times the list in long and painful. The same happens as we come unto Christ. We are shown our weaknesses. (Ether 12:27) But the miracle of the Atonement is in the power that Christ has to then heal and change and perfect us (Moroni 10:32). As one of my companions always said: ¨ It hurts so good¨. haha The healing process is never pain free, but it is full of Peace.
Mosiah 27:25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal andfallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
I love that we can be new creatures. For me to be like Jesus Christ I have to be a new creature because I am so far from perfection. But I love Him. And I strive constantly to be His worthy representative. I received a blessing from my zone leader one time when I really sick and having a hard time and in the blessing he told me to focus on the Savior and His Atonement and that I would obtain power in my testimony to be able to testify to other people. All things are given us to learn and grow and draw near unto the Savior. And then we go out and help everyone else in need.
Luke 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
That is one thing that I love about the Latino culture. Not that everyone is always in everyone else´s business (haha), but they are always lending a hand and offering what they can, even if it is the smallest amount. That is the law of consecration. Like my mom always says about Dad- he would give anything to anyone at anytime. I remember when we went to that BYU religion conference with Ari and learned about how we can become a Zion people. That is what we are doing as missionaries and families in the gospel. Building Zion all around the world and relying completey on the Savior as our guide.
When I first got to this area they didn´t have many investigators here so we went contacting like crazy. We invited everyone in the world to church and tried to just get to know a bunch of people. One of those people was named Violeta. We found her walking home from work one night and she looked super sad. Her hair was covering a purple circle around her eye and she just wanted to get home to see her baby. We invited her to church and she came the next day by her own free will. She loved it and had friends there. It was a miracle. But after that... her mother never let us see her again. It was so sad. She was always so kind when she saw us in the street but she could never really talk to us or listen to us. This week her friends from the ward just told us that she had left the country to go to the USA for work to support her family. On the way there she fell off a train and passed away. That broke my heart. But the Lord has a plan. She obviously wasn´t able to accept the gospel in this life but I know she will now. We went by her house and her mom actually let us in without saying anything. We sat there awkwardly for a minute, offered our love, said a prayer, and I gave them my flashlight because they didn´t have any lights. Hopefully this will open their hearts to someday accept the gospel. The Lord has a plan for each of our lives. That, I am sure of. I read a scripture in the Biblia that just made think of how wonderful it must be for the people who suffer in this life to finally be with Father and rest from all these earthly cares...
Rev 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
The hermanas from Cerrito called this morning and told me that Rudy got baptized on Saturday! He was an investigator we found and started teaching forever ago. Finally he was able to prepare himself and be baptized. They said it was so wonderful. And it was the first baptismal service that Antonio led as ward mission leader. The hermanas said that he did such a great job. Apparently Antonio´s professor just signed him up for an internship in the hospital to finish this semester of his medical studies and the intership was placed for Sunday morning. There is no way to change it. So Antonio decided to wake up at 2 in the morning and go to the hopsital from 3 to 5am so he could run to church and make it in time for the meetings and teaching the classes and everything. Oh man... that kid is amazing. The Lord sure has big plans for his life. Miracles keep happening all around the world. This really is the Lord´s work and He will bring to pass His righteous purposes and plans in what ever way He needs to. We are so blessed to be part of this work.
Que tengan una semana muy feliz! Disfrute su tiempo en Virginia! Les amo mucho!
Hermana McGill
